Governor’s Office urges Chama to cancel July 4 fireworks

Event has brought as many as 8,000 people to village in past, creating concerns about spreading coronavirus

The mayor of a small Northern New Mexico village is considering whether to cancel a popular Fourth of July fireworks event after pointed conversations with the Governor’s Office.

Chama has hosted an annual fireworks celebration July 4 for more than a decade. And in the past, the event has drawn as many as 8,000 people to the village, population 995, eight miles south of the Colorado border.

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and increasing number of cases in Rio Arriba County, Chama Mayor Bill Elbrock was still planning to host the annual event as of early Tuesday evening. The village’s motels are already packed with tourists, relatively speaking, at the maximum 50 percent capacity, Elbrock said.

But after conversations with Victor Reyes, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s legislative director, Elbrock said he’s questioning whether to go through with it. Elbrock, a Democrat, described the governor as a personal friend.

Nora Meyers Sackett, a spokeswoman for Lujan Grisham’s office, said Elbrock and council members who signed off on the celebration “are endorsing an unacceptable public health risk” that would be “a flagrant violation of the public health order” if people gather for the spectacle.

Elbrock said he’s still trying to make up his mind. Despite having spoken with Reyes, the mayor described the event as a boon for a small-town economy reliant on tourism.

He also said he owns a fireworks stand, but the fireworks for the event are purchased from a separate supplier.

And while he said he was concerned about the possibility of spreading the novel coronavirus, Elbrock said he believes the virus will come to Chama regardless of whether he cancels the event.

In previous years, people gathered near a baseball field, Gallegos Park, on streets and along N.M. 17 to watch. This

year, the mayor said he plans not to allow people to gather within the park.

“There’s got to be some sort of getting back to normal,” Elbrock said. “The town is full. The grocery store is full. The people are here, they’re passing through. They’re stopping to get gas. They’re stopping at our restaurants. What difference is it going to make if they spend an extra hour and a half or two here?

“I’ve never seen this town busier with people coming through,” he added.

The Governor’s Office is not the first to try to persuade Elbrock to cancel the show.

La Clinica del Pueblo de Rio Arriba, a small rural health clinic which serves Chama and roughly 2,500 other people in the area, had urged Elbrock to do the same — to no avail.

The clinic’s executive director, Darren DeYapp, along with its medical director and medical provider, sent a letter to Elbrock about the event June 26. It was forwarded to the state Department of Health and the Governor’s Office as well, DeYapp said.

In the letter, the three medical executives noted the Chama Valley area had no COVID-19 cases for months until June.

Now, “new cases have been detected at La Clinica literally EVERYDAY this past week, and undoubtedly this trend will continue,” the letter said.

The letter stressed the rural community “has very limited medical resources” and the nearest hospitals “are already functioning at or above capacity” and are expected to soon begin diverting people to other hospitals.

DeYapp said in a telephone interview Tuesday the event could “create a situation where you have an influx of a lot of people coming to watch the display that wouldn’t normally come,” thus increasing the risk for potential COVID-19 exposure for both residents and tourists.

He added that the mayor and members of the village council have offered no guidelines on maintaining social distancing or remaining in their vehicles. “I think that’s very concerning,” he said. Lauren Reichelt, who heads the Rio Arriba County Health and Human Services Department, also said she was dismayed when she learned of the mayor’s plans to go forward with the celebration.

“We have an outbreak in Northern Rio Arriba, and quite a few people in the Chama area were exposed last week to COVID,” she said. “I think it’s a really bad idea to hold a fireworks display. I’m concerned not only could we end up spreading it throughout Chama and the surrounding areas,” but also to those traveling from Española, Santa Fe and elsewhere to watch.

As of Tuesday evening, the show was still planned to begin at 9 p.m. Saturday.

The event was listed on a New Mexico Tourism Department website. In an email, Sackett said the department has not been promoting the event and it likely was added to the website before the pandemic.

She added the department has stopped promoting all events and mass gatherings through social media and email since mid-March, although the Chama fireworks display had not been taken off of the website as of Tuesday evening.