D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
July 2009
What's hot in July.
Go Fourth: We may be a long way from Independence Hall in Philadelphia or the Liberty Trail in Boston, but Southwest New Mexico still knows how to do right by the Fourth of July. From the state's largest fireworks display in Elephant Butte at dusk to the annual Ice Cream Social at the Silver City Museum, it promises to be another all-American weekend. The fun starts on July 3, with the Grape American Wine Festival at the St. Clair Winery in Deming, which continues through the 4th. And Las Cruces lights up with the annual Electric Light Parade at 9 p.m., followed by a 10 p.m. concert starring (no, not the Electric Light Orchestra, but good guess) the 1980s chart-topping band Journey. The message, you might say, is "Don't stop believin'" in the US of A.
On Saturday, July 4, Silver City stages its annual Independence Day Parade, this year with the theme of "Saluting Grant County Pioneers: Past, Present and Future," followed by the usual vendors, music and fun at Gough Park. Over at the museum, in addition to the ice cream and antique tractor show, don't forget about the "cakewalk." A lot of cakes are needed to keep it going, according to Ice Cream Social co-chairs Sandra Hicks and Cherie Salmon. Homemade cakes are preferred, and to encourage this, the museum is adding a cake-decorating contest to the fun this year. To enter, your cake must be homemade and be at the Silver City Museum for judging by 1:30 p.m. on Friday, July 3.
Over in Las Cruces, the celebration and fireworks at the Hadley Complex will include a 4 p.m. street fest with local bands and an 8 p.m. concert by Credence Clearwater Revisited.
Calendar crowding: Ordinarily, the fun quotient in our neck of the desert drops off dramatically from Independence Day to Labor Day (much as the humidity and rainfall rise with monsoon season), but not this year. The longish weekend of July 23-26, in fact, positively overflows with things to do, beginning with the Theatre Group New Mexico production of Aladdin Jr.. Based on the Disney flick and staged by participants in the group's Young Entertainers on Stage (YES!) summer program for actors ages 5 to 18, the Arabian tale stars Isaac Apodaca as Aladdin and Amber Perry as Princess Jasmine. Performances are at 7 p.m. on July 23 and 24 at the Cobre Center for the Performing Arts, then move to the WNMU Fine Arts Center Theatre on July 25 (7 p.m.) and 26 (2 p.m. matinee).
That same weekend, July 25-26, the Hummingbirds of New Mexico summertime Hummingbird Festival returns to Lake Roberts after a three-year hiatus. Organizer Joan-Day Martin is one of only about 150 licensed hummingbird banders in the entire world (see "Dances with Hummingbirds," July 2006). She promises that several thousand of the teensy birds will flock to the festival, which will feature banding demonstrations, photo presentations and talks on related naturalist topics such as bats.
That same busy Saturday and Sunday, the Silver City Chamber of Commerce debuts Cowboy Days, which organizers hope to add to the area's calendar of annual must-see events. Details at press time were as scarce as PETA members at a barbecue, but look for Dutch-oven cooking, blacksmithing, square dancing, cowboy poets, entertainment, a fashion show, horseshoe-pitching and golf tournaments, vendors and displays. Gough Park will be the main locale, pardner.