
Acequia Culture & Water Rights by Las Golondrinas Board Members, JJ Gonzales, Michael Romero Taylor and Kyle Harwood
The Harvey Girls and La Castaneda Hotel by Madeleine Quillen
Sketch for Spanish dance scene (mural for Santa Fe Country Club) circa 1920, by Gerald Cassidy
Nicolasa Chávez, a fourteenth-generation New Mexican, is Curator of Latino/Hispano/Spanish Colonial Collections at the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA). She received her master’s degree in history with a concentration in Iberian Studies at the University of New Mexico. She began her early dance training with Vicente Romero of Santa Fe, Lili del Castillo of Albuquerque, the UNM Dance Department (the only university in the country with a concentration in flamenco), and with María Benítez. She is the curator of the recent exhibition Flamenco: From Spain to New Mexico, which was named by USA Today as one of the top 12 must see exhibitions for the summer of 2016. She is the author of the accompanying publication The Spirit of Flamenco: From Spain to New Mexico. She has conducted lecture/demonstrations combining flamenco song and dance with its history. At MOIFA she was a co-curator for the exhibition The Red that Colored the World and is a contributor to the publication A Red Like No Other (Skira Rizzoli press) which was named by Vogue Magazine as one of the top 25 Valentine gifts of 2016. She also curated New World Cuisine: The Histories of Chocolate, Mate y Más. Prior to this she curated A Century of Masters: The NEA National Heritage Fellows of New Mexico, for which her accompanying publication won a New Mexico Book Award. She currently lives in Santa Fe where, she continues to make special guest appearances in Flamenco shows at various local venues.
You won’t want to miss this fascinating and engaging lecture! The New Mexico Museum of Art is located at 107 Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, just off the Santa Fe Plaza. The lecture will begin at 6:00pm and will end by 7:00pm.
Hear ye, hear ye! The King and Queen hereby present the “Kingdom of Golondrinas!” In celebration, you are hereby invited to join us at El Rancho de las Golondrinas for two days of feasting, September 15th and 16th. Ride in a Spanish Galleon at our kids game area. Learn about Renaissance arts and sciences from the Society for Creative Anachronism. Shrink in size as you enter the Fairy Village and pet a unicorn. Enjoy incredible performances by Clan Tynker, The Order of Epona Jousters, The Armored Combat League and many more. Delicious food, a lively tavern, and arts and crafts vendors await at New Mexico’s premier Renaissance Fair. HUZZAH!
Plan your quest at golondrinas.org
Tickets go on sale on August 1 at Hold My Ticket: https://holdmyticket.com/tickets/313833
Make your visit historic and please celebrate at the kingdom responsibly.
Last year’s sell-out Chuckwagon Dinner is back and it’s bigger and better than ever this season! August 18, at 5:00pm the place to be is El Rancho de las Golondrinas, 334 Los Pinos Road, Santa Fe!
After a long day on the trail, gather round the fire and eat your fill of “chuck” from an authentic 1890 chuckwagon!
On the evening of August 18, the atmosphere of a trail camp will be created for you with a taste of the old west featuring chopped, smoked beef brisket, cheese enchiladas, sweet/hot baked beans, buttermilk fruit and cabbage slaw, homemade chili biscuits and Dutch oven fruit cobbler!
In addition, New Mexico Hard Cider will be in attendance selling hard cider, beer and sparkling wine to wet your whistle and there will be entertainment by Bill Hearne throughout the evening. Dancing optional and encouraged!
Play old time games, like horseshoes! While the night is young, explore the 200 acre property and its 34 historic buildings!
This is the premiere fundraising event for El Rancho de las Golondrinas. It’s a beautiful setting, under the stars, with the faint sound of coyotes singing to the moon! Bring your friends and family and join us for a fun and historic dinner adventure!
Special pricing for kids 12 and under!
Ticket information is available on our website: golondrinas.org and you can purchase tickets through Hold My Ticket: https://holdmyticket.com/tickets/event315445
Tickets go on sale July 18th. Because attendance is limited to the first 250 to purchase tickets, sales end on August 13th.
Don’t be left out. Purchase your tickets today! COME AND GET IT!
Please join us for local historian, author, and Office of the State Historian — History Scholars’ Program grant recipient, Dr. Linda Tigges TODAY, December 1, at noon, in the Yucca Room, State Records Center and Archives. Dr. Tigges will discuss material culture in New Mexico from 1692 through the 1740s. She has researched and compiled quantitative information about luxury and other goods imported into New Mexico showing the trading connections of New Mexico with the cities and towns of New Spain and with the Spanish empire in Europe and the Orient. This work is meant to extend the studies and research about goods imported into New Mexico by collecting information from a broad range of sources, quantifying the items, describing the source and identifying merchants.
The 2017 History Scholars Lecture Series is presented by the Office of the New Mexico State Historian and the Historical Society of New Mexico.
The first ever Chuckwagon Dinner was held on August 18 at El Rancho de las Golondrinas and it was a grand success! Over 200 people, including many Board members, ate their fill of “chuck” from an authentic 1890s chuckwagon!
Carl serving up a big plate of “chuck.”
Attendees sat at tables adorned with red checkered table cloths and a pop-up “campfire” centerpiece. As they chowed down their “chuck,” they were serenaded on the harmonica and guitar by Dale Greenberg and Marc Yaxley who played authentic music and tunes from the late 1890’s. They even participated in a sing-a-long of “You Are My Sunshine,” and several Bob Dylan melodies.
206 meals served!
It was a festive evening filled with good food, friendship and fun! Who knows?! This may become an annual event at the Ranch!
After a long day on the trail, come to El Rancho de las Golondrinas, gather round the fire and eat your fill of “chuck” from an authentic 1890 chuckwagon!
$20.00 for adults/ $18.00 for seniors (age 62+) and teens/$12.00 for children 5 to 11 years of age/FREE for children 4 and under!
Discounts available for Los Amigos Del Museo Members as follows: $18.00 for adults/$16.00 for seniors (age 62+) and teens/ $10.00 for members’ children 5 to 11 years of age/ FREE for children 4 and under!
Tickets are available at http://holdmyticket.com/event/278747, www.golondrinas.org or on site the night of the event as long as an RSVP has been sent.
Attendance limited to the first 250 to RSVP!
Carl Hawkins will create for you the atmosphere of a trail camp with a taste of the old west featuring chopped, smoked beef brisket, cheese enchiladas, sweet/hot baked beans, buttermilk fruit and cabbage slaw, homemade chili biscuits and Dutch oven fruit cobbler!
RSVP to Kathryn Carey at (505) 471-2261, ext. 215 or kathryn@golondrinas.org by July 15th then go to http://holdmyticket.com/event/278747 to purchase your tickets.
I am happy to announce this opportunity for you to attend a cultural tourism workshop in Oña, Ecuador, a town founded by Esteban Morales Cabrera in 1539–1540. Board Member Thomas E. Chávez and Dr. Celia López-Chávez will be leading the trip as we engage with the community of Oña and the surrounding area. The town of Oña learned of El Rancho de las Golondrinas from Dr. Chávez and has invited us to organize a workshop to help the town find ways to showcase its history, and in many ways, function as a living history museum while maintaining its identity as a living community, listed by the government of Ecuador as a place of special historical significance.
I invite you to join us on what will be an incredible learning experience as we explore Ecuador and learn about its history and culture. Please see remarks from Dr. Chávez below and the exciting itinerary in store.
Daniel Goodman, Interim Museum Director
El Rancho de las Golondrinas
The community of Oña, Ecuador has invited us to organize a workshop using it as a focal point. The workshop will utilize conservationists of various disciplines to study the town of Oña and environs and make recommendations on what can be done to increase its cultural and historical visibility while becoming economically viable and maintaining its integrity. The experience of interacting with professionals from Ecuador and the United States while working and exchanging ideas with a local community in Ecuador that dates to the sixteenth century will be a rich learning experience for everyone involved. The workshop will include an informative meeting (or two) before traveling to Ecuador.
Two products will be produced from this workshop: a public forum in Oña and a written report in English and Spanish based on the workshop’s conclusions that will be compiled by the project leaders. They will complete a draft and submit it back to the workshop participants for corrections and revisions before the final version is presented to the Community of Oña and the University of Cuenca.
San Felipe de Oña is the capitol of the county of Oña in the Province of Azuay and is 120 km south of Cuenca. The town is on the Pan-American Highway as well as the ancient Inca Trail that connected Ecuador (the birthplace of the last Inca rulers) to Perú. Oña, the town, was established by Esteban Morales Cabrera, one of Francisco Pizarro’s captains in 1539–1540. The barrio de San Francisco, a few blocks off the town’s main plaza, is the original site of the town. Today, the old barrio consists of two cobblestone streets, a series of various adobe buildings in various states of ruin and repair and a running acequia. “La Bella de París,” one of the barrio’s restored buildings, is the community’s cultural center and will be the place where the workshop will meet during the stay in Oña.
The town is in the center of a rural environment where Condors nest, agriculture is the main source of income, and outdoor opportunities abound. The many archaeological sites dating, at least, to 6000 BC and up through the Spanish occupation are one reason that the area has been deemed a “Patrimony of Ecuador,” a place of special historical significance.
The prices for single or double supplement listed below include the following:
A $225 donation to El Rancho de las Golondrinas to pay for round trip airfare for two representatives from Ecuador to visit and study cultural tourism, museums, and preservation in New Mexico.
El Rancho de las Golondrinas will accept a maximum of fourteen registrants and will go with a minimum of twelve.
Single supplement = $1,585, plus airfare
Double supplement = $1,485, plus airfare
Note that airfare to and from Cuenca is not included. You must make your own arrangements (see section of Travel Particulars). However, we ask that you wait until we can confirm with you that we have enough registrations to make the trip a go.
(As of this writing, airfare including the Quito/Cuenca connection ranges from $1,308 to $1,700).
To get to Cuenca from New Mexico and, we assume, most of the United States, you must fly into Quito and overnight for an early morning flight to Cuenca. The hotel and transfers from and to the airport are included in the cost of the trip. At the proper time, Tom and Celia will notify everyone which flights they will be taking so that those who so desire can fly with them. It at all possible, we encourage all participants to make reservations on the same flight as the project leaders from Quito to Cuenca.
Otherwise, please feel free to extend the trip at your own expense.
Once you make your reservations, send your flight information to Tom Chavez at the email address below.
A chartered bus will transport us to the airport in Cuenca on the morning of November 19th for our return trip home or to other destinations. From here on, you are on your own.
To sign up, a deposit of $250 per person is required to be deposited. Should you choose to cancel, $200 will be non-refundable unless a replacement is found in which case $100 will be non-refundable. Final payment is due prior to departure. If the workshop is cancelled, all monies will be refunded. Please make checks (no credit cards) payable to El Rancho de las Golondrinas — memo “Ecuador workshop” and mail to 334 Los Pinos Road, Santa Fe, NM 87507. If you have any questions, please call Tom Chávez at (505) 345-9684 or email at techavez.22@gmail.com
To participate on the tour/workshop, you must be a member of El Rancho de las Golondrinas, Los Amigos del Museo. Membership is available on this site.
A registration form and the itinerary for the trip can be found below.
Link to Ecuador Registration Form
Cathedral of Cuenca, Ecuador
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a very select few! Be the first to sign up for this fabulous trip!
We kicked off the summer with a reception for all Los Amigos del Museo members on Friday, June 2, from 5:00 to 7:00pm. We gathered in front of the Paloheimo Education Center to honor Robert Himmerich y Valencia as a Golondrinas Ambassador. Following this ceremony, there were light refreshments, wine and beer catered by our new food service provider, Joe Garcia and Two Sprout Farm.
On Saturday and Sunday, June 3 and 4, our first festival, was both fun and educational.
Rounding out the month of June, our crowd-pleasing Herb and Lavender Festival returns on the 17th and 18th.
It’s going to be another fantastic season. Don’t miss out on any of the fun. Become a member of Los Amigos del Museo today and enjoy free admission to ALL the summer festivities at El Rancho de las Golondrinas.