Beyond The Peanuts: Mouthwatering Treats Found At Innings Festival Tempe 2026
by Scott Redmond
Music. Food. Drinks. Three things that can stand alone but by golly are they even better when they stand together. It’s a good thing there are numerous places to imbibe in all three simultaneously.
Luckily, music festivals exist. In this case, the Arizona-based Innings Festival Tempe 2026. A (now) three-day festival, full of musical acts blasting their discography as patrons mill about the various stalls partaking of common and uncommon foods and copious amounts of liquids.
Last year, I gave quite a few food offerings a try, alongside my wonderful girlfriend. With the festival expanding to a whole third day, we decided we also had to kick things up a notch.
While portions of the festival layout shifted this year, most of the food stalls were in the same parking lot spaces as in previous years. What did change was the number of stalls, as well as the seating options around them. Numerous stand-up tables were added in the parking lot area alongside the usual on the grass-picnic style tables.
Local vendors brought out their best to tantalize the ever-growing crowds throughout the day. Festival style staples like tacos, hot dogs, burgers, and pizza were plentiful. Other more unique or creative options were easy to find and try as well. Most were being offered for a price point not uncommon to most festivals or even most physical restaurant experiences, such as those found just outside the festival grounds.
On the first day, my partner and I decided to try a familiar favorite from the year before as well as something seemingly common.
Our return option was Tot Box, a Flagstaff based business that is a festival staple. We loved the fried squared tots smothered in slow-cooked barbacoa, cheese and cilantro in 2025. Mixing it up gave us the Chicken Chile Verde tots. Delicious fried potato goodness covered with braised chicken, hatch green chili, avocado sauce, cotija cheese, and cilantro. Perfectly crafted with just enough spice to delight but not overwhelm, which worked well for my girlfriend and her spice sensitivities.
Sometimes it’s not just the food that catches attention in these cases. Presentation is key, and the folks at Corn Dogs Gone Wild, a Torrance, California institution, certainly know how to present. Hot dog boxes were turned into dioramas under each cash register, with options to vote for a favorite. This caught our eyes instantly. Their massive corndog that we bought was well toasted and delivered, made all the sweeter by their infectious energy and humorous delivery of “Ask me about my wieners.”
Day Two came with a dinner choice that turned toward more Mexican-style fare. Phoenix local El Jefe Tacos hit the spot quite nicely. A trio of street tacos featuring asada, chicken, and pastor with onions and fresh cilantro for my partner and a heaping of asada covered crispy golden fries with pico de gallo, melted cheese, sour cream, and guacamole for myself. Perfect for sharing bites between us as we jammed out to Cage the Elephant.
So good, I forgot to get photos before we finished. Oops!
Planning to spend the entire day within the festival grounds on the third day meant the chance to try several things.
Mostly snacky choices. As we waited Bowling For Soup after partaking in the batting and pitching cages (see that article here), I grabbed us some easy carbs. One cannot go wrong with potatoes, and the folks at West Valencia’s Potato Hut were cooking with the Potato Swirl. Imagine cutting a potato into a full spiral of connected au gratin or potato chip style bits, twirling it around a stick, frying it up, and loading it up with toppings like ranch, BBQ, garlic parmesan, hot Cheetos or more.
A bit messy to eat, but damn was it really good. It hit the spot when sitting out in the warm but breezy open spaces of the Tempe Beach Park.
A meal awaiting Blink-182 was where we took another bit of a leap. Having been tantalized by the name for days, I had to snag the Mac Daddy from Tempe’s own Tom’s BBQ. Cheesy mac and cheese covered in pulled pork with BBQ seasoning and BBQ sauce. It was cheesy and warm, hitting the spot, and was worth the choice for sure. A bit more seasoning would have kicked it over the top even further for this cheesy and pork loving writer.
My partner tried the pulled pork sandwich, which had the right combination of sauce and meat to the bun ratio.
Alongside this, I snagged us a bit of a neat treat for the heat (sorry, not sorry). While I thought it was ice cream at first, because I didn’t bother to read fully, what the traveling Drippin’ Chocolatier had to offer was just as good. A cup with whole strawberries smothered in melted milk chocolate topped with my favorite candy, M&Ms. That chocolate melted so perfectly it was clutching to the strawberries in that crumbly shell sort of way that hits the spot. Achieving that perfect chocolate to fruit ratio, where despite it being milk chocolate and M&Ms, they never overwhelmed or dominated the fresh full-sized fruit.
So many places were begging to be checked out, but time (and funds) were limited. Plenty of drinks were consumed, as various outlets had some of our favorites. Next year we’re going to budget even more to really hit the spaces up and walk away feeling full, bloated, and happy.
