Heaping helping of 20,000-plus tamales

 Fresh steaming tamales were being offered up in heaping helpings to hungry folks in Somerton Saturday.

  A portion of Main Street was cordoned off to traffic, and dozens of tamale makers set up shop to raise money for local students going to college.

  "This event is important to the community because we raise scholarship money for students who are the first generation in their families to attend a university," said Vicky Anaya, event coordinator. "Many of these students come from low-income families who have a hard time paying for their child's tuition.

  "We believe education is really important, and we believe that we can help these kids best by offering scholarships. Last year we were able to give scholarships to two people. This year we hope to raise enough money to help send five people to college."

  The Arizona State University Alumni El Diablito Club from the Yuma area hosted the second annual Somerton Tamale Festival, which brought out locals and winter visitors alike.

  "This is our first time ever," said tamale eater Sheila Brown of Carby, Ore. "We've only been to vendor No. 13, but we will definitely be back next year. We were trying to figure out how many hundreds of tamales they make."

  Anaya can answer that question.

  "There are 38 vendors," she said, "and each has made somewhere between 50 and 70 dozen."

  That is in the range of 22,800 to 31,920 tamales that came in several varieties.

  "I'm not a big tamale fan," said Terri Snyder, another tamale eater, "but I got a pork one, and I would eat there again. We saw a lot of other strange concoctions, like pineapple, shrimp, chocolate and calamari."

  Fellow tamale taster Sid Brown was in awe over some of the combinations.

  "The spinach and chocolate flavors seemed like tamale sacrilege," he said. "They are just not traditional. I am from New Mexico where they have a lot of traditional tamales. I'm a purist."

 Snyder worried about whether she would make a good judge in picking the best tamales.

  "How many types of tamale do I have to eat before I can make a good vote?" she asked.

  Luckily for her, five qualified judges were on hand to make the difficult decisions. They had to pick the winners for each of three categories.

  The winner of the best beef tamale category was the Main Street Café. The winner of the most authentic tamale was Sandra Estrada. Finally, the winner of the sweet tamale category was Rita Garcia.

  Anaya is happy with Saturday's turnout.

  "I want to say that at least 8,000 people attended today," she said. "Everything is going great, and there are lots of people out here enjoying our tamales.

  "We've had no problems - this is an excellent experience. We've had a better outcome than we expected, and we hope even more vendors and well- known musicians will come out next year."

  Anaya said that great tamales are made from loving family-oriented people.

  "The experience of the family traditions being passed down through the generations help create the best tamales. When families get together, the flavor comes from the heart.

  "Each new generation needs to learn how to make them. Many people rely on their parents or grandparents to make tamales. They need to learn how to make the masa so that they can teach it their kids and grandkids that way the tradition won't go away."