RIVERSIDE, Calif.– – An estimated 20,000 people celebrated local history recently at the fourth annual Riverside Tamale Festival, which this year was presented and sponsored by Altura Credit Union.
The festival at White Park in downtown Riverside featured more than 50 vendors, a beer garden, a lineup of entertainment and the signaturecontests for best vendor tamale, best homemade tamale and a tamale-eating round.
The festival was created four years ago by the Spanish Town Heritage Foundation to raise funds and bring awareness of La Placita de losTrujillos, a historical site on the edge of Riverside. Settled by Juan Manuel Lorenzo Trujillo in 1845, La Placita was one of the earliest Riverside settlements and home to the first church, school and voting precinct.
Today, the Trujillo adobe is the only remnant of La Placita. Trujillo family descendants created the foundation and festival to raise funds to preserve the adobe and eventually turn into a place where Inland Empire residents can learn about the history of the area.
Altura became a title sponsor this year after supporting the event in the past. Darlene Trujillo Elliot, an organizer of the festival, said, “We are grateful to have Altura as a title sponsor…Altura shares the same passion that we do for the community and familia values.”
Altura has committed to being a title sponsor of the event for the next three years.