What’s cookin’ at the 2022 Tucson Meet Yourself festival

Well, the time has come. It’s that wonderful time of year when thousands meet up, eat, and treat themselves.

The annual Tucson Meet Yourself is taking over parts of downtown for a weekend of fun from 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. on Friday, October 7 – Saturday, October 8, and then 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 9.

As was seen in previous years, Tucson Meet Yourself is designated to a certain area, and this year it’s going to be absorbing three city blocks by the Jacomé Plaza, which is in front of the Joel D. Valdez Main Library.

There’s going to be more than 100 artists and performing groups sharing music, dance, and their crafts. The artists will be spread all around so come equipped with your walkin’ shoes and take a glance at the performance schedule to plan accordingly.

Additionally, keep an eye out for lowriders. The Dukes Car Club of Tucson will be presenting a collection of cars and demonstrations on how to trick out your own ride. It’s truly a west coast tradition of “embellishing the ordinary.”

Another attraction worth making some time for is the Memory Tent: Songs of Love & Aging. It’s a new space at the festival that celebrates the “folklife of remembrance” and all of the ways we remember, grieve, and commemorate change or loss. You’ll have the opportunity to put on songs in a public jukebox, share your own stories with the crowd, spread love songs in the “Memory Chair,” and show off your skills on stage with a guitar or Karaoke.

Last but not least, you can expect to find more than 45 food vendors that’ll be representing several cultural regions.

Be sure to invite your appetite along for the walk while getting whiffs of multiple aromas from the following food vendors. Below is the list of this year’s grumbly-tummy-fixers (tap or click each one to see its menu).

Participating “Tucson Meet Yourself” Food Vendors

• • BBQ & Beats
  • Boriken Modern Puerto Rican Cuisine
  • Café Francais
  • Café Santa Rosa
  • Chinese Student Association
  • Churros El Rey
  • Club Colombia
  • Cocina Oaxaqueña
  • Coyote Kitchen
  • Eatgypt
  • Empanadas El Dominicano
  • Food 2 Door Catering
  • Frost Gelato
  • Fruit Shack Smoothies & Yogurt
  • Hawaiian Shave Ice
  • H.B.C.U. College Tour Group
  • Herculean Chicken
  • Inca’s Peruvian Cuisine
  • J’s Kettle Corn
  • Just Churros
  • Kingston Kitchen
  • Lajkonik Polish Folk Ensemble
  • Laos Academic Organization
  • Los Chiquilines Aguas Frescas
  • MAD Filipino Cooking
  • Mama Carey’s Kitchen & Catering
  • Mariscos Chihuahua
  • Moreno’s Roasted Corn
  • Off the Hook Seafood
  • O’odham Ladies
  • Order of Ahepa Greek Food
  • Pam’s Kitchen
  • Ricuras de Venezuela
  • Saffron Indian Bistro
  • Santa Cruz Catholic Church / Little Mexico Restaurant
  • San Xavier Cooperative Farm
  • Sema Foundation
  • Solid Grindz Hawaiian Food
  • Sonoran Sno Cones
  • El Taco Rustico
  • Takoyaki Balls
  • Taste of Bosnia
  • Tucson Afghan Community
  • UA Filipino Student Association
  • Vietnamese Student Association
  • Wat Buddhametta

A couple of neat tidbits about the festival include how the city is making the festival even “greener” this year. They’ll be setting up water stations throughout the area so you can fill up your reusable bottle for free.

Also, Tucson Meet Yourself has teamed up again with the University of Arizona’s Compost Cats to compost festival food waste. In previous years, they’ve diverted 35% of food waste from ending up in a landfill and then used it as compost for local agriculture.

Tucson Meet Yourself will be located at Jacomé Plaza, in front of the Joel D. Valdez Main Library at 101 N. Stone Ave. For more information, visit tucsonmeetyourself.org.