ONTARIO – The birth of Tater Tots will be celebrated in Ontario at the Tater Tots Festival on Friday, Sept. 20, from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 21, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The event, hosted by Revitalize Ontario and other sponsors, will be held at Lions Park at 790 S.W. 3rd Ave.
According to Laura Hiramatsu, treasurer of Revitalize Ontario, the festival will feature a car show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Custom-built classic cars and hot rods will be featured on the first day and motorcycles on the second, said Hiramatsu.
There will be trophies for the top three best-in-show and special awards for the top 20 “cool rides.”
Additionally, the event will feature nearly a dozen musical acts, from country and bluegrass to rock and roll to Tex-Mex country.
The festival will also feature a beer and wine garden on both days, a playground for kids and a splash pad should the weather permit the activity, according to Hiramatsu.
The event will also have food trucks that the organizers have encouraged to modify their menus to include Tater Tot recipes so that there are plenty of variations of the potato morsels.
The Tater Tot, invented in Ontario by brothers Nephi and Golden Grigg, who founded Ore-Ida in 1952, is an American icon that most people do not know was invented in Ontario. She said the event celebrates the historical significance of the dish and its cultural impact.
She said that when considering the Tater Tot’s impact on popular culture, consider the movie “Napoleon Dynamite.” In the 2004 cult classic, one of the most memorable scenes involves the main character, Napoleon, sneaking Tater Tots into class, only for a bully to crush them when he kicks him.
She said it’s interesting how a random idea became a cultural phenomenon.
“The history and the story behind the Tater Tot is so fascinating,” she said. “It’s just so cool and unique.”
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