It just isn’t the Phoenix we love without a tamale event for every season.

This year, Downtown Phoenix plays host to the Annual Tamale Dinner, a charity fundraiser that has been held for 77 consecutive years.
The longest running fundraiser in the state promises a family-friendly night of music, entertainment and, as you might expect, a whole lot of tamales.
New this year, the Battle of the Tamales will pit more than a dozen Valley restaurants against each other for the title of “Best Tamale in the Valley,” as determined by 16 Valley-area mayors, including our very own Greg Stanton.
That’s right, you can watch your mayor sweat it out and taste-test enough tamales to induce a coma while you enjoy entertainment and a, hopefully, reasonable plate of tamales.
While tickets are only $15, you can win a pair right here, right now.

Share your tamale story with us in the comments – whether it’s stuffing yourself to the gills, accidentally eating the husk, or making them with your family – and you could win one of the 10 pairs.

How will we decide who gets the tickets? We’ll add points for cutest, divide by funniest, add bonus points for sweetest and round up to 10 by factors of craziest. Wait, actually, you know what, math isn’t our thing. We’ll just pick our favorites. Winners will be contacted on April 3, so be sure to leave us your email address so we can reach you.

(no, we aren’t going to spam you or sell it, come on now.)

Don’t want to take a few minutes and write your story? You can buy tickets here.

If you go: The 78^th Annual Tamale Dinner will be held

When: April 5, 2013 at 6 p.m.

Where: CityScape

Tickets: $15 for adults and children under six receive free admission. To purchase tickets go here.