Atascadero’s Annual Tamale Festival takes place this weekend and participants are busy prepping for the event.
Garcia’s Restaurant owner and award-winning tamale maker, Carlos Garcia, says a lot of labor goes into the festival.
“There’s like five or six people working the last two days," Garcia said.
He estimates they’ve already made 3,600 tamales and says the secret to his success is the labor of love that goes into preparing them.
“Just keep loving what you do, you know? We really like what we do,” Garcia said.
He adds that this event has been beneficial to his business.
“It brings all the community together, you know, so it brings more people to the restaurant,” Garcia said.
Atascadero’s Community Services Director, Terrie Banish, said the festival originated nine years ago as the city council brainstormed ways to engage their residents.
“We were always brainstorming different events and unique events to bring to the city of Atascadero,” Banish said. “What about a tamale festival?”
The first-ever tamale festival turned out to be a huge success.
“We ended up with 7,000 people on the first day, sold out within an hour and a half. It was like, okay, we have ourselves a really good event,” Banish said.
From there, the event continued to grow. In recent years, total tamale sales have reached 45,000.
The event's success has helped make Atascadero stand out.
“It's not an event that people can easily duplicate,” Banish said.
The Tamale Festival will take place this weekend:
- Friday’s festivities will take place from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
- Saturday’s all-day event will last from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
