New Garlic Festival Planned With Gilroy Garlic Festival No More

GILROY, CA — It won’t be the Gilroy Garlic Festival, but for anyone seeking a garlic fix this summer, the inaugural California Garlic Festival in Stockton will have to suffice.

After the popular Gilroy Garlic Festival was canceled indefinitely this year, organizers of the San Joaquin Asparagus Festival are attempting to launch their own garlic festival.

The California Garlic Festival is scheduled for August 13-14 at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds. It will also include a scholarship pageant for girls 13 and older, organizers announced this week.

"We are delighted to build upon the recent success of the Asparagus Festival program and expand the age divisions and leadership opportunities for women and girls of all ages from across California," said Shim Lacy, an organizer. "We will be bringing a great show both days of the festival and can't wait to get started."

In May, the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association pushed back on a claim by the Tony Noceti Group — which runs the San Joaquin Asparagus Festival — that it would be "hosting the Garlic Festival this year."

"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!"

Related: Gilroy Garlic Festival Is Not Moving To Stockton, Organizers Say

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 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