THE WHOLE ‘TRUTH’
Get to know the town behind the quirky name at the coming Hot Springs Festival
To many, Truth or Consequences is the town with the funny name snug up against Elephant Butte Lake.
It’s really one of the state’s hotbeds of hot springs.
The city will celebrate that legacy with the Hot Springs Festival from May 12 to 14 (torcmainstreet.org/hot-springs-festivalmay-12-14-truth-or-consequences). The celebration will pay homage to healthy lifestyles, alternative medicine and sustainable living, said organizer Linda DeMarino, executive director of the Truth of Consequences Main Street program.
“This is the second year in this format,” she said. “We’ve had one-day events celebrating the hot springs, but last year we expanded it so we could have workshops and have those three things as our cornerstones.”
The event will feature music and vendors, hikes and yoga, field trips and seminars, all centered on the town’s new Healing Waters Plaza.
The Plaza is designed with a fountain that spews hot spring water, which then tumbles down a boulder flow.
The keynote address on May 13 will feature Albuquerque alternative medicine Dr. Sunil Pai and a discussion of inflammation. He wrote the book “An Inflammation Nation: The Definitive Guide to Preventing, Treating and Reversing All Disease Through Diet, Lifestyle and the Use of Natural AntiInflammatories.”
The many seminars and workshops include:
Singing bowl sound healing, an interactive therapeutic session providing perfect pitch tuning to your chakra system through the use of quartz crystal singing bowls and the transfer of healing light energy.
Various yoga methods, including laughter yoga, which incorporates a series of exercises combining breath, movement, and lighthearted vocalizations to release endorphins.
Ayurveda, using a holistic medicine approach to healing including the physical, mental, emotional and energy bodies.
Introduction to hypnotherapy, creating and strengthening positive and productive thought patterns.
Canine yoga, including an introduction to canine body language, massage, anatomy and physiology, yoga and nutrition.
Solar information and the pros and cons of residential and small commercial facility.
Massage therapists and reflexologists also will be on hand to help soothe muscles.
Guests can take walking tours of the town’s seven hot springs, as well as several hikes. Organizers estimate each tour to be between 1½ and 2 hours long, with 10 to 15 minutes at each hot spring. Tour guides will supply historic information on the buildings and businesses.
“The hotels are filling up quickly,” DeMarino said. “We have a lot of other things going on at the same time.”
Among those are the annual Truth or Consequences Film Fiesta, which will feature the 2016 release “The Heart Outright” on May 12. The film has a New Mexico-based backdrop. Visitors can view a compilation of the “Best of Taos Shorts,” on May 13, followed by the 2017 release “The Space Between Us.”
Then, of course, there is Elephant Butte Lake – the state’s largest body of water, formed by the damming of the Rio Grande. It’s a water lovers’ paradise featuring everything from boating to fishing to water skiing. As the weather warms, swimming beckons.
The Geronimo Springs Museum (geronimospringsmuseum.com) includes a stunning Southwestern pottery exhibit, museum Director Marilyn Pope said.
“We have a world-class pottery and arrowhead collection,” she said of the Mimbres- and Tularosa-style work that dates from about 200 A.D. to 1350 AD.
A miner’s cabin disassembled from its site in the nearby Black Range Mountains and reassembled at the museum is not to be missed, she said. It contains relics from area’s mining era.
Of course, Truth or Consequences game show host Ralph Edwards has his own display that pays homage to the show.