Vendors From Gilroy Shooting Feel 'Blessed' To Be At Fremont Arts Festival
FREMONT (KPIX 5) -- One week after the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, vendors at the Fremont's Festival of the Arts are still trying to get back to normal.
The space where the Honey Ladies were supposed to be set up is empty. According to their GoFundMe page, Wendy, one of the business owners, and her husband were both shot at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. The fundraising page page says they only survived because they laid completely still when the gunman came over and asked, "Are you alright?"
Other vendors who were at the Gilroy festival say they feel blessed to be here in Fremont this weekend.
"It's really nice to be here," said John Shipp, who makes a living traveling to festivals selling silver jewelry he makes at his studio in the Santa Cruz mountains.
He almost didn't make it to this weekend's Fremont festival because most of his merchandise was stuck inside the crime scene in Gilroy. He was able to go in to Christmas Hill Park on Thursday night to pick it up.
"This is a good show for me and it's important that I was able to get here to do it," said Shipp.
• Gilroy Garlic Festival Shoooting: Continuing Coverage
Not all vendors were that lucky. Brian Gleser with Harmony Tie-Dyes had to improvise.
"We borrowed tents and parts and we put together pieces we had lying around our storage and we made new stuff," said Gleser.
His booth in Gilroy was less than 10 yards from where the gunman opened fire.
"He was right there and we could hear the gunshots," says Gleser. His tie-dye clothing booth still sitting there exactly as it was, merchandise and all.
"Absolutely everything is still there. My van, my luggage, my clothes," he said.
Gleser felt it was important to him to make it to Fremont this weekend. "To be here meant that we're OK. We're safe, we're strong," he said.
The horrid events of Gilroy are never far from the minds of the vendors, even with the heavy presence from Fremont Police.
"It's nerve wracking. I'm always listening for that crackle of gunfire," said Shipp.
The vendors say this is a tight knit community where they see each other weekend after weekend. They say it's difficult to see the empty spaces where familiar faces should be, especially as they are trying to deal with their own traumas from last week's mass shooting.
