It’s been 20 years since the peaceful little town of Yuma, Arizona was rocked by riots. In September of 2020, the cause was diminishing hope that the Yuma Bulldozers (the team’s name back then) would make the playoffs. The youth of Yuma started fires in recycling bins all over Old Town, vandalized local businesses and, in one of the saddest events in Yuma history, three young men jumped to their death from the McPhaul Bridge. Before 1968 the bridge spanned the Colorado River just north of Yuma, but when the river was diverted, the bridge was left standing over a sandy arroyo. Toxicology reports on the deceased confirmed suspicions that they were under the influence of both alcohol and hallucinatory drugs when they jumped into the rocky arroyo.

So when riots broke out again two days ago, the residents feared the worst, but it proved to be largely celebratory rioting with damage only to a few Old Town buildings. No one was arrested, no one lost their life. Shortly after midnight, the celebrations ended, the streets were clear of people once again (though littered with all sorts of trash), and the sleepy little town could return to its somnambulistic way of life. 

The garbage trucks were called out and prisoners from the county jail were given brooms to sweep up the trash in the streets. By 3 am, only the questions remained.

Why did people riot? Were they protesting an Arroyo defeat? Or celebrating the best start of a season Yuma has experienced since … well, since 2020?

Answers poured in from many corners of the town. The Mayor thought Yuma’s sweep of Bakersfield was so unexpected, so over-the-top that it fired up local fans and sent them into the streets. The Sheriff, on the other hand, blamed the evening’s outrageous behavior on alcohol and rock-and-roll. “The music these kids listen to,” he said, “invites chaotic and destructive behavior.” 

The resident psychologist at Yuma’s Suicide Hot Line, which was busy with non-stop calls all night, took a more complex view of the situation. Dr. Francine Frommer speculated that Yuma’s first place standing and 8-3 record fueled such grandiose hopes for the team that people feared when the Arroyos would begin to play like the Arroyos they knew and loved—which is to say, when the Arroyos began, inevitably, to lose. The fear and anticipation of dashed hopes was so emotionally disturbing that young people took to the streets to express their discomfort, their ambivalence, and their fears, Dr. Frommer explained.

But one local business woman, a veteran of several Yuma riots, took a different view of the emotional outburst she witnessed in Old Town. Mexican Restauranteur Anna, whose original restaurant was closed by riots years ago, reinvented her business as a food truck, designed to look like a bulldozer (the former namesake of the Arroyos). Anna’s history with Yuma riots gives her a unique perspective on the event. “Team win too much,” she explained, “fans riot. Team lose too much, fans riot. Lesson not to do nothing too much.”

When crowds began gathering in Old Town two nights ago, Anna, in all her wisdom, parked her newly redecorated taco truck—now bearing the orange, blue and gold colors of the Arroyos—smack dab in the center of the crowd, near the fountain in Old Town. “Well fed rioters,” she said, “not be angry rioters. Much more fun riot with Anna tacos.”

She did a healthy business that night, and maybe she did a service for the city of Yuma. No injuries were reported, no arrests were made. A few storefronts were tagged and a whole lot of trash was left in the streets. But as riots go, it was, as Anna predicted, well fed and not at all angry.