Happy Holidays
Keeping the light alive on Canyon Road
Christmas Eve in Santa Fe was a comparatively silent night.
What’s usually an evening of caroling, with thousands of people and thousands of farolitos lining the historic Canyon Road, was instead a line of cars driving past shuttered art galleries and numerous other closed shops without candlelight.
Long stretches of the road were not lined by farolitos despite the best efforts of the city and the Canyon Road Merchants Association to spread holiday spirit in an otherwise dispiriting year.
Despite that, a long line of cars waited along Paseo de Peralta to get onto Canyon Road after the city blocked side streets to funnel everyone along the larger thoroughfare.
What awaited them on Canyon Road was a much sleepier celebration than Santa Fe is used to.
“We had one of our first dates coming down here,” said Justin Ruelas, a lifelong Santa Fe resident who came to the event with his wife and children.
Ruelas has been coming to what is usually a Christmas Eve stroll along a street illuminated by farolitos, bonfires and singing for at least 10 years. The excitement is a decadesold Santa Fe Christmas tradition.
This year, because of the pandemic and a state public health order banning large gatherings, a slow caravan had to suffice.
It was Ruelas’ children’s first farolito drive. “It’s a little disappointing, but it’s something for us to get out and do during the pandemic,” Ruelas said.
Other Santa Fe residents expressed a similar sentiment.
“It would have been really sad if they
hadn’t done it. It’s kind of like taking classes online. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than nothing,” said Emily Hayes-Rich as she drove along Canyon Road with Jackson Ledy, with the window rolled down.
Like so many things in 2020, Christmas Eve in Santa Fe is not what it used to be. But the people who were there still wanted to take part in the tradition and at least try to spread a little holiday cheer.
“It was such a great opportunity to bring the whole community up,” lamented Bud Colby, an art director at Ahmyo River Gallery with partner Kathy Eagan. They were the only people sitting in front of a gallery waving and wishing people a Merry Christmas.
“I feel sorry that they didn’t do it,” Colby said of the many galleries that didn’t put up farolitos this Christmas. “But they had their reasons. Some galleries are just plain flat broke, so you kinda got to not hold it against them.”
Despite the pandemic and the lack of pedestrians, Santa Fe residents Gwen Bechtel and Frank Sanchez built a small bonfire at Sanchez’s residence adjacent to an art gallery in the hope that foot traffic might pick up and a few stragglers would stop by their fire to warm up.
Sipping a cocktail by the fire, Sanchez said he was expecting his grandchildren and perhaps a couple of friends later in the evening. The two seemed in high spirits.
“We figured anybody that we know might just stop over and say hi,” Bechtel said. “I think it’s a great, kind of nice quiet end to a chaotic year. It’s been interesting.”