San Jose held its first Taco Festival of Innovation last Saturday, and it was an event unlike any other. Thousands of eager taco fans filled History Park to capacity to sample a variety of taco recipes to the back drop of live entertainment and local music.

In addition to local bands, lucha libre wrestlers entertained the crowd, along with an air-accordion competition. “With the popularity of accordion growing, air-accordion competitions are expanding (pun intended),” said Ron Muriera, aka Enrico Roselli, who took second place in the competition.

The competition intensified when it came time to judge the tacos. Koja Kitchen took first place and their taco was lifted into space on board “The Spirit of San Jose,” a taco-specific spacecraft. So, while North Korea failed to put its satellite into orbit last week, a taco was successfully launched from History Park.

All aspects of the event were excellent. Great live music, a lot of fun, and, of course, awesome tacos. The organizers are hinting that there will be an event in the fall, something about “spicy and sweet?”

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