The Bay or Not The Bay: Gilroy

 

Gilroy Gardens by Emma Horn, 2021

There's one topic of debate that encapsulated life growing up in Gilroy, California. If you have any experience living in California, you know how seriously we take hometown loyalty. For starters, the rivalry between LA and the Bay Area is undeniably legendary. Whether it's the debate over Lights by Journey belonging to San Francisco or Santa Monica, or this season’s series between the Giants and the Dodgers, Northern Californians and Southern Californians are more often than not butting heads. You'd think that with such a hefty rivalry to maintain, we wouldn't have time to argue amongst ourselves. But you'd be wrong.

The Bay Area has become an exclusive club, generally restricted really only to the more dominant cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. A lot of the smaller cities, many of which I'll refer to in later posts, have had to fight for recognition as official parts of "The Bay." The most relevant of these, to both myself and the blog, is Gilroy.

Despite its placement only 90-minutes away from any of the major cities, Gilroy is often not considered part of the Bay Area; and, if you're from here, you know how much of a struggle it is to convince city natives that we deserve our Bay title just as much as anyone else. Even while temporarily living out of state, I found myself having the same arguments I grew up having with friends from San Jose. I've often heard the argument that Gilroy is too much of a farm town to truly be considered part of the Bay, or that it's too small to really matter. I'm not too proud to admit that, considering that it is a city that has only recently seen major jumps in population and notoriety, the point that Gilroy isn't extremely significant to the Bay scene is a fair one. However, to dismiss it as a part of the Bay Area entirely isn't necessarily valid.

For the purpose of technicalities, let me get the boring stuff out of the way. The Bay Area is widely accepted as including nine counties -- Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, Sonoma, and, of course, Gilroy's own Santa Clara County. Gilroy may literally be the southern most city in the southern most county of the San Francisco Bay Area, but technically speaking, you do have to count it. Especially if you accept San Jose as being one of the three major cities. Because, Gilroy haters, even the Bay needs farmland. 

Geography aside, Gilroy also does have attributes that build its attractiveness. The Garlic Festival, for one, sees tourists from all around the world, and has been visited by celebrity chefs such as Tom Colicchio and music acts such as Colbie Caillat. The Gilroy Premium Outlets is a perfect change of scenery from the Great Mall or Valley Fair (and not to mention a break for your pockets). Additionally, while it is admittedly marketed towards children, we do have an amusement park, and despite being small in comparison to more widely-known theme parks, Gilroy Gardens touts high attendance records season after season, and continues to wow with their holiday light specials and beautiful scenery. This doesn't even cover the numerous small businesses and locally run organizations that keep this town active sun-up to sun-down. 

More often than not, big communities like the Bay Area fall into this trap of only being recognized for their dominant cities. There's no argument to be made against the fact that, undoubtedly, San Francisco and Oakland have the most impact on Bay culture and lifestyle. That being said, the continued cultivation of Bay Area tradition, and the expansion of the Bay Area's notoriety across the globe will only be accomplished with help from the talent and natural beauty of the smaller cities. Gilroy is just one of the many criminally underrated NorCal cities. It's amazing what you miss out on when you only focus on the big picture. 

Sources :

Bay Area Census, Cities, January 25 2022, http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/cities.htm

Holtzclaw, Gary, "Gilroy Garlic Festival 2019 top chefs," Gilroy Dispatch, July 25 2019, Jan 25 2022, https://gilroydispatch.com/top-chefs-headline-2019-garlic-festival/