Oxnard
Salsa Festival: A Sensational Weekend of Fun
The
24th Oxnard Salsa Festival was one amazing event filled with
light hearted fun, energizing music and dancing. A relaxed space
where picnicking on the grass while enjoying great salsa music
and watching outstanding community dance groups was a pleasure.
The audience seats were filled with enthusiastic family and
friends who seemed overjoyed to see the youth dancers, as well
as everyone else jumping up to do a salsa. It was so fascinating
to watch a grandmother and grandfather doing an awesome salsa
on the main stage dance floor.
Dancers on Stage
The
Salsa Tent was a wonderland of unique tastes where talented
business owners presented their own recipes for tasting. Participating
were BG_s Café, Chiliiman Salsa, CP Catering by Chef
Ledesma, El Rey Cantina, Fresh and Fabulous, Cafe Hot Mama Salsa,
La Dolce Vita Ristorante, Mesa Salsa, Money Panch, Rubio's Coastal
Grill, Tresseirras Supermarkets, Two Trees Restaurant &
Taps, Vallarta Supermarkets, Whole Foods Markets, Orozco's de
Ventura, Xleio Artisan Desserts, and Zesteez.
I
was delightfully overwhelmed by all the different varieties
of salsa, and sincerely loved them all. The BG's Cafe salsa,
which won overall best of the best, was really special and tasted
delicious on their beef tortilla lunch with green pepper. So
good! One woman told me she and her father drive to Oxnard for
the festival every year just to have BG's salsa. I also loved
the chutney recipes by Zesteez; such a different and delicious
product!
I take my hat off to the eight judges who sampled 26 different
salsas from 14 restaurants, caterers, and professional salsa
makers. Categories were Red, Green, Hot, Medium, Mild and Specialty/Fruit.
The winners were CP
Catering (Best Red and Best Specialty/Fruit salsas),
BG's Café
(Best Green and Best Mild salsas), Vallarta
Supermarkets (Best Hot salsa) and La
Dolce Vita (Best Medium salsa). BG's Café
also took home the Judges' Choice Award (best of the best) for
its green salsa. I enjoyed visiting with owner and team at the
BG's Cafe Booth during the festival, and the Vallarta Supermarkets
Team were alive with energy. CP Catering's fruit salsa was one
of my personal favorites; very cool sweet and delicious.
Festival
goers sampled these and other salsa recipes during the 24th
Annual Oxnard Salsa Festival on July 29 and 30 in Oxnard. See
www.OxnardSalsaFestival.com
for winners of several weekend salsa and dance competitions.
Beverages enjoyed with this bevy of original salsa recipes included
Stella Artois, Wine Margarita's, Frozen Margarita's and countless
varieties of soda or fresh lemonade.
Fantastic Frozen Wine Magarita
Additional
festival highlights included live salsa and Latin bands, a vendor
marketplace, international foods, kids' play zone, community
stage and the popular, "Dancing With Our Community Stars"
contest and charity fundraiser. One of the KEYT3 news announcers
danced in the competition this year.
The
Oxnard Salsa Festival is presented each year by the Oxnard
Downtowners. Sponsors are Bud Light, Gold Coast Broadcasting,
Mission Foods, Oxnard Convention & Visitors Bureau, Premier
America, Vallarta Supermarkets, Ventura County Star, and other
community partners.
By Bonnie Carroll
About Bonnie Carroll
Bonnie Carroll has been a food/travel/lifestyle writer since
1983. She is the founder & publisher of Bonnie Carroll's
Life Bites News - www.lifebitesnews.com,
does travel and food reporting on KZSB1290 radio, and contributes
to a variety of national and international travel/lifestyle
publications. Her first children's book C.C. Charles was published
in 2002 and she is currently working on a second book. Contact
her at Contact her at writebc@aol.com.