More death, more disruption
SWAIA postpones 99th Indian Market as state reports 11th fatality, 51 new cases
The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts will not hold its Santa Fe Indian Market this summer because of the coronavirus outbreak, Randy Randall, executive director of Tourism Santa Fe, said Saturday.
In previous years, the event has brought as many as 120,000 visitors and generated as much as $100 million in revenue for Santa Fe. The 99th market was scheduled to take place Aug. 15-16 but has been postponed until 2021. The centennial celebration planned for 2021 will now take place in 2022.
News of the postponement came as the number of deaths and newly confirmed cases continued to mount in New Mexico.
A McKinley County man in his 60s died Saturday of COVID-19, according to a news release from the Governor’s Office. He had been hospitalized and had underlying medical conditions. Eleven New Mexicans have died after contracting the virus.
The Governor’s Office also announced 51 new cases Saturday, bringing the state’s total to 543.
As the numbers have continued to climb, the ripple effects have erased much of Santa Fe’s events calendar.
Stephen Fox, owner of the New Millennium Fine Art Gallery, has dealt in Native American art for more than 40 years and said many artists make more than half their income at the Santa Fe Indian Market.
“I think it is devastating to hundreds of artists who absolutely depend on this two-day event,” Fox said. “I’m at a loss of how to help them.”
Ishkoten Dougi, a painter and sculptor
who is of Jicarilla Apache and Navajo descent, said there are still a lot of questions for what the future holds.
“We’ll find out how this will affect next year’s sales,” he said, adding that artists use the event to establish longterm relationships with collectors.
SWAIA board members said they came to the decision earlier in the week. They have formed a subcommittee to explore holding a “virtual market” this year to promote online sales for artists.
Board member and artist Dominique Toya said it was a difficult decision to postpone the event.
“Indian Market is a big part of my livelihood, but it is more important to protect the well-being of fellow artists, their families, our customers and all of our communities,” Toya said.
Thomas Teegarden, chairman of the board, said artists selected for this year’s event also will be accepted next year. He said any artist who paid booth fees has two choices: a full refund or applying those fees to a booth at next year’s event.
Of the new coronavirus cases reported Saturday, six were in Santa Fe County, bringing its total to 58.
The new cases also included more positive tests from La Vida Llena, a nursing home in Albuquerque where five more residents and eight additional staff members tested positive.
State officials said Friday they had discovered a COVID-19 case at an undisclosed retirement home in Santa Fe. But the Governor’s Office said Saturday that there had been a miscommunication.
“There is no current positive COVID19 case at or related to a Santa Fe nursing home at this time,” spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett said.
Lincoln and Los Alamos counties had their first confirmed cases Saturday, meaning 23 of New Mexico’s 33 counties have at lease one case.
The state’s most populous county, Bernalillo, had an additional 23 cases for a total of 225.
As of Saturday, there were 37 people hospitalized with the virus in New Mexico. The state Department of Health said 54 people had recovered from the virus.