Five years after tragic shooting, can the Gilroy Garlic Festival return?

It was the final evening of the 2019 Gilroy Garlic Festival, and Gene Sakahara was rushing around the grounds as he had every year for four decades when he suddenly heard what sounded like fireworks popping. Then he saw the screaming crowd and realized what it really was: gunshots.

Sakahara and others rushed to herd a nearby group of children, including two of his grandchildren, behind the cover of a barbecue. With a chafing dish in one hand and a knife in the other, Sakahara stood guard by the crying youths, unsure of where or how many shooters there might be.

Later that night, Sakahara and his kin emerged safely, but the gunman had wounded 17 people and killed three — 6-year-old Stephen Romero of San Jose; 13-year-old Keyla Salazar of San Jose; and 25-year-old Santa Cruz resident Trevor Irby — leaving indelible scars on the community.

After the mass shooting, the Garlic Festival as the community knew it ended, cutting off a beloved tradition and a vital source of funding for the city’s nonprofits and local organizations.

Five years later, a growing group throughout the city is hoping to revive the festival, aiming for a smaller, safer event that could give back to the community again. While the desire for a festival is nearly universal among those interviewed by this news organization, potential organizers face increasing insurance rates and safety concerns in their efforts to bring it back.

“My attitude is we shouldn’t let a crazy murderer decide our fate in the future,” said Sakahara. “Bring it back because it’s part of Gilroy, the identity of Gilroy.”

Before the devastating events of July 28, 2019, the Gilroy Garlic Festival enjoyed international acclaim as a beloved food festival. From its roots as a humble luncheon in 1978, it grew into a phenomenon with an annual attendance of around 100,000 for nearly four decades, attracting curious foodies, famous chefs and garlic fanatics from around the world for garlic ice cream, shrimp scampi and pepper steak sandwiches.

“In Gilroy, it’s like a holiday. It’s Christmas in July,” said resident Steve Williams, who attended for decades.

Sakahara has been involved in the festival since its inception, most notably as one half of SakaBozzo, a cooking demonstration duo with fellow festival faithful Sam Bozzo. He said the festival led to a profound change in the reputation and civic pride of Gilroy. Before the festival, he remembers sometimes being embarrassed about coming from “a town that stinks like garlic,” but the festival made it “chic to reek.”

The event was nearly entirely run by some 4,000 volunteers and gave out hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, offering a lifeline to more than a hundred charities and nonprofit organizations throughout the city, and providing around a third of the funding for the Chamber of Commerce. In the wake of the shooting, many organizations are struggling to find new sources of funding.

The festival also attracted commerce, filled hotel rooms and brought in accompanying taxes. When the festival left, so did the source of revenue. “Financially, it was a big hit,” said Jane Howard, interim president of the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce.

Efforts to bring back the festival began as early as 2020, but was hampered by COVID. In 2021, the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association, which runs the festival, attempted a smaller iteration at the local amusement park Gilroy Gardens, but the insurance liability had leaped from $6 million to $10 million after the shooting. At that rate, the festival association could not afford for anyone to insure them, said City Councilmember Tom Cline, who also served as president of the association from 2019 to 2021.

Since then, the festival has taken on a half-dozen smaller iterations, like a drive-through festival with live music in 2021, and a pasta dinner and songwriters concert this year, among others. But Cline and others are dedicated to bringing the event back to Gilroy.

Cline nostalgically described the former festival as a class and family reunion rolled into one, calling it “the heartbeat of Gilroy.”

“If there’s one thing I want to see done, it’s seeing this come back,” said Cline. “It’s kind of a mission in my life.”

Even some who were present on the day of the shooting hope to see the festival return. Both Steve Williams and his wife Anabel Williams ran from the sound of gunshots that Sunday, but say they would attend the garlic festival if it came back. “This is the only thing that stabilized Gilroy,” said Anabel Williams. “It helped out so many people.”

But for others, it is much harder to move on. Wendy Towner was selling honey with her husband when she confronted the gunman to distract him from a nearby group of children, including her own young son. Her child ended up safe, but the gunman shot her and her husband. She still bears the physical and emotional scars and goes to physical therapy and trauma therapy every week. “We’re still looking over our shoulder,” Towner said. “My life is never ever going to be the same.”

In November of 2019, Towner and a group of other victims sued the city, the Festival Association and First Alarm Security & Patrol, Inc., which provided security for the event, alleging the defendants were negligent in ensuring that the event was secure.

Last November, the case was dismissed on the grounds that “a mass shooting incident was not a reasonably foreseeable risk.”

The group is appealing the decision. While many in Gilroy cite the lawsuit as one of the reasons for the high insurance, Towner says it isn’t a matter of being for or against the festival. “I think we all want the same thing. We all want safety. We all want to have a good time,” said Towner. “I don’t want the Garlic Festival shut down. … My biggest concern is will they make it safe.”

In the wake of the lawsuit’s dismissal, efforts have ramped up to bring the festival back. In late August, the City Council will be revising the permit process for special events like the garlic festival, including examining the criteria for insurance.

For its part, the festival association has begun making nascent plans to bring back the festival with fewer people, with some proposing an event of around 30,000 — making it both easier to secure and less expensive to insure. While there are several potential locations, Gilroy Gardens has emerged as a popular contender because the theme park has built-in parking and fencing surrounding the park. Current president of the Garlic Festival Cindy Fellows emphasizes that nothing is set in stone, but says she hopes to see the festival return next year.

“For anybody who is from Gilroy, who has the heart of Gilroy, the Garlic Festival was an absolute treasure. And I for one refuse to believe that it’s gone,” said Gilroy Mayor Marie Blankley. “It grew from nothing. It could totally start over again that exact same way.”