By admin 
If margaritas are a relaxation staple in your circle, a traveling festival is looking to provide the perfect occasion.
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Hosted by the fittingly named International Margarita Organization, The Columbia Margarita Festival is coming to Savage Craft Ale Works at 430 Center Street, West Columbia this weekend on Saturday, July 25.
Columbia’s edition of the festival is just one leg of a nationwide tour that’s already hit 65 spots, including Hilton Head. Organizers are pitching the event as a competition to determine the best margarita in Columbia, with 10 local restaurants invited to compete.
With the purchase of a ticket, each attendee will be given sampling rights to 10 different 3.5 ounce margaritas and one voting chip to leave at their favorite booth. At the end of the day, the chips will be collected and a winner declared.
Sandra Vargas, one of the owners of participating restaurant La Ciénega Mexican Grill, said they would be bringing a prickly pear margarita and saw the festival as an excellent opportunity to show the community what they have to offer.
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“We just wanted to go out there, see how it is and participate,” Vargas said. “We had to bring a different kind of margarita.”
The festival also promises a live DJ, food vendors highlighted by a street taco selection, a beer garden for those in the mood for a different type of drink and a charity raffle offering the chance to win an all-inclusive trip to Mexico.
The festival will take place on July 25 from noon to 6 p.m. General Admission tickets to enter at 3 p.m. are available for $50.61 and include one raffle ticket. $60.90 VIP tickets allow noon entry and include two raffle tickets, a VIP table for 10 is also on offer for $1,035.
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Entry will be strictly 21-plus with no exceptions.