The 38th annual Gilroy Garlic Festival welcomed over 82,000 guests from around the world to Christmas Hill Park this past weekend to enjoy gourmet garlic food, live entertainment, cooking competitions, and family fun. Revenue from the three-day festival totaled an estimated $2,305,234 which is up 7% from 2015.

Competition on the Garlic Cook-Off Stage kicked off on Friday, July 29. CAL FIRE / South Santa Clara County Fire Protection District were the victors in the first-ever Gilroy Garlic Festival Champions for Charity cooking challenge.

On Saturday, Rebecka Evans from Danville, CA claimed the coveted garlic crown –and $5,000 cash prize – in the Great Garlic Cook-Off, one of the nations most prestigious amateur cooking contests.

On Sunday, four professional chefs faced off in the Iron Chef-style -Garlic Showdown-, where contestants had to prepare two dishes using a mystery basket of ingredients that included Silva sausage, Cracker Jacks, and orange flesh melon – and plenty of garlic, too, of course. Chef Michael Fisher from Fishers Delicatessen and Catering in Hollister, CA won the $3,000 prize.

Things were really smoking on Saturday and Sunday during the first-ever Gilroy Garli-Que BBQ Challenge. On Saturday, Burnin and Lootin smoked the competition to win Overall Grand Champ in the official Kansas City BBQ Society-sanctioned competition. Smokey Luv BBQ was named Reserve. On Sunday, SHOWOFF BBQ claimed ultimate bragging rights among amateur BBQ chefs as winner of the Gilroy Garli-Que Backyard BBQ Rib Throwdown competition.

>City(s) = Gilroy; State(s) = CA; Country = USA.
>Title = Gilroy Garlic Festival at Christmas Hill Park, Gilroy, CA, USA - Video.
>Keywords = Gilroy Garlic Festival, Christmas Hill Park, Gilroy, CA, USA, Garli-Que BBQ Challenge, Smokey Luv BBQ, Bar-B-Qs-2 Go, Son of Smoke, Kansas City BBQ Society, KCBS, Raleys, Bel Air, and Nob Hill Foods, garlicky food (588)
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