Salsafest 2011

Despite the insanely hot weather this weekend, we still made it out to Salsafest. The temperature gauge on the car read 107 degrees as we pulled into downtown. Thankfully the setting for Salsafest was in the middle of some of the tallest buildings in Tulsa so that gave us some shade. It's kind of crazy but I didn't really notice the heat.



My goal for Salsafest was to taste the best, hot salsa I've ever had. Mission accomplished!

The only problem was there wasn't any to buy. BUMMER. Such a tease. 'Here, eat this and love it. Want more? Oh, I'm sorry, I just made this for the contest.' But, we did talk to the mastermind behind the salsa and he said if he won (and he did) that he would think about making it and selling it. Um, yes, that's a wonderful idea!

Funny little story about that. I thought the guy looked familiar when we get our samples so I asked him where he went to school and some other questions and then he said, "Corbett?" That's my maiden name, by the way. So, I say, "yes?" Turns out I recognized him from one of the first "real" jobs I ever had. "Real" being a kid's play place called Discovery Zone. Anyway, I worked there in high school for a little while and so did he. So now I totally have an in to harass him for more salsa!! YAY.

Ok, back to Salsafest. Like I said, it was set in downtown Tulsa and there were tons of tents set up with samples from 3 different categories of traditional, alternative and spicy. Guess which tent we hit up first! Yes, spicy. Oh, and notice sweet p's salsa dress! She fit right in.



We sampled each of the salsas and marked our ballots. About that time, a large group of people started making there way to the center of the festival. There were bright colored dresses and oversized heads! It was awesome.






They did a little dance and then it was time for the chihuahua race. I didn't get any pics of the race, mainly because I'm short but also because the crowd was so thick surrounding the race that I didn't feel like fighting my way through.



There was also a chili eating contest and I missed out on watching that because I was too busy sampling salsas, but I heard it was intense - straight from the girl puking in the trash can trying to get the peppers out of her system! Eww.

All in all, Salsafest 2011 was awesome. I'm already excited about next year. Did I mention Elote put the event on and proceeds went to Sustainable Tulsa. Awesome. Speaking of Elote, have you ever tried their puffy tacos?



You must.

Oh, and thank you to everyone for your helpful comments on salsas to try. I'll be hitting you for secret recipes (Amanda) and other offers (Ashley)!