SUNFLOWER POWER
Mountainair celebrates bright yellow blossom with music, arts, contests
The Mountainair Sunflower Festival is a chance to showcase what the small town southeast of Albuquerque has to offer. The festival features music, arts and crafts, as well as contests — all dealing with sunflowers.
After months of planning, Karen Smith is ready for the festival.
“We’re growing the festival with each year,” she says.
Smith is a member of the Manzano Mountain Art Council, which puts on the festival.
She’s been in charge of producing the event, which runs two days long.
Beginning at 5 today, there will be a wine tasting, an art opening and live music.
The wine will be provided by St. Clair Winery, and the music features jazz trio Blue Moon.
“We’re trying to create this event into something for the entire community,” she says. “The Friday part of the event is a little more low-key, with a wine tasting and art show.”
All of the proceeds from Friday’s event will help benefit the MMAC Building Fund, which is raising money for a permanent building for the organization.
Smith says the Saturday event draws more people.
“The event is free and features a lot more events for the family,” she says.
Saturday’s events feature live entertainment from Rye Creek, Erineo, The Roadrunners and Kubatana Marimba Southwest.
“With the music, we’re trying to give the audience a little bit of the familiar and some surprises,” she says. “This will be the first time Kubatana will perform (at the festival) and it’s exciting.
Bringing people to Mountainair is also one of the main goals for the festival.
“Mountainair is a frontier community, and the grocery store is closed and the only way you can get in an out of Mountainair is to have a car,” she says. “This is one way to get people into the community to see what we have to offer.”