Salsa chefs, you’ll have to wait to debut your newest take on salsas borracha and verde.
The city swapped Maricopa’s annual Salsa Festival this year for its seminal Wild West Music Fest, according to Communications and Cultural Services Director Quinn Konold.
“Salsa Fest this year overlapped with the timing of the 20th anniversary celebration,” he said. “This year, Salsa Fest isn’t happening.”
The spicy festival, which debuted in 2004, isn’t the only annual event to miss a 2023 celebration. Copa Glow, the city’s annual hot air balloon festival, was nixed in January.
Konold said the city has yet to begin planning 2024’s events, but information about annual events would become available “in the months ahead.”
Meanwhile, other beloved annual events still appear on the city’s event calendar, including the Pacana Park Pumpkin Walk Oct. 25 and Merry Copa Dec. 2.
![City Manager Ben Bitter speaks during a Chamber of Commerce event at Global Water Resources on April 11, 2024. Bitter discussed the current state of economic development in Maricopa, as well as hinting at lowering property tax rates again. [Monica D. Spencer]](https://www.inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/spencer-041124-ben-bitter-chamber-property-taxes-web-218x150.jpg "City gave new manager big low-interest home loan")
![One of several flyers for a "TikTok rizz party" is taped to a door in the Maricopa Business Center along Honeycutt Road on April 23, 2024. [Monica D. Spencer]](https://www.inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/spencer-042324-tiktok-rizz-party-flyer-web-218x150.jpg "Maricopa’s ‘TikTok Rizz Party,’ explained")
Why no Salsa Festival? The festival is part of Naricopa’s culture. Looks like the planners decide to cancel Salsa for something more spectacular. Was this to satisfy their ego? Why not have both with Salsa Festival later in the fall. Boo to however made the decision.