We went to the Tamale Festival in downtown Gilroy (Oct. 18) and there’s a lot for them to learn. They ought to send a group to Indio, outside of Palm Springs, and see how they run theirs. The first weekend in December is always the Tamale Festival in Indio and they have learned to run a tamale festival. In the beginning it wasn’t so hot, but in time it got better and better and I’m sure this one will too. But there were only two booths with tamales and they ran out. It could’ve been a fun day with all the cars and such, but no tamales, so we went to Mi Pueblo and they were out too. So we went to Taco Bell and had a taco. There were no tamales available. I’m sure it could be a great event for Gilroy
Red Phone:
Red Phone loves tamales, too, good caller. It contacted El Charrito Market owner Karina Andrade and her husband, Francisco, who participated in the Tamale Festival.
“This was the first time for the festival and we weren’t sure how many tamales to make,” Francisco said. “There were a lot of people. We were making tamales as fast as we could. There were only two booths selling the tamales, although the festival organizer CARAS (Community Agency for Resources, Advocacy and Services) posted ads for more food vendors.”
According to Karina, 5,000 tamales were prepared for the first-ever festival, but they’re already thinking ahead to next year, planning for at least 8,000 tamales.
Here’s hoping more food vendors sign up next year and this becomes Gilroy’s next big annual event.
