The Gilroy Cannery formerly known as the Filice and Perrelli Cannery was vacant filled only with fading memories.  The buildings were to be torn down making way for a housing development. South County Housing wanted to create a museum within the complex but needed artifacts, they also wanted to honor the men and women who worked in the Cannery while creating a harmonious link to the community. An Event was created that would tell the stories of the people that worked in the cannery.

An article titled "Old Cannery into New Housing" was written by The Gilroy Dispatch staff. Click here to read the article.

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The People and Organizations That Made This Event Possible

Project Director - Nancy Moore Wright, South Bay Housing
Project Humanities Expert - Leah Halper, Gavilan College History Department
Event Production & Multimedia Presentations - MMSolutions
   E.G. Martinez
   Janet Martinez
   Gopher Gold Productions
   Jennifer Colby, PhD
   A. Dennis Gaxiola
   
Gavilan College History Student Interviewers
   Crystal Lombardo
   Erin Fry
   Jackie Penyacsek
   Jeff Harris


Interviewees
   Ruben Trujillo                   Esperanza Perez                
   Frank Vigna                       Tom Koch
   Elenor Roberts                  Ordo Sisters                
   Eda Stimac                             Sarah Aceves                
   Al Filice                                   Dolores Reynosa
   Rose Marie Calabro               Anna Cortes
   Catherine Calabro                 Mary Cardenas
   Marietta Scagliotti


Gilroy Historical Society Docents
   Roberta Hughan
   Al Gagliardi
   Connie Rogers
   Katherine Tsujimoto
   Edith Eddie
   Claire MacFarlane
   Carol DeSantis


Sponsors
   California Council for the Humanities [California Stories Fund]
   Union Bank of California
   Washington Mutual Bank
   Geomatrix Consultants
   First American Title
   Scott Schork - BKF Engineers
   Gilroy Historical Society
   Gavilan College History Department

Program and Activities

• Walk of History

• Old-Time Radio Production

• Cannery Slide Show

• Scanning Station (​for collecting & preserving documents and pictures)

• Children’s Art

• Refreshments


Cannery History panel
Welcome by Dennis Lalor, South County Housing

Panel Moderator: Leah Halper

Panelists:
   Dolores Reynoso
   Marietta Scagliotti
   Ernie Marques
   George Goris

​

Thank You

Cannery History Committee
   Cecilia Weymuth
   Bunny Filice
   Susan Voss
   Leah Halper
   Crystal Lombardo
   Lucy Solorzano
   Lani Yoshimura
   Connie Rogers


Children’s Art
   Sue Ann Hillyer
   Rebekah Newman
   Alex Magellan

The event was held inside the cannery. A stage was set up with theater curtains as the backdrop for the panelists to tell their stories. The panelists were shown on a large screen, for the audience, as they were being video taped.

A path was created in another part of the cannery with hanging banners lining the path along with large pictures on easels, albums or artifacts on pedestals and docents ready to answer questions. The path culminated at the Old Time Radio Production.

Below is a slide show of the banners that hung on the “Walk of History.” 
​Click play on banner to automatically play the slide show or click on arrows to move forward and backward manually.