The low temperatures and constant drizzling meant one thing for the thousands of people at Long Beach City College Sunday afternoon: perfect tamale weather. The aroma of tacos, taquitos, tamales, posole, mulitas and other Latin-inspired food, as well as countless desserts, filled the cloudy skies as residents waited in long lines to try the city’s best local recipes.
Long Beach Living’s second annual Tamales Fest brought in roughly 4,000 foodies to enjoy family recipes, live music and dance performances, cultural and handmade merchandise from local businesses, margaritas and micheladas. Residents also enjoyed a visit from Santa Claus, a kid’s zone with jumpers, free cornhole and photo opportunities.
“It’s family orientated, you got stuff for the kids and great tamales. I tried every little booth here and it’s been fabulous,” San Pedro resident Mondo Martinez said. “Just looking at all the types of people here…everybody has respect for each other and it’s great to see. I love it.”
The culmination of the festival was the highly anticipated crowning of the best homemade tamale in Long Beach.
Six women from throughout California, Mexico and Colombia put forth their best-plated performances—tender meat smothered in salsa and wrapped in warm, corn-based dough.
Arcelia Reynoso has been following her family’s recipe and selling Tepatitlan-style tamales out of her home for over a decade, although she started helping with the tradition at just 5 years old. A lifetime of practice paid off when Reynoso was awarded first place for Long Beach’s best tamale of 2022.
“My grandfather was a tamale maker and they used to sell tamales every morning so I would wake up at 5 o’clock every morning to sell tamales with my grandparents,” Reynoso said. “My grandmother passed away this year so I wanted to honor her memory and her roots so that was the main reason to join.”
Reynoso’s winning pork tamale is a family recipe, with origins in Tepatitlan, Mexico. It’s the first time Reynoso has entered a contest for her tamales, and she happily held up the golden trophy as her family erupted in cheers from the audience.
Fans of Reynoso’s food greeted her after the ceremony, asking how soon they could place an order.
“It’s so great to see the community all here together,” Reynoso said. “Tamales bring the family together and that’s amazing. We can’t forget about that.”
Festivities continued after the ceremony, as attendees watched performances from Aztec dancers and all-ages local group JD Dance Co. People filled the dance floor to enjoy tunes from Cumbia group La Sonora Dinamita, the first ever Los Angeles-based LGTBQ mariachi group Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles and Spanish rock group Cello Azul.
Around 20 food and dessert vendors filled people’s bellies with a wide range of cultural dishes. Award-winning tamale pop-ups boasted hour-long waits for tastes of their food, which attendees happily stood in while sipping on micheladas, champurrado and horchata.
Emily Mayoral attended the festival for the second year with her friend. The 22-year-old quickly decided the best part of the day was the variety of dishes to taste.
“Being able to try all the food, it was really good. I also enjoyed that it was bigger than last year. This year it’s a lot more inclusive,” Mayoral said. “There’s a lot of diversity, especially in tamales, so it’s cool to see that in one area where you can go from place to place to try all that out.”
Mayoral and her friend spent the day trying a handful of tamales before walking through all the retail vendors and purchasing unique handcrafted gifts.
In addition to the food, roughly 20 retail vendors displayed their culturally significant items, snacks and drinks. Tents were filled with handmade jewelry, clothing from Mexico and other Latin countries, Spanish children’s books, house plants, clay pots, ceramic dishes and more. Local businesses from throughout Long Beach connected with residents as Spanish music filled the air.
Awesome weekend. Arcelias Chicken tamal was victorious that weekend!!!! Congrats!!