Turkey dinners and insane shopping deals are on the horizon, but the real holiday magic starts on the first Saturday in December.
On that first Saturday, AVA Amphitheater is transformed into a tamal wonderland. Booths are covered with bags and bags of corn husk-wrapped deliciousness.
Everywhere you turn, you’ll see seas of red chile, green corn, dessert and gourmet tamales, making your stomach growl as soon as you step foot into the festival. By the time it’s over, you’ll leave with a happy stomach and a handful of tamales in tow, ready for your Christmas feast.
Nothing can come close to that magical feeling you get when you take your first bite of a red chile tamal. Once you get a mouthful of the masa and spicy shredded beef, that warm holiday feeling washes over you.
Casino Del Sol is making sure everyone gets to experience the holiday magic that tamales bring.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, Casino Del Sol will host their 19th annual Tucson Tamal and Heritage Festival, bringing tamales, music, contests, vendors — and even more tamales — to the AVA Amphitheater, located at 5655 W. Valencia Road.
It’s hard to imagine that the festival was once a small event with little community participation. Over the past 19 years, Jessica Savare, the director of marketing at Casino Del Sol, and the rest of her team have been able to grow the festival, expecting over 10,000 attendees this year.
On the first Saturday of December, Casino Del Sol will host their annual Tucson Tamal and Heritage Festival at the AVA Amphitheater.
“It's a lot of planning. We hit June and we're thinking we're behind already,” Savare said. “So, minimum, it’s six months’ time for planning, looking at logos, finding sponsors, working out a media plan and making sure that our application for our vendors goes out to the right places.”
As you make your way through the festival this year, you can expect to find all kinds of delicious treats such as frybread, tacos, burritos, kettle corn and churros. You’ll even be able to shop from local vendors selling their art, jewelry, soaps, shirts and more, helping you check a few Christmas gifts off your to-do list.
While you enjoy your food, you’ll have the chance to watch fun live performances like Tejano acts, folklorico groups, Aztec dancers, mariachis and Pascua Yaqui cultural dancers.
Now it wouldn’t be a tamal festival without mountains and mountains of tamales! Everyone from restaurants to church groups to families have booths where they sell and serve all kinds of tamales.
Whether you’re looking to pick up a few for lunch or buy a dozen for holiday guests, you’ll leave the festival with all your tamal needs satisfied.
The festival even holds multiple contests that participants from all kinds of backgrounds can join. The contest is assessed by more than 50 judges and is split in four categories: traditional (red chile), green corn, gourmet and sweet.
The Tucson Tamal and Heritage Festival also holds four tamales contests: traditional, green corn, gourmet and sweet.
Judging the tamales is more stressful than planning the actual event, Savare said. Participants have to register their tamales first; then at noon, the judges get to work.
Since the red chile category gets the most entries, they start with those first, slowly working their way through the other three categories.
“We spend half of the day just eating tamales, and it's a very tough job,” Savare said.
After they are finished eating all the tamales entered, they vote on their favorites and announce the winners. Cash prizes of $500, $300 and $150 are given to the first, second and third place winners in each category. Then there’s the big prize: $750 for the best overall tamal winner.
“Every winner comes with a story,” Savare said. “Sometimes they're a food restaurant, like Perfecto's Mexican Restaurant. They've won many times, but you get different types of winners. A couple years ago, our best overall tamal winner was a woman that had battled through cancer. She had just been in remission after her treatment and was so excited to win. It was the first time where she was able to do something fun.”
One year, an 18-year-old won the sweet tamal category. He simply enjoyed cooking and wanted to try to put something tasty together, Savare said — and it was obviously so tasty that he won.
Aside from eating all the delicious food, Savare’s favorite part of the festival is seeing all the items vendors that bring. The festival is an opportunity for the whole community to come together, celebrate each other and kick off the holiday season — the tamales are just a plus.
The Tamal Festival is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7. Admission is free. For more information on the festival or the contest, visit their website.
