Gilroy garlic festival canceled indefinitely

[tennisluvrredux]

It looks like the Bay Area’s favorite large, bustling garlicky festival is no longer: This year’s Gilroy Garlic Festival is cancelled and the event could remain cancelled for the “foreseeable future,” the Gilroy Dispatch reports. Festival organizers told the news site a combination of COVID-19 “uncertainties” and “prohibitive insurance requirements,” coupled with the fact that the Garlic Festival Association, which runs the annual event, has been losing money for close to a decade led to the decision. Organizers also told ABC7 News they made no revenue in 2019 and 2020, and were forced to pivot to smaller events in 2021. (Another wrench, the Dispatch added, is the fact that the festival is among the defendants named in several lawsuits filed after the 2019 shooting that left three people dead and 17 injured. Those lawsuits are still pending.)

The plan now is to change the format of the festival; the larger model is done, but smaller events will continue and are still in the mix for 2022, including a golf tournament on June 24, a concert at Clos La Chance Winery, and a farm-to-table dinner planned for later this year.