Maze-N-Music
Festival features movie night, bands, food and beer
Rio Grande Community Farm is wrapping up October with plenty of activities at its Maize Maze.
Event production company WonderTrax Creative has taken over event duties at the maze. The company has created an impressive lineup of events, including a movie night, a music festival, a Halloween bash, and a Dia de los Muertos-inspired event on Nov. 1.
Bicycle riders will receive 20% off the ticket price when they ride to the maze Friday, Oct. 25. The movie “Hocus Pocus” will be shown around 6 p.m. as part of Bike In Movie Night. The Halloween classic is presented by Go Wicked Kettle Corn and Bosque Brewing Co. Both will be serving their products at the event, a fundraiser for the farm. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for children ages 4 to 13. It is free admission for ages 3 and younger. The ticket price includes the movie and entry into the maze.
“Critical Mass is going to be starting at the (University of New Mexico) duck pond to the maze,” said Travis Sanchez, executive director of WonderTrax Creative. “Critical Mass is a monthly bike group. They meet every month, and they leave from the duck pond and ride to a certain place to have drinks or whatever. It’s pretty fun.”
The Maze-N-Music Festival is the big event on Saturday, Oct. 26. It will showcase several local bands.
“We’ll have Good Green, Dirty Brown Jug Band, Concepto Tambor, Le Chat Lunatique, Saturday Night Fever Blisters and a couple more,” Sanchez said. “(Saturday Night Fever Blisters are) members of a bunch of different groups that have been around since the mid-90s in
Albuquerque. I’m pretty sure they kind of have, like, a Latin, funk, jazz thing. They’re a jam band, so they play a lot of mixture.”
Pop Fizz and Nomad’s BBQ will be taking their food trucks to the event. Attendees ages 21 and older can purchase craft beer offerings Sidetrack Brewing Co. and Steel Bender Brew yard.
The fun continues on Sunday, Oct. 27, with the Vintage Truck and Tractor Festival. The event will feature vintage trucks and tractors as well as live music by Felix y Los Gatos and Rudy Boy Experiment. Beginning at noon, Sidetrack Brewing Co. and The Craftroom will serve adult beverages. Pop Fizz and the Munchie Truck will also be out with their food trucks.
Celebrate Halloween during the All Hallows Eve bash on Oct. 31. The maze will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and there will be live music in
the evening.
“I think we’ll do some alternative to trick-or-treating,” Sanchez said. “We’ll have candy in the maze, where people will be giving out candy.”
The last day of the maze is Nov. 1. It will ends this season with Dia de los Dinner. Nomad BBQ, Go Wicked Kettle Korn, The Munchie Truck and Supper Truck will be part of the event. Local band Burque Sol will entertain.
WonderTrax wanted to increase people’s visits to the maze by adding more events.
“The general impression we got from people we talked to is it’s something that you go to every one or two years,” Sanchez said. “We’re trying to change that to something they go to at least twice in October because there’s a lot of cool stuff going on, not just the maze. Of course, in the maze we have some interactive art exhibits and we have some scavenger type things, so it’s fun to go to maze. We just wanted to make sure there was a little extra we could add to it.”