Tucson Meet Yourself is a three-day event celebrating the arts in Tucson. This year, the event will take place October 13-15 at El Presidio Park and Jacome Library Plaza in downtown Tucson.
The event is described as “an annual celebration of the live traditional arts of Southern Arizona’s and Northern Mexico’s diverse ethnic and folk communities,” according to its website.
Tucson Meet Yourself was founded by retired University of Arizona folklorist and anthropologist Dr. James “Big Jim” Griffith. “The festival is conceived of as a dramatization of the fact that we live in a plural society,” Griffith said.
This year will feature a colorful array of local dancers, artisans, musicians and, of course, great food.
The event features 58 local homegrown food vendors. The food variety offered by vendors range from Mexican to Asian Pacific to Middle Eastern.
According to Tucson Foodie journalist Matt Sterner, the food offered at the festival has become the focal point over the years.
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“Many people tend to call the festival ‘Tucson Eat Yourself’ because of the massive amount of food available from all over the world,” Sterner said.
The people of Tucson Meet Yourself brand the event as a “folklife” festival, which intends to highlight the diversity that makes Tucson and the Arizona-Sonoran region unique and different from other places in America.
The festival prides itself in the fact that the featured vendors are all local businesses.
“Half of them are nonprofit cultural clubs, churches, temples,” according to its website. “The other half is small ethnic businesses and sole proprietors. No commercial chains or national food operators are allowed: only local Tucson-based food entrepreneurs.”
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