Five years ago, a gunman killed three and injured 11 at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Since then, two other organizers have created their own events. One of them is only weeks away.

But if one garlic festival just isn’t enough for you, in 2025, the flagship Gilroy Garlic Festival may return in a different way, as could Fresno’s National Garlic Festival.

The California Garlic Festival will run from Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 at the Merced County Spring Fairgrounds in Los Banos. This is the first year that Noceti Entertainment Group — known for running the Stockton Asparagus Festival — will bring the event this far south. It is normally held in Stockton.

The event will celebrate the aromatic bulbous flowering plant while featuring a beauty pageant, live music, and a monster truck rally.

“It’s a way to celebrate that area because we realize there’s not only a lot of garlic, but there’s a lot of agriculture,” said Alan Sanchez, spokesman for the event. “We’re going to make sure we pay tribute to those who are in agriculture.”

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Los Banos Provides Central Location

The main focus of the California Garlic Festival will, of course, be the food.

“The main staples are always the garlic-related food items,” said Sanchez. “You’ve got, of course, your garlic fries and garlic bread, but you also have garlic popcorn, garlic sausage, garlic wings, garlic noodles, anything you can think — garlic ice cream, we’re really trying to infuse a lot of different ways to use garlic.”

This will also be the first time the event will run three days.

Beyond the food, attendees will be able to listen to live music from local groups on Friday and Saturday. A monster truck drivers will put on not only a show, but give rides in their trucks.

The past year, Sanchez said the event averaged 50,000 people each day. Some people came twice to get twice the taste. They are expecting 250 vendors, some selling food, some selling games or souvenirs, Sanchez said.

“Because there’s so many different types of food, you have to give yourself at least a couple days to really enjoy the different types of food that are infused in garlic,” Sanchez said.

Gilroy Garlic Festival to Be Smaller than Previous Years

Gilroy originated the annual festival, starting its garlic celebration in 1979. The event started small, but became iconic, hosting 100,000 people at the event, larger than the city itself, said Cindy Fellows, president of the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association.

Tragically, a gunman killed three and injured 11 in 2019. The next year, COVID-19 shut down most events. The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association held a drive-thru event in 2021 and announced after that it would suspend the festival.

Throughout the hiatus, the association held smaller, localized events. They hosted garlic festival food at the Gilroy Rodeo, different wineries, and golf tournaments. As a nonprofit, proceeds go to support local charities. Since closing the main event, they’ve raised $80,000.

“The reason we’re still going is because of the public, the public really reaches out constantly,” Fellows said.

Not having the festival has affected schools, sports programs, and church groups that would participate at the festival.

The group wants to bring the event back in 2025 at a smaller scale. It’s a way to minimize costs for the groups. After the shooting, insurance for the event nearly doubled, going from $6 million to $10 million.

By keeping it smaller, Fellows hopes to keep costs manageable.

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Fresno to Reimagine Garlic Festival

Peter De Young, president of the National Food Festival Association,  says heat played a big factor in the low turnout for Fresno’s 2022 National Garlic Festival. De Young expected 100,000 people, but the numbers were closer to 33,000.

Despite poor attendance, De Young got celebrity chefs Martin Yan, Rocco DiSpirito, and actor Mario Lopez to hold cooking demonstrations.

De Young is looking for a return in 2025, this time later in the year. He is working on a September date with the Fresno Fairgrounds, he said. He is also securing celebrity chefs, similar to 2022.

The focus will be on small samples rather than food trucks so visitors can try a variety of foods, De Young said.

“We will not be using food trucks but offering up a much broader selection of garlic-inspired foods and make it very easy for people to get small plate samples as well as full servings of food,” De Young said. “It’ll be laid out very differently.”

Trio of Festivals Has Competitive Aroma?

None of the groups putting on garlic festivals are associated with one another. But they all wished each other well on their ventures.

Being the original, the Gilroy Garlic Festival knows how to get it done, Fellows said.

“We’ve done it for over 40 years, we’re very seasoned to it, we can produce great food, it’s farmed here in town, and we can do it,” Fellows said. “Plus, one of the best things about the Gilroy Garlic Festival is we are a nonprofit, so we give back.”

For the California Garlic Festival, Sanchez said they want to make a great first impression in Los Banos.

“We realize this can determine the longevity of the festival in Merced County,” Sanchez said.

De Young said he reached out to Gilroy organizers, proposing a sister city program. He wanted people to know Fresno County grows more than three-quarters of the nation’s garlic.

It then gets shipped out to Gilroy where many of the processors are.

“Our first goal is to educate, so we want people to know where their garlic’s coming from and that’s something to be proud of,” De Young said.