Just because April is over, that doesn’t mean the city of Indio is done with festivals.
The city is debuting Asada Fest, a one-day celebration of Hispanic culture and, of course, carne asada. On Saturday, May 10, food vendors, live music and fun can be found at a free party happening at downtown Indio’s Center Stage.
During a recent phone interview with Miguel Ramirez-Cornejo, the city’s economic development director, he discussed how Asada Fest came to be.
“It initially started because of the success of the BBQ Festival that we had in October here in downtown Indio,” Ramirez-Cornejo said. “The thought is: What can we do on the opposite end of the year that’s similar? We kicked around another barbecue festival, but two barbecue festivals in one year is too much. Karina (Campos, the city’s marketing analyst) said, ‘Well, why not a carne asada festival? And let’s celebrate Hispanic culture. Since most of our residents are Hispanic, let’s just celebrate that.’”
Ramirez-Cornejo said the importance of carne asada goes beyond its deliciousness.
“People go to friends’ and family houses to have carne asada, and it’s a really good time to listen to music, eat good food and just hang out and chill with each other,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to provide. Obviously, with the festivals taking up pretty much all of April, May is our next closest time. We know the heat is a challenge, but we know the community is used to it, and hopefully we’ll get the ‘cooler’ warm temperatures.”
Each vendor must have at least one menu item involving carne asada. Thinking outside of the box is encouraged.
“We saw a tamale pizza at the tamale festival, and we’re going to have a carne asada pizza this time around,” Ramirez-Cornejo said. “We have vendors getting creative.”
“People go to friends’ and family houses to have carne asada, and it’s a really good time to listen to music, eat good food and just hang out and chill with each other. That’s what we’re trying to provide.
Miguel Ramirez-Cornejo, city of indio’s economic development director
While the Tamale Festival allows some members of the public to serve their homemade foods, health regulations kept the city from allowing it at this event.
“We do have to stick to traditional vendors, because they need to have their permit and all that,” he said. “We would love to open it up to just anyone in the community, but because of health reasons, we have to stick to actual vendors who have their food handlers’ cards, and (make sure) that they’re permitted to make and sell carne asada.”
(Editor’s note: Raffi Frensley, the marketing manager from Pickering Events LLC, which produces the Tamale Festival with the city of Indio, clarifies: “All food vendors at the Indio International Tamale Festival—including home-based tamale makers—are required to comply with all state and county health regulations. Our community program supports small-scale tamale makers by guiding them through the permit process; it does not exempt them from it. We work closely with the city of Indio and Riverside County Department of Environmental Health to ensure every participant is fully permitted and trained.”)
There will be one food-related event involving the community at Asada Fest: a guacamole making contest.
“We’re going to do a call-out for participants, and that could be anyone from the community,” Ramirez-Cornejo said. “We’ll give them a small budget to buy their ingredients, and then onstage, they will have roughly about 30 minutes to make guacamole, and then we’ll have our judges taste them. It’s just something to get the community involved. There’ll be a little prize that we give to (the winner), but it’s also just that friendly competition.”
Asada Fest is embracing Mexican-American culture beyond just the food element by hosting a stacked musical lineup of Spanish acts, ranging from psychedelic cumbia to classic norteño.
“We rarely do an all-Spanish type of event, so for this one, we thought, ‘What can we find local?’” Ramirez-Cornejo said. “That’s why we chose Cálmala, one of my favorite bands here from the valley. I’ve seen them a couple of times; we’ve had them at one of our Second Saturdays, and they’re just a lot of fun, with lots of energy. We have La Maestria, who are also (from the east valley), and that’s your traditional norteño type of music, something that we grew up listening to. Then we have La Sonora Dinamita, which is your quintessential, traditional music that we’ve all heard. Even if you don’t know who sings the song, you’ve heard the song at either a baptism, a wedding or a birthday party. When you hear that music, everyone is dancing, and so we wanted to bring that lively type of atmosphere.”
Ballet Folklórico Sol Del Desierto will perform traditional Mexican dances.
“They have kids and adults, and they do the traditional Mexican dances with their beautiful dresses, and I believe they have a couple of Central American dances that they do,” Ramirez-Cornejo he said. “We wanted something to be representative of our community for this event.”
Asada Fest will take place at Center Stage, a permanent stage in downtown Indio with lights, sound and more. Ramirez-Cornejo called it “the center of downtown Indio.”
“Having a permanent stage, in the long run, saves us money,” he said. “We don’t have to bring in the generator; we don’t have to bring in a stage and all that stuff, or a sound system. Now we own most of the sound that’s needed for just about every concert, and we have our AV team manning the sound and all that, so it’s a true asset to our community. Now we can pop up an event, essentially, whenever we want. It’s in the middle of downtown. We have a natural beer garden with the (Indio) Taphouse right next door, and they have their patio area, and then we have Gabino’s (Creperie) and Papa Headz there. We already have some vendors built in, so let’s try to support it.”
Ramirez-Cornejo said he’s curated this event with the community in mind.
“We try to provide an excellent experience for our residents,” he said. “For the most part, there are a lot of things that are free, and that is something that we aim to do. The kids’ zone, that is all free to kids. They’ll have an obstacle course, one bounce house and a couple of games.
“We’re also engaging our local dulceria to sell candy, and to provide the traditional Hispanic candies and treats that you have. They’re one of our Indio businesses, so we’re not just putting on an event and using vendors from anywhere; we’re reaching out to our existing business owners to see how they can expand their reach. We don’t charge our vendors in order to be a part of our event. We want them, especially if they’re local, to succeed. We know sometimes it’s a stretch on their staff … because they also have a retail store in some cases, so why charge them for that? Let’s let them not take a loss on this event by paying registration fees or anything. Come be successful; come expand your clientele; and enjoy the community as well.”
Asada Fest will take place from 3 to 9 p.m., Saturday, May 10 at Center Stage, 82881 Miles Ave., in Indio. The event is free, with food available for purchase. For more information, visit instagram.com/cityofindio.
Clarification added on May 9.
