Record crowd flocks to Salsa Festival

The lure of spicy concoctions and a move to an evening event helped the Maricopa Salsa Festival Presented by inmaricopa.com draw a record crowd Saturday to Pacana Park.

City officials’ final count showed about 11,200 people – an increase of 3,200 over last year’s event – showed up to sample the 55 salsas in the contest and take part in the activities and entertainment.

“We went into this hoping for 10,000; realistically we figured 9,000 would show up,” said Marty McDonald, city community services director.

He said one reason for the increase was likely the later start time. The Salsa Festival, now in its fifth year, had previously been held during the day, but moved to the evening this year in order to avoid the midday heat.

The attendees flocked to the salsa contest area, creating logjams at times in front of the most popular booths. Several contestants found themselves out of salsa less than two hours into the event despite making at least the required 6 gallons for each entry. McDonald said in all, festival-goers consumed more than 420 gallons of salsa and 2,500 pounds of tortilla chips.

Ingrid Hoffmann, host of Food Network TV’s “Simply Delicioso,” served as a celebrity judge. Hoffmann, known for her Latin-inspired dishes, told the crowd, “I do know a thing or two about salsa – making, eating and dancing it.”

She said she greatly enjoyed the festival, though helping pick the top entry in the guacamole contest presented her with a new challenge.

“It’s really hard, because there are some really good ones,” she said. “Honestly, I’ve not done a lot of being a judge. I’ve always had to enter my food in contests. So it’s kind of exciting to be the other end of it. But I’m also having a hard time because I’m really liking a few of them.”

For the second year in a row, Amada Landeros and her team walked away with the prizes for best overall salsa and best mild salsa. Landeros narrowly edged Lance Lane’s State Farm team in the best overall category, winning by a mere two votes, the slimmest margin in Salsa Festival history.

“It’s wonderful. It’s great that everyone likes it,” said Landeros, who won $1,000 and a four-night stay at Plaza Pelicanos Grand Beach Resort in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Landeros’ recipe has won the mild category for three years running. When asked what makes her salsa so popular, she said one particular ingredient helps satisfy voters’ taste buds. “Cheese!” she replied. “All the kids like the cheese in it, so we get a lot of votes.”

Mama D’s was also a double winner, taking first prize in the guacamole and bean dip contests. In the hot salsa category, the team Hot Gringo lived up to its name by getting the most votes.

Though Lane’s team fell short in best overall, they finished first in the most unusual salsa contest. In the newly created restaurant category, On the Border Mexican Grill took top honors.

While very pleased with this year’s event, McDonald said the city is working on several changes for next year, including a different date, likely in the end of March. He would like to expand the festival to a two-day affair with more bands and a Southwest-style food cookoff.

McDonald thanked his team of volunteers, who started setting up for the festival on Thursday. “The culmination of watching everyone having fun, it was well worth the long hours,” he said.

Editor’s note: Final attendance numbers were updated on Monday morning.

Top and inset photo by Jake Johnson. Slide show photos by Jake Johnson and Michael K. Rich.