Gilroy Garlic Festival

Boooooooo! They raised their admission for the 3^rd time! Was 15.00 then 18.00 now 20.00!
Why the greed when they claim they have all these «volunteers» aka free helpers. I’ve been going the last 3 years, not sure if I’m going this year coming up. I’ve been making a 2 day event getting a hotel in the area & spending 1 night.
My recap from last year. A lot of booths are hit or miss. More misses. Stay away from this church BBQ booth. They slang some burnt over cooked chicken & slathered some sauce on it & called it a sandwich. Definitely pass. The gourmet alley combo is some food they cooked early morning & is lukewarm at best. Small portions & a bit greasy. For the 1^st timers try it, but not worth repeating. They served the same items 2 years in a row or it might have been the same all along.
The pupusa booth was slow in their process & person taking the order had a attitude. Really, no repeat business for you.
Now the booths worth repeating: Garlic mussels. 2 or 3 booths will have them. Decent portion for 8.00 Corn dogs, hamburgers were fine.
There will be some non garlic booths there as well. I don’t bother with most of them cuz I could catch them at another St fair. The chow mein or sausage sandwich ones.
It will be hot so wear sunscreen & a hat. It’s worth checking out if you never been to one. Up to you if you think it’s worth repeating.

What’s so great about the GILROY GARLIC FESTIVAL? All the types of garlic goods there duh!
I have only attended the festival once and once was good enough. The traffic to get there was horrendous, so plan to leave earlier than noon to find decent parking.
This festival normally takes place in the summer time, please dress accordingly! It gets hot and there are hardly any places of shade. The festival is quite large and the lines to try garlicky goods aren’t so bad. I’ve had the turkey leg & one of the combination plates which I believed had garlic fried, shrimp and not sure what the third item was. The area to buy alcohol was too pack and almost impossible to grab a drink. After a few hrs of being there it got too crowded, so we decided to leave.
I think it good enough to check it out once, but it wasn’t worth the hassle to go back again. Especially due to the heat & the lack of shade. I love garlic but not that much, lol.

July is Garlic Festival month and I always look forward to this event!
If you’re a garlic lover and doesn’t mind garlic breath… then this is for you!
It’s a breeze to get to the festival, there were signs from
The freeway which exit to take them all the way thru the parking area. The volunteers will guide you to the parking area. From there you ride a shuttle and gives you a reminder which lot you parked and shuttle to take coming back.
Make sure you bring cash with you as some food stalls do not accept CC (or the cc machine breaks) I also recommend to bring a bag with you to stash your purchases.
I recommend to bring your waterSSS as it costs $ 3.00 a bottle… yikes! Be prepared for the HOT July in Gilroy.
If you have time, stop by at the Gilroy outlet also! lol
(finally finished this review!-didn’t realized it wasn’t completed) lol

Very tricky review. The time I spent in California was amazing. the freshness is unknown in the Midwest! nowhere near the same quality. However, I’ve learned that exporting your «inferior» quality is a common practice.
Cannot in good qualityconscience say «yay» to the Festival knowing this underhanded business practice.
For example: Australians have told me they DO NOT DRINK FOSTER’S BEEAH *beer*
Any chocolates/​cheeses in which I’ve indulged while in Europe is far superior, is NOTHING like the taste, quality or packaging found in USA
in summary to find a package of Christopher Ranch garlic! Oh boy what a treat. Cali garlic is double the potency of the dried up garlic we’ll purchase in Meijer or Indiana’s Walmart!

The Gilroy Garlic Festival is definitely a festival anyone who claims to be a foodie should check out! I don’t think I’ve ever consumed as much garlic in a single day as I did in the three hours that I did at the festival. For a bit of background, the Gilroy Garlic Festival is one of the largest food festivals in the United States, and it has been around since the 1970s, attracting tens of thousands of people every year. Because of its long history, the festival has a lot of time to work out the kinks that I’m sure it had when it first began, and that was noticeable in how professionally it was organized and how smartly the grounds were planned out. The festival grounds were divided into quadrants, with each section having the same basic food stalls and some stalls unique to just that quadrant, a large tented seating area in the middle of the quadrant, and stands for refreshments.
I tried many of the food items at the festival including garlic calamari curry, garlic fried calamari, garlic shrimp curry, garlic fries, parmesan garlic potato chips, garlic popcorn, and garlic ice cream. The food for the most part was just ok and is nothing I would rave about. The star for me was the garlic ice cream, which was surprisingly delicious but not something I would seek outside of the festival. The taste of garlic is noticeable but it blends nicely with the vanilla essence of the ice cream; however, after many bites, the flavors seem to clash with one another, which is why I said garlic ice cream is not something I would seek out again — but it is definitely something worth trying.
The festival grounds also had a lot of stalls selling art, a cook-​off area with cooking demonstrations, and a kids area with activities; however, aside from just walking around eating, drinking, and sitting down to watch the cooking demonstrations, there really wasn’t much to do at the Garlic Festival, and you honestly need only a few hours to really see everything.
What could have been improved the most was the transportation to and from the festival grounds. Guests are not able to park near the festival, and designated parking areas are situated about a mile away. Buses transport people to and from the parking areas to the festival grounds. On the way to the festival, we had no problem at all — we parked our car, hopped on the AC bus, and enjoyed the twelve minute drive to the festival grounds. However, on the way back, we had to wait in a long cue for a bus because it seems that many other people wanted to leave at the same time we did but buses were not coming fast enough to load everyone in a timely manner. We were waiting in line for half an hour before we finally got a bus to take us back to our parking lot, and the only thing that made the wait bearable was the fact that we were waiting in a tented area and festival staff were walking by offering free water.
My overall take on the Gilroy Garlic Festival is this: if you’ve never been before, you must check it out! If you live near Gilroy, then I believe it is a fun food festival to check out every year, but if you’re like me and you live about 50 miles away from Gilroy, a repeat visit is not worth the travel time.

First timer come prepare checklist: comfortable shoes, umbrella, H2O to stay hydrated, positive energy.
Come for the food, come for the experience.
Future suggestions: open up VIP parking at the local high school since there were ample parking not being utilize.

I am not sure what all the negative reviews are about… I am glad that I didn’t see them before my visit, didn’t want any negative nancy’s raining on my parade, lol.
The directions here are kind of non-​existent. I went on the actual website and they said to follow the signs, that is not very helpful. I had never been to the Garlic Festival, so I didn’t know where to begin to even look for the signs. After a few wrong exits I found my way. There were a lot of volunteers that were out waving to us and directing traffic. I was directed to a dirt lot and parked my car. The dirt lot/​garlic field was nicely maintained, not your average dusty field… they had separate lanes for cars coming in and out, and even a walkway for pedestrians.
After parking, I walked to catch a charter bus to the festival. The line went really fast as there was a bus every 5 seconds. When you got in line, one of the volunteers would give you a ticket that reminded you of your location and offered a coupon for $ 1 off of food inside the festival. The charter buses were really nice and had A/​C as well as restrooms.
The line to get in was not long at all, despite all of the people that were there. On the festival’s website, they were offering $ 2 off per ticket if you bought online. I went to redeem my ticket using the app they provide, however when I got there the internet connection was not the best. I kept getting an error message. Anyways, I explained my problem to the ticket people and they were able to look me up in their system and get me in without any issues. My admission was only $ 18.
Once inside, you do not know where to start!!! There are so many booths to see and so much to take in. One thing that was kind of a bummer for me, is that I was hoping to be overcome with this garlicky aroma wafting thru the air, but instead all I could smell was fried mushrooms!!! I was really underwhelmed with the garlic, I thought the smell would be everywhere, but you really wouldn’t have known you were at a garlic festival going off of smell alone.
Anyways, I skimmed thru the various places and ultimately decided on one of the food tents that offered a Combo that was simply just called Combo #1. It had a Pepper Steak Sandwich, Pesto pasta, Calamari and Garlic bread. The meal was $ 15 which wasn’t too bad considering the location and you did get a lot of food, and I had my $ 1 off coupon. The Pepper Steak sandwich had a good amount of garlic on it and it was tasty. I was expecting the meat to be tough considering it was being mass produced, but it wasn’t. The pasta was really delish. The calamari was no Bueno, too rubbery. The garlic bread wasn’t garlicky enough considering it was at a GARLIC festival, lol.
I was also brave enough to sample some Garlic Ice Cream. They had advertised FREE garlic ice cream, but I searched all over for that booth and could not find it. I saw a booth that had many different flavors and they served it in a ½ cantaloupe, so considering the extreme heat that day it seemed very refreshing. The ice cream bowl was $ 6. I opted to get the Garlic Chocolate. At first bite it wasn’t too shocking, it was at the end of the bite that the garlic flavor really came thru. It was like drinking a diet coke, you cant tell at first but then the aftertaste hits you. It was so hot, and I kept eating more of the ice cream to cool off and also to stay ahead of the extreme garlic taste, lol. It was sweet when you first ate it, then it got garlicky hot at the end. It was an experience that I can say that I tried, but I certainly wont be craving. The cantaloupe really helped sweeten the deal so to speak though.
This festival is really large and there are so many booths that it is almost impossible to see everything. I probably could have managed better if it weren’t so dang hot. They had cooking demonstrations if that is your thing, and they also had an area for kids. I think that for such a large event, that everything was very well organized… so kudos to the people in charge.
I would recommend this to anyone that has never been, it may be one of those ‘one and done’ kind of things for me although I would not be against going in the future to see if they have added anything new.

$ 20 entrance fee does not justify the quality of this festival. I don’t think it is worth it. Good thing the $ 20 is going to charity!
The food is mediocre at best, I am being very generous when I say this. I’ve had much better food for the jazz and north beach festivals in SF. Those are free and have great music.
minus one star for the ghetto fab crowd.
minus one start for the food.
minus one star for the lack of shuttles.
minus one star for lack of shade other than the eating area.
.5 star for the «rain room»

Gilroy born and raised, so it’s really hard for me to write anything bad about this event because I grew up with this festival. I live only a couple of blocks away from the «home of the festival» and I’ve volunteered when I was in school and when my mom worked for Gilroy Foods.
I love how the community pulls together to create a monumental event, but the prices are ridiculous! This year was a $ 20 entry fee and the combo plates went up to $ 15, really?! Don’t get me wrong — the pepper steak sandwiches, garlic scampi, mushrooms, garlic bread are all amazing and brings me back to childhood memories, which I adore, but WOW! Inflation for the same taste.
To top that off, if you’re not prepared for the heat, dust and dirt then you’re in a world of hurt.
If you like this type of thing — then come, ENJOY yourself. This event happens every year the last full weekend of July, Friday-​Sunday. If not, buy the garlic and cook at home.

It was a first for me and I would say I totally enjoyed it. Last minute, I decided to come here. I don’t care whether it’s traffic, crowded, hot, etc. With my purple hat, sunblock, and sun glasses, I drove and came here very excited. I’m very much familiar with the area so I didn’t trap myself in the traffic. I took a shortcut! No parking problem for me! Few blocks away from the entrance, and boy oh boy, the fun started!
This is a festival. So expect crowds, hot weather, lines… like long lines, plus it will be very brilliant to bring cash with you.
Plenty of things to do here. You won’t get bored. There were plenty of shades too. A lot of events, concerts, foods, sizzling fire, wine, some free food tasting, and etc that will keep you occupied. Time flew so fast! Oh, I attended a Garlic wedding too. It was so much fun to become a witness! I loved the whole garlic wedding concept. I think that was the highlight… plus the garlic mussel, I had two servings! It’s too delicious!
Would I come back again next year? Maybe yes, maybe not. I’m just glad that I’ve been here… plus vampire will not bug me for the next few days… garlic were all over me!

I’m so sorry but the hot weather really ruined the fun for us! I wish they would do it during springtime where we are not tortured by the excruciating heat.
The organizers did a good job with the planning. Since it’s a first for us, the bus transporting the people was well-​planned; the lines were long but was organized. About 45 minutes in line going to the festival and 30 minutes going back.
Went to the festival for about an hour and went back to the long queue of people waiting to go back to the blue lot.
Had about 6 Yakult freebies. Had the paella for $ 10, was pretty good– huge serving, good for 2 people. Frozen lemonade was expensive at $ 4 and bottled water was $ 3. The garlic ice cream was good — tried both chocolate garlic and the vanilla garlic — $ 5.75 a scoop.
My 7 year old who was complaining all the time we were there loved the rain room– the only thing we liked about the festival.
We won’t be back — ever!

The Gilroy Garlic Festival is famous throughout the country – I first learned about it on the Travel Channel (or maybe it was the Food Network). I knew I couldn’t pass up the chance to check it out. Basic tickets were $ 18/​person online with a $ 1 coupon for food or Garlic Festival merchandise. There was a deal for a sample plate, which may seem like a deal, but is also really filling. If you’re looking to sample tons and tons of garlicky foods, the sample plate might not be the best way to go. (If you’re going with friends, maybe buy one sample plate to share amongst yourselves.)
Parking was a disaster. The lots were really far away and shuttle service between the festival to the parking lot was inefficient, especially in the way they tried to manage the line. It was volunteer-​run, so it didn’t seem like they had any set protocol on how to deal with issues like the line getting longer than expected. On the other hand, considering that these issues were dealt with completely by unpaid (inexperienced?) volunteers, I was pretty impressed.
Once we were there, it was pretty cool. Even though there were hella people, the lines for food seemed to move forward with relative ease. Some of the freebies: free water, free Yakult, free blood pressure screenings (lol; try getting ‘before’ and ‘after’ readings), free garlic ice cream (mini scoops, but you can get multiple), free olive oil tastings.
Hits: stuffed mushrooms, garlic chicken wings, garlic ice cream (especially considering it was free)
Misses: lobster stick, garlic lumpia (good, but not that garlicky. You can ask for a half order for half the price.), overpriced beer ($ 7/​pint)
Meh: shrimp plate (could have used more shrimp)
I probably would have stayed longer, but the heat was overwhelming (in the 90s) and didn’t help my appetite. Bring sunglasses, a hat, sunblock, and dress coolly. Be prepared to trek though unpaved dirt roads and have get windswept by dust. Overall, it was a fun experience, and one I’m glad to have crossed off my California bucket list. If you go, pat yourself on the back for supporting local businesses.

I have visited the Gilroy Garlic Festival many times in the past. Just not in the past 5 years. Yesterday my friend Irene & I were planning on taking Caltrain down but at the last minute my coworker & her husband picked us up and we all road down.
Long lines, and hot weather. They say it was one of the coolest years but I beg to differ. We immediately walked around (had sunblock on & a hat) and saw a lot of vendors. I bought this neat knife that slices bread really thing. For eats, we had the garlic calamari, garlic stuffed mushrooms with crab (which were Yumny!), garlic bread, garlic fries and a Huge Turkey Leg. We visited the tent for Wine Tasting and of course the Beer Garden was a MUST in the warm weather. Everything was pretty expensive, even the cost of admission ($ 18 online I think?). A lot of a fair/​festivals when typically its free to enter.
I bought some garlic kettle corn to take home, along with a bottle of Garlic Oil & a bottle of something-​something Balsamic Vinegar.
We all had a good time. Glad we went on a Friday. We were back on the road by 4:00pm Lots & lots of traffic. Was I glad I went? Yes. Will I go again next year? Maybe… if they move the date to anything other than middle of sumner.

Traffic was easy. Food was mostly good to great and all of it was fun.
The whole thing was well planned for adults and children.
The price of admission is a bit steep but the food prices were low compared to the amount of you got.

Gilroy is very hot, and the festival is entirely outdoors. There is some shade with tents but most of the time you will be in the heat. Bring a hat and sunglasses and possibly a fan. Oh and bottles of water.
You have to pay a hefty entrance fee to get in and then once you get in you still have to pay for all the food and drinks (and of course any trinkets). It’s quite expensive and most places only take cash so bring some cash!
The best food here was probably the roasted corn with garlic butter. The other foods weren’t that good. Calamari was kind of soggy. The garlic tacos were all right but they put way too much meat on the tacos. The garlic bread was soggy and not toasted like you’d think they would be but they do give you a lot of bread for $ 3.
Frozen lemonade was actually cups of Minute Maid frozen lemonade and not a drink.
There’s live music which is cool. The female singer was good and a marathon singer but there were certain notes above a certain range that she couldn’t hit very well.
All in all we were a bit disappointed at the festival. It would have been a lot better if they stuck to a limited amount of foods and done those well. Also don’t hold the festival during the hottest time of the year.

The organization of the parking and shuttles when you first get there– 4 stars
The beer mugs that are an extra $ 7– 4 stars, hey keep your beer nice and cold the whole time and are a fun souvenir
The combo number one meal– pepper steak sandwich, pesto garlic pasta, garlic calamari, and garlic bread — 1 star! So gross. The garlic bread was edible but not the best and then the other 3 I could barely force myself to eat
Chocolate garlic ice cream– 5 stars! Who would have known! It was so oddly good!
Dying in the heat– 1 star
Organization of the shuttles BACK to the parking lot– 2 stars. It took 40 min to get back to our car, 30 min of it was waiting on line out side.
It’s fun to experience this kind of thing once and I would recommend doing so, but I cannot imagine how people like coming every year. I most likely will never go back

This is our first time at the Garlic Festival, which is a large outdoor food and craft fair.
It runs July 24 to 26, 2015. We didn’t know what to expect and only came for a few hours. Like other Unilocal Reviews, its on the expensive side, and traffic can be a bit heavy to and from the festival. Once you’re there, things went smoothly.
Parking/​Shuttle: 5 stars. They have plenty of CHP officers directing traffic to the lot and lots of volunteers directing traffic into the dirt and hay field (the parking lot). We wound up in the Blue Lot. They have free buses taking folks to/​from the festival, about 3 miles away.
Venue: 5 stars. I liked how they had free water, and plenty of tents and shaded areas for eating and resting. People at the festival were really in a good mood and very friendly. I saw strangers offering each other a sample of the garlic fries. Besides food, they have cooking demos, craft shops, vendors, and even a rock climbing wall.
Garlic Ice Cream: 4-​stars. Its free in a tiny sugar cone, and they will happily hand out 2 – 4 per person. It does have garlic flavor, but its still ice cream and has some vanilla. I once had wasabi ice cream in Japan and over there they don’t pull punches!
Combo Plates: 3.5-stars. At $ 15 each pretty pricy. Combo 1 has tender, garlicky calamari and a nice garlic pesto pasta. The pepper steak sandwich was on the bland side. Combo 2 had garlic mushrooms and scampi which were both good, along with an awesome garlic sausage sandwich that was juicy and paired well with the grilled veggies. Garlic bread on both combos were spot on.
Gumbo: 4-​stars — Roux was good, and they did use more seafood like shrimp and cod. Portions a bit small for the price.
Fried Alligator: 4-​stars — Well seasoned, and tastes like dark meat chicken except much chewier. Imagine a chicken-​calamari like texture. They also had Kangaroo, but I didn’t try it.
Garlic Corn Cob: 3-​stars — Garlic butter was good, but corn was on the small side, with really tiny kernels.
Overall, 4-​stars for the event! I would recommend going at least once to try it out. I think the volunteers and event organizer did a good job of herding folks, and they do have lots of food options and entertainment.

I love food and I love garlic. However, I’m always on the fence about food festivals. They’re always crowded, usually unorganized, and always coincide with unbearably hot weather. However, since the Gilroy Garlic Festival has been held for over three decades, since 1979, the organizer (Gilroy Garlic Festival Association) definitely has this event planned out in an orderly manner.
The most annoying aspect of the festival was entering the dirt parking lot, as traffic was very slow. If arriving before noon, you’ll spend a good half hour in line leading up to the parking lot, but once inside, everything else should run smoothly. FYI, don’t wash your car before coming here; it’ll look like you just came back from weekend camping after you leave the festival.
Wear comfortable shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty. And I mean REALLY dirty. My black canvas sneakers were a dark poop-​brown as I left the festival. Bring your own water bottle, since a bottle here will set you back $ 3. However, there is one station near the front entrance that offers free cups of water with refills.
The Gourmet Alley’s combo plates (two options) can be easily split between two people. We shared option #1, which had garlic bread, pesto pasta, calamari, and half a pepper steak sandwich. I thought the garlic bread was the best, but the pesto pasta too heavy and rich. Overall, a good deal for $ 15. Smaller bites, ranging from $ 5 – 10, include garlic fries, garlic ice cream, garlic-​flavored shaved ice, and quenching garlic-​less fruit smoothies. Aside from food, there are cooking demonstrations, live music, arts and crafts areas, and vendors selling miscellaneous items, such as mugs, paintings, and other household goods.
To save time, buy tickets online in advance. You’ll save $ 2 off the already expensive admission price of $ 20 (as of 2014). And on top of that, you pay for the food too! But besides delicious food and the been there, done that experience, the next best thing from the Gilroy Garlic Festival is being mosquito repellant for the next 24 hours.

I’ve been trying to attend this festival for the longest time, and finally on what seemed like the HOTTEST day of the year, I attended the Garlic Festival for the first time! Yeeee!!!
Upon arrival to Gilroy, the parking alone took about a good hour. Boo! I guess the other option you have would be to park in a neighborhood and walk into the fair, but I don’t know how long of a walk that would be if the road to the actual parking lot took an hour.
Admission to the fair was $ 20 ($ 2 discount if you buy online), I thought that was steep for a festival considering the fact that we have to pay for everything else inside ie food drinks etc. There were some free water stations which I thought was cool. We got our hands on the crab garlic fries which were YUMTASTIC! I mainly just did some exploring around, I felt like I was at Coachella, for some reason the girls were dressed like they’re going to a music festival, with flower headbands and eerrrrthang. That was kinda weird. Lol. I didn’t think there was that much entertainment, maybe the cook off area, and some areas for music. Got to try the free garlic ice cream, definitely something you need to experience when at the garlic fest!
Overall, I think the weather was a little too hot for my liking… I wish there was misting stations or something… I don’t know if I’ll be back unless I’m better prepared for the heat. I think it is a nice day event to come out with your friends/​family to enjoy some good food!

Hmmm… I’d say just a «tad» overrated.
I had been waiting years to visit this «one of a kind» festival, and finally decided to make it a point to journey on over and see what all the hype was about.
I left my house in Clayton around 7 am, anticipating a lot of traffic; and boy was I glad I left early. I arrived after going through a detour all throughout town and private neighborhoods, which eventually lead me to a LARGE open field to park. I was one of the first groups of cars to arrive (Thanks God). We then walked over to a tent where rotating shuttle buses chauffeured you to the final destination and eventually back.
I arrived equipped with a large, but stylish sun hat :) and plenty of s.p.f slathered on.
There seemed to be a decent amount of craft vendors and food vendors very similar to any fair or festival you have visited, however, with just a few more garlic food like options.
They had a small beer garden, with just a small basic selection of beers to choose from. They also had a wine tasting section as well.
My food choices of the day: Garlic, parmesan, stuffed mushrooms for $ 5.00. They were exceptionally good. I also had a polish sausage dog, which was just a standard dog. Tasty and decent. Oh, and one of the highlights of the day was the FREE garlic vanilla ice cream… heavenly delicious… and thank God, it was just a small size :)
For memorabilia, I purchased a garlic festival tin beer souvenir mug and a garlic festival magnet.
I had fun. There was some fun stuff to see, but nothing out of the ordinary other than a big, tin flaming garlic lol
Overall, I can say I’ve gone, but I don’t think I make it a point to go again.