Week 467-469 - Gilroy Garlic Festival - 08-09-2015

Gilroy Garlic Festival

Since our last travels in the Pacific Northwest, we have stayed a month and a half in Atascadero. We visited with friends and relatives and Ellen had torn meniscus surgery on her left knee. Now, it was time to get back to our tripus interruptus in the Northwest. The Central Coast was hot, very hot. On any trip we check the weather before deciding our path. During this time, we paid really good attention. Sticking to the coast was the only route that would keep the MotherShip at a reasonable temperature.

Our first stop was in Monterey, staying at the Elks Lodge. The large pool was very inviting. Sadly, we both got pretty good colds and still feel the effects today after three weeks. While we did not use the pool, fitness center, indoor spa or sauna, we did enjoy the stay.

We have heard of the Gilroy Garlic Festival for decades, but never attended. It seemed like a good time. We called a few RV parks for reservations. They all told us that they have been sold out for this weekend since January. We were pleasantly surprised to find room at the Gilroy Elks Lodge. Anyone who decides to live full time in an RV should join the Elks. So many times, there has been an Elks where there were no RV parks. Other times, like in this instance, the Elks was available when other parks were not. And they are economical.

The Garlic Festival was the brainchild of Dr. Rudy Melone. His concept was to celebrate garlic with great food, music and activities. The goal of the event was to raise money for local charities. The first festival was in 1979 and drew about 25,000 people. This year there was way over 100,000 paying participants and the festival is one of the largest food events in the country.

The entrance fee was $20.00 but only $10.00 for seniors; yay for old people! Everyone wanted their photo with the giant flaming garlic.

Tens of thousands of people looking over the vendor booths selling anything about garlic.

A big treat is watching the chefs flaming up their pans as they cooked their specialties.

The big garlic ranchers and bakeries all come to the festival. Sumano's Bakery from Watsonville. Christopher Ranch with their Monviso garlic variety from Gilroy.

Everyone was cooking with garlic: bread, scampi, calamari, sausage and more. It all smelled so good. We purchased some garlic bread. Good news first or bad news? Good news is the garlic bread was tasty. Bad news, it didn't hold a candle to Paul Layman's garlic bread. Boy, did we miss Paul on this day.

1) You could purchase hundreds of garlic-labeled glasses, mugs, hats, shirts or even garlic itself. 2) The climbing wall has nothing to do with garlic, but it was always busy.

One of the annual events is the Great Garlic Cook-Off. Eight amateur chefs were selected from across the United States. Notable there was one from Florida, another from Pennsylvania and six more. Each participant started at staggered times and cooked the garlic entry of their choice.

These were the eight entrants standing by their creations just before the winners were announced.

Here is a sample creation along with its decorative display. This one did not win but looked amazing.

As the chef's starting times were staggered, it gave the judges evenly paced intervals to examine, taste and judge each entry. Mr. Garlic chitchats with the five judges who are all professional chefs.

On the right is Merry, one of the chefs. Merry's creation was the Golden Garlic Hoisin Salmon shown above.

While Merry did not win, it was fun for us to spend a little time with Merry and her husband Rick. We have known both of them since we attended church together in Atascadero in 1983. What a treat to stumble upon them at the festival.

The Gilroy Elks, shown here, gave us a pleasant (and available!) place to spend a few days. It was warm, but nothing like the hot weather inland.

Keeping to the coast was the only thing that made sense. So many of the coastal RV parks were full as hundreds of RVers are coming to the coast to escape the incredible heat and smoke from fires. We moved from Gilroy to the Petaluma, California Elks.

Next we visited the Eureka, California Elks. What a beautiful lodge and it had a spectacular "cook your own steak" night. The lodge is large and very well maintained. While the RV parking is level with a paved street, the sites are on worn out gravel and dying grass. If they would upgrade the RV area, it might be the nicest lodge we have been to.

Our final Elks of this trip was the Brookings, Oregon lodge, our 99th Elks lodge. We met and spent time with several nice couples; sharing, learning and playing table games. The MotherShip is on the right. John and Dee's Monaco Diplomat is on the left. From Fort Bragg, they are just starting their full-timing travels. However, they have had four class A diesel motorhomes over the years. Their Diplomat, like ours, is their favorite.

Now, in Oregon, the inland temperatures are getting more bearable. We will be heading to Bend, Oregon to see many of our Pickleball friends.

Until then, stay cool and be blessed.

Love, Pete, Ellen and Mandy.

Photos from Aug 2015