Warnings Go Out About OKC Taco Fest This Coming Weekend

If two individual words were destined to be combined into one epic phrase, it was always "taco" and "festival." The idea of hosting a festival themed after a specific thing isn't anything new... There's music festivals, beer festivals, BBQ, chili, marijuana, sports, church, math, etc... It's only natural someone came up with a roving taco festival.

I won't lie, it sounds like heaven. You pay to get in and sample delicious tacos in all sorts of different styles, flavors and meats topped with out-of-the-box toppings and wrap options. Pair it together with the beverage of your choice available on demand and that's a festival that might finally reunite a people that spend too much time fighting each other over the stupid and meaningless stuff like politics and covid. As it happens, there is a festival of that sort coming to Oklahoma City this coming weekend, but the fair warnings of past festival attendees has found a way to the Sooner State to accuse the festival organizers of bait & switch shenanigans.

Here's the thing, there is no better advertising than word of mouth advertising. The only downside is, by and large, the loudest group of people advertising any business in this manner is usually those that feel slighted. A brand lives and dies by the reputation their consumers assign it. That being said, as much fun as Taco Fest sounds, you might want to do your own research before assuming what has happened in other places won't happen to you.

AZ Food Festivals is the LLC company that has painted themselves as a "world class event planning team." Their words straight from their own website. Looking around that site, it looks like they have teamed up with several arena and event hosting type places over the years and thrown some real food and beverage shindigs throughout the country. I couldn't tell you the legitimacy of it at all, I was todays years old when I learned of them. As Taco Fest is set to kick off in OKC this Saturday, the few reddit subs dedicated to Oklahoma as a topic are currently filled with people from a previous Taco Fest in Buffalo, New York telling us Okies that this event is a scam and totally not worth making the plan to attend.

From reddit:

We just had this event in our city and it was atrocious. They charged a lot of money and then proceeded to serve dry beef in a tortilla. No toppings or condiments. Margaritas were premixed and cost $12 each for an 8-10 oz cup. No salt available for them. Event shirts were available with VIP tickets, but they only provided smalls and mediums. Ran out of food around in the VIP section around 2pm and the event started at 11am. If you don't believe me, check some Facebook pages/posts of people from around here. Just trying to save you guys the headache of a terrible event.

As if the bad word of mouth publicity wasn't enough, the Attorney General of North Dakota has launched an investigation into this event company about the validity of what they're advertising vs what they're delivering. The old bait and switch.

Now I can't tell you if the OKC Taco Fest will be different, a success, ripoff, or even worth attending. As awesome as it sounds, I know my plans have changed. You might just stick to the old adage we've come to know and believe... Google it before hand, make a decision about it after.