Salsa y Salsa a treat for ears and tastebuds

Warm up your taste buds and dig out your dancing shoes for the free 12th annual Salsa y Salsa Festival this weekend on Curry Street between Telegraph and Proctor streets. It all goes on from 10 in the morning to 5 p.m.

The Festival is presented by the Nevada Hispanic Services, funded by Carson City Redevelopment and Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

You may wonder, why "Salsa y Salsa"?

According to Raquel Knecht, spokesperson, "The idea is that the first salsa is for the hot sauces we'll be serving and tasting and the second for the hot salsa dancing we'll be enjoying."

Both aspects will be put to the test with a salsa dance competition and a salsa tasting competition during the festival.

There's more, of course, not least of which is the opportunity to meet some of your Carson City neighbors. Mingle and debate salsa sauces, like the kind your mother never used to make.

Then watch the Dance Azteca troupe of Yerington perform traditional Aztec dancing. Then there's the International Ballet Folklorico, with Veronica Gomez in charge, performing dances from all around Mexico.

Oh yeah, you need a band for all this and the Tahoe Reno Salsa Band directed by C.B. Flanders will be there.