For forty-one years, the Sahuarita Pecan Festival has been the one event this valley could agree on. The groves turn gold, the shellers come out, somebody's grandson wins the pie contest under suspicious circumstances, and everyone goes home happy. That streak is now in danger — over the name of the nut itself.
The trouble began at Tuesday's planning meeting, when the committee reviewed this year's radio advertisement and discovered its two co-chairs had recorded competing takes: one “puh-KAHN,” one “PEE-can.” Neither will yield.
“A PEE-can,” said co-chair Wanda Ruiz, “is a receptacle one brings camping. I will not be advertising that festival.”
“My family has grown this nut for three generations,” countered co-chair Dale Emmert. “We say PEE-can. The trees have never once complained.”
Observers blame the current climate. “Ever since the fajita story, everyone in this town thinks pronunciation is a hill,” said longtime volunteer Sue Okafor. “It's a nut. It has two names. So does my grandson.”
Mediation is scheduled for next month at the community center. The mediator, reached by phone, asked this newspaper how she was supposed to remain neutral “when one of them is obviously right,” then declined to say which one, “for professional reasons.”
The festival remains, for now, on the calendar for November.
The Ledger's pecan coverage is the most decorated in the Santa Cruz Valley, a category in which it also has no competitors.