Published in the June 10-23, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
The 36th annual Mushroom Mardi Gras food festival during the Memorial Day weekend brought in between 70,000 and 80,000 people and raised about $70,000 in net profit to go to scholarships for local students.
“A lot of people who attended this year said it was one of the best they had ever been to,” said Sunday Minnich, the executive director for the Mardi Gras. “It was well organized, they liked the layout, and a lot of vendors were very happy.”
Vendors ranged from local downtown stores Just G’s and Tryst to a vendor who came from New York, she said.
Sunday May 24 of the festival set a record in the amount of beer sold in a single day at the Mardi Gras. Minnich attributed this to the warmer weather than Saturday and the popularity of singer Shane Dwight who performed at the Downtown Amphitheater at noon.
Most of the money raised for scholarships at the festival comes from wine and beer sales, she said.
Some people have suggested the Mushroom Mardi Gras charge admission like the Gilroy Garlic Festival does (at $20 per person) but the overhead of putting up fencing around the downtown and added security would not be worth it the effort, Minnich said.
“We will continue having a free festival because we want everyone to enjoy it from people who like to shop to low-income families who want to have something to do with their kids on a weekend,” she said. “It brings in a variety of people.”
For next year’s Mushroom Mardi Gras, the organizers are planning to attract more higher quality artists. The group is also considering a poster contest to encourage local artists to come up with fun promotional posters for the festival, Minnich said.
