A $10M win for nonprofits

The Gilroy Garlic Festival’s tote board, displayed every year during the world-renown extravaganza and proudly declaring the amount of money distributed to nonprofit organizations during the festival’s 35-year history, has to be replaced next year.
But Executive Director Brian Bowe of the Garlic Festival Association doesn’t mind one bit.
The old placard isn’t long enough to support the extra digit needed to proclaim the new charitable figure of $10,366,251 that has been plowed back into the community.
“It’s an awesome number,” said Bowe, who credited the Garlic Festival Board for implementing a successful five-year plan, accompanied with high expectations that include growing donations from the festival each year.
Another “awesome” number announced Wednesday by 2013 Garlic Festival President Dennis Harrigan is the record $350,000 distributed to 167 participating nonprofit organizations from Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Martin. That number has climbed steadily since the festival’s inception in 1979 and is up by $25,000 from last year.
“It’s nice to know that we didn’t suck,” joked Harrigan. “If we had even just matched the previous year’s total, we would have been happy with that.”
He credits the use of technology – specifically credit card capabilities in the ticket booths and Gourmet Alley – more promotional material; the introduction of the new garlic-fried calamari dish (an instant smash created by Mama Mia’s restaurant owner Majid Bahriny that brought in about $37,000) and budget control planning as keys to this year’s record-setting numbers.
Bowe, who is closing in on his eighth year at the helm of the Garlic Festival Association, described this time of year – after all the bills are paid for festival expenses – as the “most gratifying” because he gets to “cut checks to 167 charities.”
“All of our hard work culminates in this opportunity,” he said. “It’s fantastic, but we’ve been working toward that goal. … we’re always trying to work smarter, not harder.”
Around 4,000 volunteers, paid a little more than $9 an hour, logged approximately 39,000 hours to help benefit their specific organizations. This year’s top five earning charities were:
-$17,020 to South Valley Community Church Youth Group
-$13,748 to Gilroy/Christopher HS Alliance Choir
-$11,787 to Live Oak HS Emerald Regime Marching Band
-$11,743 to South Valley Young Life
-$10,520 to Gilroy Police Explorers Post 818
“It is definitely one of our cornerstone fundraisers and a huge part of the success of our program,” said Emerald Regime Band Director Jason Locsin, noting that the funds are used for buying new uniforms, replacing instruments and transportation fees.
Locsin added that band members and their family members “have been doing it for decades.” The 2002 Live Oak High School alumnus said the band’s task each year is stuffing garlic mushrooms in Gourmet Alley.
“We just celebrated ‘35 Summers of Fun’ which also meant 35 summers of success benefiting charities and organizations within our community,” said Harrigan, who passes the leadership torch over to 2014 Garlic Festival President Vito Mercado, the manager of Gilroy’s Nob Hill Foods who served as the festival’s vice president in 2013.
“I think we’re going to beat that record next year, easy,” Harrigan added.
The festival’s do-gooding extends to the community in another way. The three-day foodie mecca is also an economic engine for projects and programs benefiting the community, banking a separate sponsorship fund for capital undertakings that have eclipsed $1 million over the festival’s decades-long existence.
Those projects include:
-$250,000 to help build the new cafeteria at GHS in 2005
-$250,000 for the remodeling of the amphitheater at Christmas Hill Park in 2011
-$250,000 for renovations to the Mulberry Picnic area in 2013.
The Association also set up a scholarship fund, run by the Gilroy Foundation, that currently totals more than $250,000. The interest accumulated by that account is used to provide approximately $15,000 in scholarships to 10 to 15 local students.
This year, another $7,000 in scholarships were given to the three universities – UC Berkeley, Fresno State and San Jose State – whose executive chefs competed in the inaugural Garlic Bowl Friday morning of the festival.
Bowe called the college-themed competition another “great success” that contributed to the “overall buzz” of the festival. It is slated to return for a second showing in 2014.
For festival veterans like 1990 President Sam Bozzo, who has volunteered in various capacities every year, hearing the news of the record numbers “absolutely makes me proud.”
Bozzo is one half of the infamous “Saka-Bozzo” culinary duo (the other being another Past President Gene Sakahara).
“It’s an amazing thing that our community has dedicated themselves to,” said Bozzo, who authored the cookbook, “Any Bozzo Can Cook,” and co-hosted 17 episodes of “Great Kitchens of Gilroy” with his culinary partner. “It’s just really a great thing.”
The 36th edition of the Garlic Festival returns July 25-27, 2014.