Indio Tamale Festival

Indio Tamale Festival
Indio Tamale Festival, Indio, CA Dates: Saturday and Sunday, December 3-4, 2011 (Always the 1st weekend in December!)
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Location: Downtown Indio The Festival is between Highway 111 and Indio Boulevard and fills-in the streets of Miles, Towne, Smurr & Requa.
Weather: 79 Degrees, Sunny Days; 40 Degrees, Cool Evenings

IMPORTANT: I have written a book about our experiences selling at Street Fairs, festivals, A&C Shows, fairs, flea markets. I know that you will really find reading it quite enjoyable and you'll be able to relate to a lot of things that I describe. Having to endure 71 mph winds, heavy rains, floods, lying and cheating promoters. You'll love it. Only $14.95. Street Fairs for profit, fun and madness



It all started in 1992 with an idea by Dave Hernandez, a member of the Downtown Indio Merch
ants Association. The rich heritage of the tamale, consistent community support and hard working tamale makers have created the festival's tremendous success. Recently, the Food Network-TV ranked the Indio International Tamale Festival in the top 10 "All-American Food Festivals" in the nation!Festival's Guinness World Records: The World's largest Tamale-over 1 foot in diameter and 40 feet in length, Dec. 4, 1999. The World's largest tamale festival-with 120,000 in attendance, Dec. 2-3, 2000.The weather is pretty good in Indio this time of year, but nights are a little cooler. Booths are spread along several streets. Lots of tamales and they all sell for the same price. Booth fees are a bit high and overpriced. Commercial goes for $475 and if you are staying in a motel, your expenses end up quite high. Very risky for this economy. Arts and Crafts spaces go for $475

Tucson 4th Avenue Street Fair

THE NEXT TUCSON 4TH AVENUE STREET FAIR IS March 20-21-22. There are two Street Fairs per year, one in spring and one in winter. The The Street Fair takes place between Ninth Street and University Blvd. along Fourth Avenue. Free to the public, the Fourth Avenue Street Fair brings together 400+ arts and crafts booths, 35+ food vendors, 2 stages, street musicians, food, jugglers, street performers, “VAN GROW” kids hands-on-art area, face painting, balloons, and tons of other fun activities, then packs them into three days of celebration.

The Fourth Avenue Street Fair began in 1970 when Fourth Avenue merchants put tables in front of their stores to attract customers before the holidays. From that beginning it has developed into one of the premier street fairs in the nation, drawing crowds of 200,000 to 350,000 and ranking as one of the top visual arts fairs in the country.

Venues for Vendors: A bit pricey for this three day event. There are at least three promoters of booth spaces within the show.

The Parking Lot. Set up your booth in The Parking Lot (TPL), at the heart of the Tucson 4th Avenue Street Fair, just a few short blocks from the University of Arizona. Located on the corner of 4th Avenue and 5th Street (Tucson, Arizona), TPL provides a prime location for vendor booth rentals at one of the largest street fairs in the United States. The 4th Avenue Street Fair is free to the public. Too late for November...next event is March 20-22. We've done this lot several times. Good location. Near middle of event. However, high school groups playing alongside are quite loud. Porta potties next to the lot. Paved. Long line for the tri-tip sandwiches next door...must be great!!! Traffic flow is somewhat okay. Maybe 10 percent of passers-by enter the lot. Not too much of a difference if you are located in the back. They do walk all the way around. Commercial goods accepted.

Dingwell's Lot. 238 N. 4th Avenue, Tucson, AZ. Contact Don Dingwell 520-882-5657. Need to call him for fees. No website or email address. We were in his lot a couple years ago and there was rain and it turned quite muddy. When dry, the sand blows all over the place. However, you can get into this lot with general merchandise (commercial) and there is really great traffic flow...even though most of the people walk in..go all the way to the end and around the garbage can and go out. This is toward the beginning of the show, so you get a lot of lookers, but they are not tired from walking around.