2015 WAS A WATERSHED YEAR FOR FIESTAS Jan. 3, 2016

LAS CRUCES  -  Many of us will remember 2015 as a watershed year for fiestas.

When I arrived in Las Cruces more than two decades ago, I coined the term Full-Tilt Fiesta Season as we watched the season expand and add some superweekends that seemed full to overflowing with events and saw festive new concepts springing up annually.

But in 2015, some of our favorite long-running fiestas and others that have celebrated 15^th and 20^th anniversaries, called it quits, cut back or charged forms.

Perhaps the biggest shock was the end of the Whole Enchilada Fiesta, founded in 1980 and long-billed as Southern New Mexico’s most popular cultural event. Robert Estrada, who in 2003 was awarded the Guinness Book of Records title for creating the world’s largest enchilada, quit and came back again, but in 2015, the all-volunteer group decided the time had come to say adios. TWEF leaves warm memories for generations of Las Crucens and visitors from throughout the world. In December, in the spirit of generosity exemplified by Estrada and TWEF’s volunteers, the group donated its treasury of $22,000  to other nonprofit foundations.

After 17 years, the Southwest Environmental Center decided its resources were spread too thin to continue the labor-intensive Raft the Rio event, which was not held this year. They invited other groups to continue the effort to focus attention on the joys of hanging out at our no-longer-so-grande endangered waterway, and all three local Kiwanis are joining to continue the festive event, which includes costumed river fans voyaging in rafts made from recycled items.

“We’re happy they’re taking over and looking forward to helping them with the transition,” in 2016, said Kevin Bixby,  SWEC’s executive director.

Venues were an issue for the Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference, which trained and educated thousands of mariachi musicians and singers and folklorico dancers over the past two decades and brought top entertainers to perform and teach here. Founder Phyllis Franzoy announced that the nonprofit group, which fielded one of the largest gatherings of its kind each November, has had trouble securing suitable venues after New Mexico State University schedules and policies have changed. The group had an abbreviated event at Las Cruces Convention Center in 2014 and sponsored Mariachi Sunday concerts in Mesilla in 2015.

Denise Chávez, who founded the Border Book Festival with Susan J. Tweit, announced that the once-popular event would end after more than two decades and workshops and other events that attracted thousands of book fans and authors, poets, musicians, artists and chefs. An online presence and some literary events will continue at Casa Camino Real, 314 S. Tornillo St., Chávez said.

After more than a decade, White Sands International Film Festival committee members announced in January that the festival would end due to financial challenges and cuts in donations and sponsorship.

In June, the birth of the new Las Cruces International Film Festival was announced, to be hosted by the New Mexico College of Arts and Sciences. Ross Marks, who headed successful WSIFF productions, will serve as executive director of LCIFF, which will be held March 2 through 6.  Marsha San Filippo will be LCIFF producer. Keagan Karnes will serve as the festival's artistic director and screen legend Danny Trejo will be the first LCIFF honoree.

"It will be bigger and better and have a different focus. We'll be presenting films that have won recent honors at the world's major film festivals, like Cannes and Sundance, the best of the best," Marks said. Primary LCIFF venues will be Allen Theatres Cineport 10, the Rio Grande Theatre, Hotel Encanto and NMSU. Watch for updates on facebook.com/lciffest.

Though it will not be part of the LCIFF, Marks said, the Mark Medoff Lecture Series at NMSU will begin "concurrently" with the new festival. The first lecturer will be Emmy and Academy Award-winning screenwriter, producer and playwright Aaron Sorkin.

The Mesilla Valley Balloon Rally, in its heyday an event that welcomed the public to balloon launches, glows and a community festival, is no more. But we can still look up and see some big beautiful balloons Jan. 16 and 17. What was once a public rally and then a fly-in has become a private event, the Mesilla Valley Aerostat Ascension Association Fly-out, and still attracts  balloon pilots from throughout the Southwest.

Amidst all the changes, there are some bright spots, with both new and long-term festivals that continue to thrive and evolve, including the monthly Downtown Ramble, which started as an annual Artwalk as well as Downtown Partnership, Project Mainstreet and Las Cruces Farmers' and Crafts Market special programs like evening markets, the New Year's Eve Chile Drop, and red-carpet events.

The Doña Ana Arts Council’s Renaissance Arts Faire added a new feature this year: a New Mexico True Camino Real section that showcased artisans demonstrating traditional arts and crafts the way they would have been created during the Renaissance era here. DAAC’s executive director Kathleen Albers said the section will be expanded and enhanced at the 2016 festival. The same approach was stressed by the Santa Fe-based Spanish Colonial Society, which has extended its territory to bring Spanish Market events to Albuquerque, and in 2015, to southern New Mexico. The group’s second annual Las Cruces Spanish Market will be Feb. 20 and 21 at Hotel Encanto.

Some regional festivals have thrived with “right-sizing,” niche specialties (from the Hatch Chile Festival to Cowboy Days at New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum) and appeals to specific or broader demographics.

The Franciscan Festival of the Arts, which long ago morphed into RenFaire, has enjoyed continuing success by returning to its smaller scale at its original location at Holy Cross Retreat.

Food and drink continue to draw big crowds. Any fest with wine or beer in its title seems to prosper at diverse venues that range from the New Mexico State Fairgrounds to regional wineries, the Las Cruces Convention Center, plazas, museums or theaters. SalsaFest is holding its own, and up-and-coming festivities celebrate bourbon, bacon, nuts, pumpkins and a variety of other home-grown products.

Las Cruces’ increasing reputation as a cultural mecca is fortified by the success of annual events like the Las Cruces Arts Fair in March and Dia de los Muertos special events and new exhibits, anchored by Mesilla’s Day of the Dead celebrations, now an established part of Mesilla Plaza borderland traditional fiestas that include Cinco de Mayo and Diez y Seis de Septiembre.

New and special interest groups continue to spring up and develop new festivals  and special events. Bellas Artes Sin Fronteras formed in late 2015, with a goal of nurturing multicultural arts and education.

The Las Cruces Country Music Festival has been cited as a good example of a major new fiesta success story. Superstar Kenny Rogers headlined in 2015 and this year’s fourth annual event April 29 through May 1, is expected to attract an ever-growing country music fan base. Las Cruces Convention Visitors Bureau Director Philip San Filippo came up with the concept, and after fielding similar events, had the contacts and expertise to make it a great local fit.  Focus groups determined that we already had a reputation as a mecca for country music fans (thanks largely to decades of efforts by Barbara Hubbard in bringing top names in country, rock and pop to Pan Am).

It’s a hopeful model.

As we add venues like the new downtown plaza and learn to make better use of those we have, fiesta organizers are recognizing that we’ve grown and tastes continue to change and evolve. Building on the work of talented and visionary founders, a willingness to hire professionals and evaluate what the public needs and wants can help us move into a new fiesta era.

S. Derrickson Moore may be reached at lcsun-news.com, @DerricksonMoore on Twitter and Tout, or call 575-541-5450.