Taco Fest and Fine Art Fair is a hit in Novi

NOVI — The city of Novi celebrated the end of summer with the first Novi Taco Fest and Fine Art Fair, which was held at Twelve Mile Crossing at Fountain Walk, 44425 W. 12 Mile Road, Aug. 26-28.

“It went really well and it was a really fun event,” said event organizer Karyn Stetz, of the Art As Healing Foundation. “We lucked out and had really great weather. We had a lot of cultural entertainment and a lot of taco trucks.”

The event featured strolling mariachi bands, three stages with entertainment, signature Mexican dishes and desserts, taco and hot pepper eating contests, cutest dog contests, lucha libre wrestling, lawn games, authentic margaritas and tequilas, dance lessons from professional salsa and merengue instructors, cultural dance performances, and more.

Stetz estimated that over 15,000 people attended the event during its three days. She said organizers are still in the planning phases, but they anticipate having another taco festival and art fair sometime next year.   

“I saw it on Facebook and (my friend) said, ‘Do you want to go?’ and I said, ‘I can’t turn down a taco,’ so that’s why we came here,” said Ann Altsman. “It’s a lot more fun than we thought it would be. We were just expecting to walk around and get some good food, and then we saw wrestling, and then we had fun in line (drinking margaritas). The wrestling was so fun. That was so worth it right there. It was great. I wish they would do more things like this.”

Stetz said that the feedback she is getting has showed that the wrestling was the most popular attraction, along with the tacos.

“There was a lot of good food and entertainment,” said Jenna Landeros, of New Hudson. “They do have a lot of traditional Mexican stands, so that was nice — really great food and a lot of good choices. I thought that it was unique that the wrestling came here. It was fun to watch, and I didn’t expect that.”

Landeros said that she liked the location, as it is a really popular spot. She said that even if people didn’t know there was a festival going on there, it would be discovered by those flocking to Twelve Mile Crossing.

Landeros and Altsman both said that their only complaint was about the long wait times to get to the food or drinks. Landeros said she stood in line for over an hour to get one lemonade. Altsman said that the drink tents needed to have more cashiers able to handle credit card transactions, as the line for those paying cash moved swiftly, but the line for those with credit cards had a long wait time.

“We had a lot of great feedback and people enjoyed the trucks and we didn’t have a problem with all the trucks selling out like some shows do. So, I think it went really smoothly — very smoothly,” said Stetz.