Organizers say they plan to host small-scale events this summer.
“Due to lingering uncertainties from the pandemic, along with prohibitive insurance requirements by the City of Gilroy, the Gilroy Garlic Festival Board has decided not to move ahead with a festival for 2022 — and the foreseeable future,” the Garlic Festival board of directors said in a joint statement that was shared with SFGATE.
In the letter, the board of directors expressed their disappointment on the decision, especially after decades of drawing massive crowds to the small Santa Clara County town. The festival, which was first held in 1979, was canceled in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. In 2021, organizers tried to revitalize the celebration with aBut after posting losses for a decade, the festival became financially unsustainable, organizers said.
Tom Cline, former president of the Gilroy Garlic Festival, told the Dispatch that the mounting price of insurance premiums alone had made hosting the event difficult. Other expenses, such as bussing attendees to the venue at Christmas Hill Park, had likewise placed a financial strain. FILE — Esperanza Pineda, center left, and Jennifer Smith, center right, sell locally-grown garlic at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy on July 24, 2004. Organizers of the Gilroy Garlic Festival announced that the longstanding event has been canceled indefinitely.
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