The Gilroy Garlic Festival is one of the largest food festivals in the United States, held annually in Gilroy, California on the last full weekend in July at Christmas Hill Park. The Gilroy Garlic Festival is considered by some to be the best garlic festival in the world.
The festival was founded in 1979 by Dr. Rudy Melone, Don Christopher, and Val Filice, and has been a fundraiser for local charities, raising a total of about seven and a half million dollars for assorted causes. Individual groups and charities also run booths at the festival, raising additional funds for their causes. The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association is a non-profit organization intended to support non-profit groups and projects in Gilroy.
