A new event dubbed “Tour de Taco” and created by local Mexican restaurant owner Alejandra Toribio recently raised more than $750 for Puzzle Pieces.
Toribio, who took over ownership of her parents’ El Toribio Mexican Restaurant after graduating from the University of Louisville, came up with an idea to bring Owensboro’s Mexican community together while giving some proceeds to a nonprofit at the same time.
So, she organized the first “Tour de Taco” on Saturday.
The event featured a select taco from 10 local Mexican restaurants and sold in boxes for $25, with $5 from each purchase going to Puzzle Pieces.
Toribio described the event as “phenomenal,” saying those who were involved had a lot of fun.
“The feedback I received was all so amazing. Everyone worked so well together and I believe that I even built relationships,” she said.
Though Toribio was met with some resistance after initially reaching out to each of the Mexican restaurants in the area, she said a lot of that was due to restaurant competition and a lack of personal connection within the Mexican community.
“I’d never been to the other restaurants — not because I didn’t want to, but because I would get tired of eating Mexican food every day,” Toribio said. “I finally went and talked to each restaurant, and each restaurant agreed. I got all 10 on board the same day.”
Toribio said the Tour de Taco event wasn’t about the restaurants making money, but about coming together.
“We are also a community within a community,” she said.
Toribio chose Puzzle Pieces as the nonprofit to donate to in part because she wanted to help the children of the community. Pulse, she said she felt Puzzle Pieces metaphorically represented the Mexican community she wanted to bring together.
“We had a broken piece within the Mexican community,” she said. “I said, ‘Let’s piece it back together.’”
