Gilroy Garlic Festival announces summer 2025 return at new location

GILROY, Calif. (KGO) -- The iconic Gilroy Garlic Festival is officially coming back.

Organizers made the announcement on Friday afternoon.

From July 25 through 27, it will be held at a new location - the Gilroy Gardens.

Santa Clara resident Yajaira Gonzalez was happy to receive the news.

"I'm really excited it's coming back. Me and my friends were just actually talking about it last week," Gonzalez said.

Gilroy resident Linda Berti said the festival is what people associate Gilroy with.

"It identified who this town was it brought a lot of people here it helped the economy around here. So I think it's fabulous that we're getting it back. I was so disappointed that it went away," Berti said.

In 2019, there was a tragic mass shooting during the event. Three people were killed and 17 were injured.

VIDEO: Remembering the victims of Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting on 1-year anniversary of tragedy

Gilroy city leaders gathered at the site of the mass shooting to honor the three victims who were fatally shot by a 19-year-old gunman one year ago.

For the last six years, coordinators have worked to reinvent the beloved festival.

Cindy Fellows is a past president and the current board director of the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association.

"So we have taken all the things that everyone loves and we've just kind of made it a little bit smaller," Fellows said.

This year's festival will be on a much smaller scale.

They're limiting the capacity to 3,000 guests per day - that's different from the average 30,000 it used to be.

Fellows said it will be a more intimate event with entertainment, food, and vendors.

"When it got so big and we had to move for parking, you know that was something else we had to do bussing and so for forth, so this is going to be onsite parking," Fellows said.

Jennifer Gardea and her husband Jorge Segura own Vines and Pints in downtown Gilroy - they would love to see this community thrive.

"It was like the one thing in Gilroy people could count on, I mean a lot of the neighborhoods they would have parties and they would walk over together so it was the spirit of Gilroy," Gardea said.

So many people identify Gilroy with the festival. And of course, everyone has a favorite garlic food.

For Yajaira Gonzalez - it's the garlic fries.

Jorge Segura - the garlic noodles.

Jennifer Gardea - the garlic bread.

"Well, everything - I'm Italian and I like garlic so anything you put garlic in, I'm going to eat," Linda Berti said.

You will have to buy tickets in advance.

Organizers say keep an eye out for when they go on sale on their website.