Deadline to enter Salsa Festival is Friday

With the Maricopa Salsa Festival presented by inmaricopa.com coming up, the last touches – including finalizing registered salsas – are coming together in preparation of the event. The event will take place Saturday, April 30, from 2 to 5 p.m. at Maricopa High School. The volunteer committee members planning the festivities include Scott Bartle, Aime Boekhout, Dan Conlon, Melissa Kunz, Dawn Madden and Marty McDonald.

The inaugural festival consists of multiple categories with prizes for each. Categories are Best Hot Salsa, Best Mild, Most Unusual, Celebrities’ Choice and Best Overall. Prizes include hand painted chips and salsa bowls and platters and a $100 cash prize for the Best Overall.

Commitee members (clockwise from top left) Dawn Madden, Scott Bartle, Melissa Kunz and Marty McDonald display prizes.

The bowls themselves were painted by artist Jen McClelland and add a personal touch to each individual category. McClelland also designed the bowls with assistance from Boekhout and the committee.

McClelland described the design process as relaxed. “All I knew was that I had to put the logo on them. I worked with Aime (Boekhout) to plan it out and took it from there.”

Each platter took about two hours to complete with the bowls finishing a little quicker. “They got better as I went along,” said McClelland, who volunteered her time and talent to the event.

Paula Lambert

and her teammates at Fidelity National Title have already entered their recipe into the competition and can’t wait for the festival. “The Fidelity Salsa Team is looking forward to a fun and festive afternoon participating in this community event,” Lambert said. “We look forward to the challenge of winning the competition!”

The deadline for salsa submissions is this Friday, April 22. All submissions and other questions should be forwarded to the city’s parks and recreation director McDonald at (520) 568-9098 ext. 204 or via email. The committee is also seeking additional volunteers to help out the day of the event. If you are interested in being an integral part of this great event, contact Dawn Madden at (520) 568-0555 or via email.

For more information, visit www.MaricopaSalsaFestival.com.