Gilroy Men’s Team Bears Gifts of Garlic
October 28, 2011 06:50 PM
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Team Captain Timothy Wrye with gifts from Gilroy.
© Jen Pottheiser
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By J. Fred Sidhu, Special to USTA.com
INIDAN WELLS, Calif. – When the Northern California Section men’s team from Gilroy, Calif. got ready to travel to the USTA League 3.0 Senior National Championships, members of the Gilroy community made sure they didn’t leave empty-handed.
Known as "The Garlic Capital of the World," Gilroy is home to the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival, one of the largest food festivals in the United States.
So when the Northern California 3.0 Senior men’s team arrived at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, they came bearing gifts of garlic and a commemorative Garlic Festival poster which they will present to their opponents this weekend.
According to team Captain Timothy Wrye, the Elephant Garlic, which is wrapped in blue mesh, was donated by Christopher Ranch, which grows garlic in Gilroy and produces its own Christopher Ranch brand garlic. "They’re a big garlic producer there in Gilroy," Wrye said.
The other component of the gift is a poster of an original painting by Ruth Irving, a local artist and art instructor in Gilroy, who just happens to play tennis with Wrye’s wife. The poster commemorates the 2011 Gilroy Garlic Festival that took place this past summer.
"When she heard about it, she thought it was a fantastic idea and she jumped into it wholeheartedly," said Wrye, who lives in Morgan Hill. "We have 36 of these (posters) and she signed each of them individually."
The Northern California men’s team will present the Elephant Garlic and Gilroy Garlic Festival Posters to members of opposing teams as part of the traditional gift exchange between Sectional teams at USTA League National Championships.
"Each time we play somebody, each person playing will hand one person on the other side of the net one of these gifts," Wrye said.
As the Northern California team embarked on their seven-hour road trip from Gilroy to Indian Wells on Thursday, Wrye said they could smell the fresh scent of garlic wafting through the air as they drove through town.
This weekend, their opponents will have an opportunity to experience a little bit of Gilroy in the form of a gift.
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