Since 2017, I have been fortunate enough to attend the annual bacchanalia of eating and drinking. It is a festival filled with overall merriment. This is the Savor Festival.
Savor is held every late January at the Tucson Botanical Gardens. It is a celebration of not just food and drink, but also of art and sense of community.
Sponsored by SAACA (Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance), Savor is an all-day event that pleases, and even teases, almost all senses. Everyone should experience it at least once. Trust me here.
Here are some highlights of this year’s Savor!
…or at least what we got our hungry hands on.
This year was special for me because it was the first Savor I got to experience with my wife. We were gifted two VIP tickets and she got to experience a little bit of what I do as a freelance writer, food being the main objective here.
She was a bit overwhelmed. There are so many food vendors from all over Southern Arizona that she got a bit spun from the array of plated goodness. These range from high-end, chef-driven white coat kitchens to your local mobile comfort grub units. And everything in-between.
This was the first year I noticed a large influx of catering services. That was really nice to see. Post 2020 really wrangled those willing to serve the masses en mass and all of their offerings were extremely delightful.
Live music permeates throughout, including a mariachi outfit serenading us all in line waiting to get in. DJs keeping it lively boomed various alcoves, one of which was playing 70s AM gold (aka Yacht Rock) syncopated to lively dance beats. Very clever.
Not to mention artists set up and painting, sculpting, cartooning right in front of our vary eyes all throughout the grounds.
Vineyards and breweries had tables set up with samples of their heady wares. I, of course, if you know me, enjoy a drink now and then. Usually now. But that drink(s) is normally set around the proper happy hour hour. So, the wife and I meandered the festival in full clarity that afternoon. Having been to a few Savors before and sometimes not getting there til late afternoon, the wine and craft beer sipping crowd were dizzy in a fuzzy smiling wonder, which always makes for a welcome chuckling spectacle.
Here are some tips for those that plan to attend Savor in the future:
- Go big and go VIP. If you are lucky enough to be gifted a VIP ticket, or as I have as a member of the press, that extra cash you spend goes a long way. You get in an hour early, there is always plenty of food, plenty of hooch, plenty of room and when they open the flood gates at noon for the cheap seats you’ll be glad you stretched your festival going budget by a few threads.
- DO NOT TRY TO PARK IN THE BOTANICAL GARDENS PARKING AREA! Every year I see the poor souls that have to tell people that this is a huge event and the tight parking that is normally available is filled with tents and trucks constantly loading in and loading out. The best and closest parking is right up a ways at Grant and Alvernon in the Vasa mega gym lot. Like I said, get that VIP and you get parking.
- Pace yourself. There is so much to eat, drink, sink in and do that if you storm the flowery gates of the gardens with stomach and liver a blazin’, you might burn out too quick. Stay a while. Have a bite now and then. Take a sip here and there. Dance some of it off. But remember to stay hydrated. Luckily there are large tubs of bottled water everywhere, provided free for your benefit. Thank you SAACA!
Best thing is, outside of all things edible and quaffable, you’re at the Tucson Botanical Gardens! You can totally tour the butterfly pavilion. If the crowds are closing in on you, step aside and take a path walk to admire the beautiful local flora. Sit and watch the hummingbirds and bees do their thing. Heck there’s even a whole space set up with train tracks and miniature structural landmarks built to scale by students of architecture. So very cool.
Do yourself a favor and check out Savor. Shake off the post holiday blues by stuffing yourself silly and running into a friend or two. If you play your social cards right, you might even make a few new ones.
Cheers!
Words and Pictures
Mark Whittaker, late January 2025
yeahwritemark@gmail.com
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