Festival? What Festival?

As a card carrying Chile fanatic, I was delighted to discover that there was to be a Chile Festival here in Washington state, a mere 200 miles away. Here was a chance to resupply without having to ship Care Packages from New Mexico.

What a disappointment! After driving for over three hours, I found half a dozen awnings and twenty cars parked in a farm field southeast of Yakima. They were serving fajitas, stuffed peppers, and what looked like fresh corn. Some organized kids games were underway, and a local TV station was filming. No chiles being sold, nor much of anything else.

As a local party, I'm sure it was a hit. As a "Chile Festival", I found it pretty much a bust. Not even a ristra in sight. At least the gas in the area was cheap ($1.79).