Iagree with some of the comments about the Garlic Festival in a
small article in The Morgan Hill Times (July 30
“Heat, Crowds May Keep Some MH Residents Away from Garlic
Festival”). However, unlike those quoted in the article, I still
make an effort to attend once during the three days.
Iagree with some of the comments about the Garlic Festival in a small article in The Morgan Hill Times (July 30 “Heat, Crowds May Keep Some MH Residents Away from Garlic Festival”). However, unlike those quoted in the article, I still make an effort to attend once during the three days.
I dislike heat. (Yes, I know. So what am I doing living in South County?) If I reflect a while, I have to agree that there are indeed some of the same things every year – same music, the same food, (and two to three booths for each kind, it seems). As I’m in a serious “de-cluttering” phase and only spend money on gifts or things I absolutely love, few of the market items really draw me like the ones at other festivals, like the Renaissance Faire. But I still walk through the lanes. Due to a “near trampled to death” experience at an international soccer match when I was in college, I’m more sensitive than the average person about my personal space and really (REALLY) hate crowds.
But I think South County residents who stay away because of these reasons miss a uniquely satisfying aspect of the festival that always impresses me and is well worth the price of admission: how thousands of people from a small town come together to throw one of the nation’s greatest three-day parties. Did you hear about the guy from Seattle, wearing a Garlic Festival baseball cap, hiking in the Peruvian Andes, who met another hiker from Iowa, who said “I sure could go for a pepper steak sandwich right now.” (Which leads me to wonder about some of the other comments in the article. What’s wrong with the same food every year if it’s so impressive?)
Knowing the influence of the festival, knowing that all the proceeds go back to the community puts a special glow on everything else that makes the festival stand out from the ordinary.
If that doesn’t ring your chimes like it does mine, then how about considering coming to see a world class event in your own backyard? People from all over the world flock to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Prague Marathon in Czechoslovakia, and other signature events around the world. I can get my world class event fix right here for a 15-minute drive and $12 admission.
Don’t like the heat and crowds? If you can’t go to the festival on Friday or Sunday (recommended by some locals), then go first thing on Saturday morning. (Leave Morgan Hill for Gilroy at 9am). Though the stated festival start time is 10am, the folks are so well-organized, they are ready to open the gates 20 minutes early.
This year, I didn’t stay long enough to get to taste everything, as I’d like. This year, I lived vicariously through a reporter for the Gilroy Dispatch who recounted his weekend eating his way through the festival. Having twice eaten my way from one end of New Orleans to the other and still carrying the effects, my dabbling in Garlic Festival food was limited to the calamari and a coffee drink. After an hour and a half, I left with some kettle corn (and a notion to check out some of the businesses that provided entertainment).
Sure, my experience doesn’t seem close to the folks whose weekends are filled by the festival. But I’m satisfied because I contributed to the tally of people who entered the gates, was comfortable, and, most importantly, was inspired yet again by the beauty of the human spirit shown through community volunteerism.
Access is a big issue for South County residents; access to health care, resources, money, information, etc. Therefore, I am impressed when I see individuals and groups go out of their way to bring them down here for the benefit of everyone.
Dr. Rick Monsour, a local chiropractor, is embarking on an effort to provide a series of workshops and meetings on health and wellness to South County residents.
What’s most impressive is, though there is a nominal fee for entry ($3), he plans to donate all of the proceeds to a local nonprofit. The first of these is next Tuesday night (Aug. 9) at Gilroy’s Hilton Garden Inn at 7pm.
Dr. Monsour is hosting Dr. Jacqueline Jacques, a noted nutrition expert who specializes in the management of obesity and women’s health issues.
For more information, contact him at 842-6334.
Columnist Dina Campeau is a wife, mother of two teens and a resident of Morgan Hill. Her work for the last seven years has focused on affordable housing and homeless issues in Santa Clara County. Reach her at dc******@*****er.net.
