Tamale time
ASU alumni stage annual festival in Somerton/B1
SOMERTON — With tens of thousands of tamales being served up — filled with every imaginable ingredient — lovers of that traditional Mexican fare should get their fill here on Saturday.
But there’ll be something in the Somerton Tamale Festival for aspiring college students as well.
The festival annually raises thousands of dollars in scholarships for area students who plan to continue their educations at Arizona State University.
Tamales will be available for purchase from any of the more than 40 vendor booths set up along Somerton’s Main Street for the festival organized by El Diablito Club, the Yuma-area chapter of ASU alumni.
The festival, which also features live music, gets started at 11 a.m. and will continue till 10 p.m. Saturday.
This is the 12th year of the festival that annually draws tens of thousands of people from Somerton, but Yuma, San Luis, Ariz., and the region.
“We want the festival to keep on growing and to provide scholarships to more students,” said Carlos Anaya, president of the El Diablito chapter. “We know (a college education) is expensive, and in a family where there are two or three children of school age, it makes it very difficult to give them all an education.”
The festival, along with other fundraising events staged by the chapter with the help of volunteers and financial sponsors, has enabled the chapter to provide $2,000 scholarships to 15 students this year.
The festival always takes place on a Saturday before Christmas, allowing attendees to stock up on tamales for the holiday season.
Depending on their preferences, festival goers can choose among tamales filled with beef, pork, chicken and chile strips and cheese. For those seeking a more exotic option, there will also be tamales filled with fruit, Oaxacan style tamales made with banana leaves, as well as spinach and vegetarian tamales.
Last year’s festival attracted nearly 30,000 people, who collectively purchased nearly 85,000 tamales. Anaya says the chapter hopes to exceed those numbers on Saturday and in the years to come, as people from Yuma County and around the state learn about the event.
Set up at the intersection of Main Street and State Avenue will be the main stage for live music performances that will follow the festival’s opening ceremony at 11 a.m.
Performing throughout the event will be Chuckawalla Rhythm Kings, an acoustical and vocal harmony group from Yuma; blues band Tommy Coz & the Drifters; Side Hustle Band, a rhythm and blues and soul group; Big Boss Band, a blues and rock group; Creedence Relived, a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band; hip hop artist MC Magic, and Chapio Rubio y Sus Plebes de Apoyo, a norteno music group.
Lupillo Rivera, a Grammy winning singer-song writer, will close the entertainment with a performance beginning at 10 p.m.
Taking place on the stage on the west end of Main Street will be area dance and school groups, among them the Kofa High School Royalaires and the school’s orchestra, Destiny Dance, Kofa Royal Dancers, Kofa Band and cheer group, Jazz of Yuma, Glam Dance by Cindy, Fusion, Yexalen Del Comite de Bienestar, SolArena Flamenco, Cultural Chavez, Grupo Folklorico Sol Azteca, Mariachi Flor del Desierto, and Cascabel.
Attendees also will be able to watch the tamale eating contest held as part of the festival. The contest starts at 1:30 p.m.