REAPING THE HARVEST
Highlights of next weekend’s Corrales festival include hayrides, Pet Mayor contest
For those of you already experiencing the post-State Fair blues, next weekend’s Corrales Harvest Festival has just the fix.
Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, Corrales Road will play host to a kaleidoscope of activities: live music, a corn maze, hayrides, petting zoos, wine tasting and much more.
“We try to highlight that which makes Corrales a good place to live — all kinds of stuff that city kids don’t see,” said Tony Messec, chairman of the Corrales Harvest Festival committee.
The festival, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Corrales Foundation, has been held for just over 30 years and will encompass almost two-miles of Corrales Road to celebrate the best of art, music, culture and food.
All of those offerings are local, Messec said, from the festival posters and T-shirts designed by a local artist to the produce grown by village farmers “start to finish,” not to mention antique tractors — known as “Corrales not-so-rapid transit” — that will transport attendees along the route in hay wagons.
The popular Pet Parade will kickoff the festival at 9 a.m. Saturday with a Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) theme. Kids march down Corrales Road with a variety of dressed-up pets — horses, dogs, cats, birds ... you name it.
“These things are pointed to children,” Messec said. “Because we want families to come out.”
Along those lines, there will be a kids play area, the Kids Korner, at the elementary school, with a mechanical bull, climbing wall and face painting, while Frontier Mart will offer pony rides. But it’s not all about the kids. On the event schedule are poultry and rabbit shows and herding demonstration by trained dogs at The Village Mercantile; the village complex is hosting nonprofit groups and a business fair; and Wagner’s Farm will feature locally-grown produce and a corn
maze.
At Casa San Ysidro, a satellite of the Albuquerque Museum, you’ll find artists and vendors, music, blacksmithing, horno baking and more; at La Entrada Park there will be an arts and crafts festival; and the Heart of Corrales Fiesta will be at Historic Old San Ysidro Church from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. At the latter, visitors can take part in the new “pie walk,” where $1 will give you a chance to win apple, blueberry or peach pies and other treats. Pie walk proceeds go toward the preservation of church.
There will be dancing Saturday evening as The Hootenanny starts at 6:30 with music by the Watermelon Mountain Jug Band.
Local musicians will be performing throughout the festival — at the food court stage at the recreation center and at the library stage at La Entrada Park.
A large part of the annual festival is the Corrales Pet Mayor Contest, a community fundraiser in which the public votes for their favorite contender from the community. Votes cost $1, but there is no limit to how many times one can vote, with people being encouraged to “vote, and vote often.”
“This is an event to help the community and strengthen the bond between their pets,” said Abby Keller, Pet Mayor area coordinator. “Every year we have new creature.”
Past candidates have included roosters, pigs and donkeys. This year’s field consists of a Shih Tzu dog, Loveable Lisa; a Russian blue cat, Mister Tea; a golden retriever dog, Sassy; and a Dutch Warmblood horse, Spot.
The winner will assume the seat that black and white pooch Woody won last year.
Voting began the last week of August and ends next Sunday, with the winner being announced by noon that day.
The pet mayor election has been an ongoing event since 2012, and Keller said they get around three to five candidates a year. Owners have to go through an application process to get their pet on the ballot, but the qualifying criteria isn’t too stringent.
“We just ask that their pet is friendly in the public,” she said, adding that she would love to see a spider or snake make a future run.
In past years, more than 10,000 visitors have attended the Corrales Harvest Festival and, while they don’t have concrete data, Messec believes half the people are from Rio Rancho and Albuquerque.
“It is not an expensive enterprise to stage” Messec said, giving thanks to 400 volunteers. “It takes a lot of people to get this done.”
He said the festival is funded through a Corrales nest egg and costs around five figures to put on.
“We know how much it’s going to cost, based on history,” Messec said.
Net proceeds, in the amount of $15,000 the last few years, go to non-profit organizations supporting children’s programs and animal welfare.
“We don’t put this thing on as a massive money maker,” he said. “We’re putting this on as a community service.”