Gilroy Gardens Debuts Food & Wine Festival- Harvest @ Night

Hey there, Park Journey readers!

This Sunday, I ventured down to Gilroy to check out the new Harvest @ Night, the November edition of Gilroy Garden's new "@ Night" series. In case you missed it, we recently reviewed their October event, Halloween @ Night

Harvest @ Night is the park's "Food & Wine" style festival, intended for more of an adult audience. This fall themed event offered a nice way to relax in the park while taking in some rides and beverages. 

​Written by Andrew Cunningham

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Gilroy Gardens is a beautiful park, and it was nice to have the opportunity to walk around without it being so densely packed with families. The park's lighting really brings it to life at night, although most of the displays remained unchanged from the @ Halloween event. The main difference was the noticeable absence of children. 

Unlike the park's previously evening events, Quicksilver Express was open for night rides! The wooded area that the ride occupies was decked out with colorful lighting, which added some extra fun to the coaster. 

Long queues were definitely not a factor. The ride crew allowed us to stay on and cycle as many times as we wanted. I always thought Quicksilver Express was a really fun coaster, so having our own nighttime ERT session really made our visit! :-) 

Next up was checking out the food, which was unfortunately the low point of the event. 
For a Food & Wine style event, the menu was really limited, with the food quality ranging from average to poor. Our favorite thing was the cranberry chicken wings, but those took us about 20 minutes to get. The pork slider was probably my least favorite, as it was really just ham deli meat and wasn't very appetizing. 

​Oh well- you win some, you lose some. 

With that said, the beer selection was great! 

Next time, I'd eat before coming to the park and then spend my time strolling along with drinks. :-) 

The park set up a stage for bands to perform. The music set a very nice atmosphere and people seemed to really enjoy the shows. 

They also had a selection of tailgating games and fire pits set up around the stage. This are was really popular when the bands were playing. The fire pits were all occupied and people were out playing games and drinking beer.

​Not a terrible way to spend an evening!

A visit to Gilroy Gardens always requires a visit to Bonfante Falls, which really come alive at night. Even more fun to run through the falls with a drink in hand! 

The train was also open for night rides, complete with some near pitch-black moments. As you can see, we definitely had our pick of seats. 

And that concludes our visit to Gilroy Garden's Harvest @ Night event!

While it wasn't a complete home run, it was still a really fun way to spend an evening at the park. Night rides on Quicksilver Express were definitely the highlight of the event, with the beer, fire pits, and tailgating games also adding a lot to the atmosphere. 

And remember, NorCal locals- Gilroy Gardens is included as a perk on the California's Great America Gold Pass. 

Cheers and thanks for reading!

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• California's Great America Debut's Single Rail Rollercoaster for 2018
• Trip Report: Canada's Wonderland - A Beautiful Park with two Top 20 Coasters
• Red, White and Brews at California's Great America ​​

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