Tamale festival returns to Atascadero Jan. 21
Due to popularity of last year’s festival, tamale quantities will be doubled
–The City of Atascadero will present the 2nd Annual Tamale Festival in the Sunken Gardens in downtown Atascadero on Saturday, Jan. 21 from noon to 4 p.m., rain or shine. Due to the success and popularity of the first Atascadero Tamale Festival, the event is returning to Atascadero for an even bigger and better experience, featuring a wide variety of plentiful tamales for everyone. There will be everything from gourmet to traditional to sweet tamales, featuring tamale vendors coming to town from across California. Due to the popularity of the event last year, we have more than doubled tamale vendor participation and tamale quantities.
The city has been preparing for the event with a strong, countywide outreach to numerous local restaurants and caterers, and we also traveled to the famous International Tamale Festival held in Indio, California to promote Atascadero’s event and in search of many more tamale merchants to provide a wide variety of tamales and vendors.
The very popular “Tamale Contest” will return this year, where all of the tamale vendors can showcase their outstanding work in creating the “best” tamale. There will be a “People’s Choice Tamale” and a “Judges Favorite Tamale” In 2016, Shave ‘N Flav won the “Judges Favorite” and La Luz Del Mundo of Paso Robles won the “People’s Choice Tamale” award. Members of the Atascadero City Council will kick off the judging of the Tamale Contest at 12:30 p.m. to select their own personal favorite tamale. The winners of the “Judges Favorite Tamale” along with the People’s Choice for the “Most Popular Tamale” will be announced at 4 p.m.
Our event this year will feature a new “Tamale Eating Contest” Anyone interested in participating should go to the information booth at the event to register for the contest. There will be two separate competition groups for ages 18 and over, and under 18 years of age. These contest participants will have two minutes to eat as many tamales as humanly possible. There will be an entry fee of $15/ person for 18 & over and $10/ person for under 18 years of age. Sign-ups will take place at the information booth at 12 noon and the contest will take place at 2:30 p.m. Space is limited, first come first served. First place winners will receive a trophy.
Entertainment at the Second Annual Tamale Festival will feature the Mariachi Mexicanisimo band, the famous Dancing Horses, soloist Enrique Santos and the Grupo Folklorico Dancers from Paso Robles. The festival will also include bounce houses, face painting, balloon animals and plenty of fun for all ages. A variety of food and craft vendors will be featured, providing a wide variety of other food types to appease everyone’s palette and appetite.
The event is free to attend and enjoy the entertainment, but don’t forget to bring your wallet in order to purchase delicious food, activities and merchandise; and be sure to place your orders from your favorite tamale vendor(s) to stock up, as tamales freeze well too.
For any other questions, please contact Terrie Banish at 470-3490 or email [email protected].
