Gilroy Garlic Festival 2026: Dates, Tickets, and What to Know Before You Go

The Gilroy Garlic Festival is back for 2026, and if you've never been, this is the year. If you have been, you already know: garlic ice cream, garlic fries, garlic everything, plus live music and cooking demos in the hills above town. It's the single biggest event in the South Valley calendar.

Here's everything we know so far. We'll keep this page updated as ticket sales open and the lineup gets announced.

What's included with your ticket

Your ticket gets you into the festival grounds plus access to all live musical entertainment and cooking demonstrations. Food and drinks are separate (and worth it). The festival typically runs from late morning through evening each day, with music going into the night on Friday and Saturday.

What to eat

This is a food festival first. The garlic is the hook, but the cooking is genuinely good. Past years have featured garlic shrimp scampi, garlic bread bowls, garlic-infused tri-tip, and the famous garlic ice cream that people either love or photograph with a face of regret.

The Gourmet Alley is where volunteer chefs cook in enormous iron skillets over open flames. It smells like the best backyard cookout you've ever walked past, except scaled up to feed thousands. If you eat one thing, eat whatever's coming off those skillets.

Parking and getting there

The festival grounds are at Hecker Pass, which means winding roads with limited parking. In past years, the festival has run shuttle buses from designated lots in Gilroy. Expect to park off-site and shuttle in.

If you're coming from San Jose or the Bay Area, take Highway 101 South to Gilroy. The Hecker Pass area is west of town off Highway 152. Follow festival signage once you're close. GPS will get you to the general area, but parking attendants direct traffic from there.

A quick history

The Gilroy Garlic Festival started in 1979 after a local named Rudy Melone read about a garlic festival in Antes, France and said, essentially, "Gilroy grows more garlic than anywhere in the country. Why don't we do this?" The first festival drew 15,000 people. It now draws tens of thousands over three days and has raised millions for local charities and nonprofits over its 40+ year run.

The festival moved to the Hecker Pass Outdoor Events Center (renamed from South County Grove) a few years ago. The new venue has better infrastructure but a more limited capacity, which is why tickets sell out and why they don't sell them at the gate anymore.

What else to do while you're in Gilroy

If you're making a trip of it, Gilroy has more going on than people expect. Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park is a 10-minute drive from downtown. The Gilroy Premium Outlets have 145+ stores. And the wineries along Hecker Pass Road (the same road as the festival) are worth a stop on the way in or out.

Downtown Gilroy has good food year-round. Try Nola Street Kitchen for cajun, Westside Grill for brunch, or Craft Roots for something more creative.

If you're coming from out of town and want to stay overnight, book early. Hotels in Gilroy and Morgan Hill fill up during festival weekend.

Tickets: when and how to buy

Tickets haven't gone on sale yet for 2026. When they do, they'll be at gilroygarlicfestival.com and only online. The venue has a limited capacity, and tickets have sold out in past years. There are no on-site sales.

We'll update this post as soon as tickets drop. If you want a heads-up, subscribe to our newsletter below and we'll include it in the weekly roundup.