Vendors plan to return to Gilroy Garlic Festival
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Gilroy, CA (KSBW) — Preparations for the 42nd annual Gilroy Garlic Festival are underway.
The festival has opened up applications to vendors and entertainers for the event. Festival organizers say even with last year’s tragic shooting, they still expect a large turnout.
“This week we just opened our online vendor and entertainer application process, it’s our annual process in January,” Brian Bowe, the executive director for the Gilroy Garlic Festival. “We look for anyone and everyone to apply. People have already started applying and we will be getting many more applications over the next couple of months.”
The festival brings in anywhere from 50 to 60 food vendors and dozens of entertainers. The festival’s board said they anticipate multiple applications to come in but figuring out who makes the cut is a lengthy process.
“We take all the applications that we can get, and we’re fortunate that we always get more applications than we can accommodate,” said Bowe. “We screen all of them after they’ve all applied, we have committees that go through all the entertainers, all the vendors, and pick the ones that will be at this year’s festival.”
Previous vendors such as El Roble Elementary Corn Booth, Snowie Shaved Ice, and the Gilroy Rotary Club’s wine garden plan to return. For some, they say didn’t give it a second thought.
“There was never any question that the Gilroy Rotary Club was going to participate in something that we do every year,” said Gilroy Rotary Club President, Mark Turner. “We operate and manage the wine gardens, and we look forward to doing it again this year.”
As entries continue to pour in, the board will spend time to make sure this year is more successful than ever.
“The exciting thing for us is that we’re seeing more support than ever for the Garlic Festival,” explained Bowe. “The community needs it and wants it, and we’re thrilled to bring this to the world again this year in 2020.”
“We are just going to believe that we are going to see a big crowd and a lot of vendors participating as well,” explained Turner.
If you are interested in becoming a vendor or entertainer at the Gilroy Garlic Festival this summer, the deadline is March 13. You can visit the festivals website for more information.
Brian Bowe announced last month he’s stepping down as executive director and has not commented on why he’s leaving. There’s no word yet on who his replacement will be.
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