Garlic Festival Association bestows $65,000 to region’s nonprofits
Despite lawsuits from mass shooting, organizers persist in raising funds
Gilroy Life file photo
By Calvin Nuttall
The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association continues its annual tradition of philanthropy by donating grants worth a combined $65,000 to local causes.
In a presentation ceremony Dec. 5 at Gilroy Presbyterian Church, the nonprofit’s board members Cindy Fellows, Trevor Van Laar, and Kirsten Karr recognized more than 30 groups chosen to receive grants or volunteer payouts from the association.
“As always, it is the community that makes this happen,” Van Laar said to the audience. “We are always trying to give away money — it is a part of who we are. It comes from the sales of various things, food and merch and everything else. More importantly, it comes from the hard work of everybody in this room and the community that has kept the Garlic Festival going.”
Unravel Pediatric Cancer received a grant worth $1,500. Founded by Tony and Libby Kranz, the nonprofit is dedicated to fighting cancer by removing many of the roadblocks associated with funding medical research. The couple’s daughter, Jennifer, died of an incurable form of brain cancer 10 years ago.
“We were new to the community when our daughter got sick, and the community picked us up and carried us through the hardest time in our life,” Libby Kranz said. “Most importantly, they took care of our support people, our family, while they were supporting us. That, to me, is what Gilroy is, and why we are so grateful to live here and be a part of this community.”
Live Oak Adult Day Services, a nonprofit that provides assistance to seniors with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, also received a $1,500 grant.
“We are really proud to be a big part of the community here in Gilroy,” said Ann Peterson, executive director of Live Oak Adult Day Services. “The most important thing is the break we give to the people who are taking care of these folks every day. And here in Gilroy and South County, there are a lot of families who really need our help, so we are happy to go to work every day.”
A trio of local community leaders founded the Garlic Fest in 1979: Don Christopher, the founder of Christopher Ranch; Val Filice, a well-known local chef and farmer; and Dr. Rudy Malone, then president of Gavilan College. The festival has always been about giving money back to the community even before the association began offering grants, Van Laar said.
“The Garlic Fest started off this way,” he said. “Even back then, we had the thought process that, if you volunteered at the festival, you got paid a dividend. It grew out of that.”
In July 2019, a lone gunman opened fire at the Garlic Festival, killing three guests and injuring 17. The lawyers of victims filed a lawsuit in November 2019 alleging the Festival Association, the city of Gilroy, and the private security contractor First Alarm were negligent in providing adequate security for the festival. The lawsuit, COVID-19 in 2020, and a massive rise in costs for insurance and additional security forced the association to cancel the world-famous event. It still wanted to give away money, though, Van Laar said.
The association has held only small fundraising events in the past several years. These included a country music concert at Clos LaChance winery, a Gourmet Alley drive-thru, and a special dinner in a cherry orchard. These efforts focused on supporting the local volunteers and organizations by offering grants in addition to the traditional volunteer payouts.
Though its legal troubles may not yet be completely over, the Garlic Festival could have a future reemergence in some capacity. On Nov. 16, the Superior Court of California for the county of Santa Clara dismissed the City of Gilroy, the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association, and First Alarm from the case of Wendy Towner et al. v. Gilroy Garlic Festival Association, Inc. et al., one of two suits brought against them by the victims of the shooting.
“Fortunately, it looks like we are moving along in our lawsuit,” Van Laar said. “That has been a lot of what is keeping us from doing the Garlic Festival. We are so excited and looking forward to the next few years in continuing our goal to support our community, our local government, and our love of people.”
The attorney representing the victims, San Francisco-based Randall Scarlett, plans to appeal the dismissal, arguing it sets a dangerous precedent for liability and security requirements at large public events.
“The Court’s unfortunate ruling essentially holds that festival organizers and security stakeholders in California will be under no duty to take precautions such as securing or monitoring gates like the one the shooter utilized at the 2019 Festival against potential intruder violence or shooters unless there had been a prior shooting at such a festival or event,” Scarlett said in an email to Gilroy Life. “Plaintiffs feel that a jury should be able to determine the appropriate level of security at these large public events in their community.”
Calvin Nuttall is a Morgan Hill-based freelance reporter.