PHOENIX — The margarita may be the drink of the Southwest, but state senators rejected a bid to have it declared the “official” Arizona drink in favor of something with a little less kick: lemonade.
The vote Wednesday is a victory for Gilbert teen Garrett Glover, who convinced his hometown Republican Rep. Warren Petersen to sponsor legislation adding a state drink to a host of other official items. These range from neckwear and gemstones to mammals and butterflies.
But Sen. Victoria Steele, D-Tucson, suggested to colleagues that if they were going to make such a declaration they were headed down the wrong path.
“What is a great Mexican dinner in Arizona without a margarita?” she asked. “Why, it’s a shame.”
Steele also said her colleagues were ignoring the fact that the world margarita championships are held in Tucson. And she noted that the annual “margarita crawl” is set for this weekend, also in Tucson.
Finally, Steele suggested that opponents of her proposal were taking the whole issue way too seriously.
“Y’all need to lighten up a bit,” she said.
None of that did any good, with senators voting 15-12 for lemonade.
Glover said he decided to push the issue because Arizona is known for “the five C’s,” specifically cattle, copper, climate, cotton — and citrus. Yet there was nothing official to represent the citrus.
Glover chose lemonade, he said, because Florida already claimed orange juice.
A final roll-call vote will send House Bill 2692, which already has cleared the House, to the governor.
