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City of Festivals: Indio California

Renowned as the City of Festivals, Indio’s major events attract nearly one million visitors annually. Each year, Indio is playing a larger role in the huge tourism industry for which the Coachella Valley is so famous.

Where else can you float among the clouds, thrill to the Sport of Kings, meet a famous artist or golf where the greats played for a million? Only in Indio, the desert resorts’ vibrant City of Festivals. Every year, nearly one million visitors journey to Indio, beckoned by the awesome desert beauty, where every member of the family can discover a personal pleasure at one of Indio’s many festivals.

Feel the excitement and pageantry of the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival—10 days and nights filled with entertainment, lots of fun for the kids and the best dates in the world! The Indian Powwow is a colorful kaleidoscope of dancing, singing, drums, plus arts and crafts and traditional foods. Sample gourmet tamales at the Indio International Tamale Festival; the largest one in the world is alive with food, fun, music, dance and nonstop, multicultural entertainment.

Encounter the work of world-renowned artists at the Southwest Arts Festival®—Native American flute music and soft Spanish serenades and a variety of culinary delights add to the festivities. The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival draws an international audience for cutting-edge musical performances, as does the Stagecoach Country Music Festival.

Thrill to the speed, power and grace of the polo matches at Empire and Eldorado Polo Clubs in Indio—known as the Polo Capital of the West.

Discover something for everyone year-round in Indio—the City of Festivals!

The Southwest Arts Festival®

The Southwest Arts Festival®, produced by the Indio Chamber of Commerce, is showcased on the spacious grounds of the Empire Polo Club; entrances are located on Monroe Street at Avenue 51 in Indio, California. Through the Southwest Arts Festival’s 23-year history, it has earned a well-deserved reputation as the largest outdoor marketplace in the Coachella Valley area for fine arts, fine crafts and collectables including Southwestern art, traditional and contemporary art, bronze sculpture, glass, jewelry, basketry, pottery and wearable art created by 270-plus artists. The Southwest Arts Festival® is one of North America’s premier art shows.

Sunshine Artist, America’s Premier Art and Craft Show Magazine, has listed the Indio Chamber of Commerce’s Southwest Arts Festival® in their Top 100 “Best Predominately Fine Art & Design Shows.” Only four California shows were ranked.

Fans of the festival annually look forward to enjoying the desert’s warm winter weather, a scrumptious variety of food, full-service cocktail areas and sounds of Native American flutes and romantic New Age music.

With the primary goal of attracting cultural tourism to Indio, the Southwest Arts Festival® has proven its success. Attendance increases annually and sales have surpassed the $1 million mark for four years. The festival’s reputation continues to grow due to the caliber of acclaimed artists, such as Jane Seymour, actress and philanthropist, and Santa Fe, New Mexico artist Amado M. Pena, Jr. (internationally renowned for his angular profile images of people of Spanish and Indian heritage).

Mr. Pena has participated since 1995 and he actively encourages his contemporaries to join him. Mr. Pena created the festival’s poster in 1996 and 2001. The Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, along with the Chamber, has sponsored the posters since 1995.

For more information, call the Indio Chamber of Commerce at 760-347-0676 or visit www.southwestartsfest.com.

Indian Powwow

The annual Indio Powwow, held during Thanksgiving weekend each November inside the climate-controlled Fantasy Springs Resort Special Events Center, is a gathering in which Native Americans from many tribes come together to dance, sing and visit friends and family. Today, the Indio Powwow on the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians’ Reservation is far more than a salute to the past. The event provides an opportunity for the young to learn from their elders and preserve Native American traditions of sharing, hospitality and generosity. Visitors are welcomed to the Indio Powwow for an insightful glimpse into both the past and present of Native American culture.

See the beauty, pageantry and tradition in a colorful kaleidoscope of Native American dances. Hundreds of dancers and singers representing tribes from throughout the United States and Canada perform in front of thousands of spectators. Browse the many Native American arts and crafts booths and enjoy Native foods.

The Indio Powwow is an event that should be experienced through all the senses—so come and immerse yourself in the experience. For more information, call 760-238-5770 or visit www.cabazonindians-nsn.gov.

Indio International Tamale Festival

‘Tis the season for tamales…The Annual Indio International Tamale Festival will be held the first weekend of December. The Festival, which continues to grow in size each year and generate national media attention, is held on the streets of Downtown Indio. The Indio International Tamale Festival has grown from a half-day event that drew 2,500 people, to an event that now attracts over 125,000. The event that began as an “Old Town” hometown festival draws aficionados from all over. Many of the vendors are local nonprofit organizations that represent churches and school groups as well as restaurants and renowned chefs.

The Tamale Festival is now the largest event anywhere in the Inland Empire during the holiday season. In addition to all of the locals from the Coachella Valley, the festival attracts crowds from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and many more cities beyond the Southern California region. For example, last year 41 tour buses arrived from as far away as San Francisco and Phoenix.

Approximately 70 tamale vendors selling all types of tamales (traditional, gourmet, dessert such as strawberry, chocolate, date and raisin) will collectively sell over 250,000 tamales during the festival, making Indio the Tamale Capital of the Nation!

Some individual vendors have sold as many as 11,000 tamales during the two-day event. There are another 150 vendors selling a variety of arts, crafts and other holiday merchandise.

Activities and entertainment include a carnival, rides, games, inflatable bouncers, rock climbing, a best tamales competition with trophies in several categories and a tamale-eating contest with awards for those who eat the most. There is continuous music and dance throughout the festival on four different stages. A variety of acts are featured that include local and professional dancers, singers and musicians.

The festival holds two Guinness World Records. In 1999, Chef John Sedlar prepared the World’s Largest Tamale. The tamale measured one foot in diameter and 40 feet in length. In 2000, a second record was set when Guinness recognized the Festival as the World’s Largest Tamale Festival with over 120,000 in attendance at the event.

The Food Network TV show “All American Food Festivals” selected the Tamale Festival as one of the top 10 food festivals in the nation! The Food Network sent a camera crew to the 2002 Tamale Festival to record all the fun and activities and has aired its coverage several times on the national cable TV show.

The festival provides free parking, admission and entertainment for everyone. Parking is available on the streets around the downtown area, various lots in the area and also at the Larson Justice Center, where a free shuttle is available.

Come and spend some time with us during the first weekend in December in our warm, winter sunshine. There is plenty of excitement and tamales, tamales, tamales! For more information, call the City of Indio Events Office at 760-391-4175.

National Date Festival & Riverside County Fair

The National Date Festival and Riverside County Fair is one of the oldest and most unique fairs in the West. The event was held in 1947 to celebrate the successful date crop. The Coachella Valley still ranks as one of the largest producers of dates in the world.

The 10-day event always opens on the Friday before Presidents Day and features more than 7,000 fair exhibits and exotic date festivities. A colorful parade is held on Presidents Day, which is always a Monday. The fair attracts more than 270,000 visitors of all ages and interests.

Notable features of the event include: the Nightly Arabian Nights Pageant (started in 1948, the first pageant was held on the outdoor Pageant Stage, which is still the centerpiece of the fairgrounds today); ostrich and camel races; Presidents Day Parade; 7,000 exhibits; blessing of the dates ceremony; contests; tasty date treats; top- name entertainment and a carnival.

Come and enjoy Southern California’s most exotic winter event with a thousand-and-one sights, a magical experience for the entire family! For more information, call the Fair Office at 760-863-8247 or visit www.datefest.org.

HITS (Horse Shows in the Sun) - Thermal

Thermal is the new west coast home for Horse Shows in the Sun (HITS), which moved from Indio. The new Thermal Desert Circuit Horse Show offers 12 Grand Prix classes, with purses ranging from $30,000 to $150,000. Spectators witness the world’s most famous equestrian riders and magnificent horses jump the highest jumps at the fastest speeds. As many as 3,000 horses and their auxiliary staff descend upon the Valley for six to seven weeks for the duration of this famous hunter-jumper event, the economy feels the impact, with bustling hotel rooms and restaurants in the east end of the Valley and booming retail business. For more information, call 760-775-7731 or visit www.hitsshows.com.

Palm Springs Kennel Club Dog Show

Also in January is the Palm Springs Kennel Club Dog Show, the second-largest confirmation show in the country. The four-day event is held at the Empire Polo Club. For more information, call 323-727-0136.

Family Motor Coach Association Western Area Rally

The Family Motor Coach Association’s annual Western Region Rally is held in January at the Riverside County Fairgrounds with 2,000 motor coaches converging on Indio for a four-day event.

Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival

This alternative rock, European-style festival, a three-day event, draws more than 150,000 fans and Rolling Stone magazine’s endorsement as “the best American rock festival” and England’s NME’s enthusiastic nod as “probably the best festival in the world!” Fans from around the world come for the music, art and short films. The event is held in April at the Empire Polo Club, Monroe St. and Avenue 51. For more information, visit www.coachella.com.

Stagecoach Country Music Festival

In just two years, Stagecoach has joined the ranks of top U.S. destination festivals. The Los Angeles Times noted: “Stagecoach brought an impressively wide range of performers together across its three stages: young and old, mainstream and fringe, traditional and experimental…The talent lineup also tested the limits of what defines country music.”

USA Today said Stagecoach has “found a national identity…on the same polo field as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.”

And the Orange County Register added, “Stagecoach…should be considered a smashing success. Indeed, years from now this second outing may be viewed as the turning point for the budding Americana monolith…The achievement of this year’s three-day and more rock-embracing Stagecoach, however, is much more significant. It has proven that a refined, downscaled (yet in other ways expanded) version of that concept can become every bit as much an eagerly anticipated cornucopia as its sister festival has been for years.”

This country festival, a two-day event in April, hopes to draw more than 110,000 fans. For more information, visit www.stagecoachfestival.com.

Fourth of July Festival

This is an old-fashioned patriotic Fourth of July celebration with food, fun and fireworks at the Riverside County Fairgrounds, Hwy. 111 and Arabia St. For more information, call 760-391-4175 or visit www.indio.org/festivals.htm.