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Sponsored by the local Kiwanis Club, the squid festival is a fund raiser for local charities, which divide the proceeds from entry fees and the rentals of the 60 or so booths. This year, according to Bob Massaro, the manager of the event, $39,000 will be contributed to approximately 15 organizations, some of which also man their own booths to raise even more money.
Squid cookery has been a boon to the wrestling team of Monterey High School since its coach, Bill Grant, discovered the profits in this smoky fund raiser. Working the squid festival and running a $10 eat-all-you-want squid dinner in the school each December, he provides qualifying fees so his athletes can try out for various championship tournaments. "The first $6,000 is for the team," Grant said, "then my wife and I work other outings, such as the Laguna Seca racetrack, and keep those profits for ourselves." Roberto Dixon, a Panamanian who lives in Monterey and is one of Grant's proteges, is being backed for a trip home to try out for his country's Olympic team. "I've been working these booths for about four years," said Dixon, now the head cook. "I first got experience tenderizing squid steaks," he said, adding that he cannot understand why people find the squid tentacles scary. "Anyone knows that's the best part," he continued, quite correctly to the taste of this squid fancier.
Joseph Schultz and part of the staff from his Santa Cruz restaurant India Joze brought a stylishly funky note to the surroundings with their futuramic booth and black tank tops, to say nothing of Schultz's battered, Indiana Jones-type fedora. Schultz describes himself as a culinary anthropologist. He has traveled the world gathering recipes and evaluating food customs, most especially in Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Greece. His lacy, crisp, fried calamari tentacles in skordalia, the Greek garlic-and-walnut sauce, sold at a great rate, as did the chili-spiced Thai marinated squid. "I have lots of other things on my menu," Schultz explained, "but squid is a kind of totem food. Once people have eaten it, they feel as though they have made a breakthrough."
Those not yet ready for so momentous an adventure could fill up on bright red, chili-fired Portuguese linguica sausage, oyster shooters (each a single- shelled oyster in a shot glass to be knocked back with a dash of lemon juice or cocktail sauce), assorted meat satays and hot dogs, pickled garlic, egg rolls, cookies, ice cream and chocolate-dipped strawberries, all washed down with soft drinks, beer or wine margaritas.