Gilroy Garlic Festival Is Not Moving To Stockton, Organizers Say

GILROY, CA — The Gilroy Garlic Festival is not going to become the Stockton Garlic Festival.

That’s what the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association responded with after a Stockton-based organization claimed Sunday in a Facebook post that it would be “hosting the Garlic Festival this year." The Gilroy Garlic Festival was canceled for the foreseeable future, organizers announced last month.

“We heard the extremely sad news that the Gilroy Garlic Festival will not be holding their annual big Garlic festival,” wrote the Tony Noceti Group, which runs the San Joaquin Asparagus Festival. “We just couldn’t let that happen!”

The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association responded Monday to the “confusion” caused by that post, which had some garlic lovers celebrating.

“The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association and its Board have not been contacted about this,” the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association said. “It is not a sanctioned Gilroy Garlic Festival Association event.”

The association made clear that Stockton “is not the successor of our community's homecoming event to support our essential non-profits here in Gilroy, the Garlic Capital of the World.”

The statement continued: "The board is happy to see the enthusiasm the Noceti Group has for Garlic, but asks that they communicate directly with the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association with those ideas.”

The back-and-forth continued with another Facebook post, this one from the San Joaquin Asparagus Festival’s account in a statement that didn’t exactly make clear whether it intended to be the new home of the garlic festival.

“We are exploring all options and opportunities to keep these types of community events alive whenever possible,” the statement read. “We have another fantastic event planned and look forward to welcoming the community to celebrate with us. Stay tuned for future announcements regarding the garlic festival.”

The San Joaquin Asparagus Festival takes place this weekend. It’s the week before the National Garlic Festival — another garlic festival that launched this year — gets going in Fresno.

The Garlic Festival Association's board of directors had cited lingering uncertainties from the pandemic — along with "prohibitive insurance requirements" by the city of Gilroy — for the decision to pull the plug on the festival.

The festival was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, and it was a drive-thru event last year.

The cancelation has ignited disappointment and controversy in the community, with Mayor Marie Blankley pushed back against what she said were "accusations and mudslinging against the City of Gilroy" after a guest column written by Ken Christopher – the executive vice president of the local garlic supplier Christopher Ranch – in the Gilroy Dispatch on Thursday suggested that "fear" was what ended the world-famous festival.

Related:

• Gilroy Mayor Responds To Criticism After Garlic Festival's Cancelation
• Gilroy Garlic Festival Canceled In 2022, Foreseeable Future