Southwest Apple Festival returns to downtown Farmington for second year
FARMINGTON — Storytellers, live music, games, dozens of vendors and plenty of apple- and chile-related activities will be featured when the second annual Southwest Apple Festival takes place Thursday, Sept. 29 and Friday, Sept. 30 in downtown Farmington.
The event, which is presented by the Northwest New Mexico Arts Council, is designed to honor San Juan County's history as a prodigious apple-producing region in the first half of the 20th century.
The festival will be centered in downtown's Orchard Plaza at the corner of Orchard Avenue and Main Street. Flo Trujillo, president of the arts council, said the event will be anchored by two Makers Market events featuring dozens of vendors, who will begin setting up their booths at 11 a.m. each day.
Hispanic Heritage Month will be celebrated during the first day of the festival on Thursday. Trujillo said guitarist Jose Villareal will perform from 5 to 7 p.m., with storyteller Paulette Atencio taking the stage during Villareal's break at approximately 6 p.m. There also will be an activity station where visitors will be able to learn how to create a chile ristra, and children will be invited play the traditional Latino game loteria or get their face painted.
The festival continues on Friday with a second Makers Market, highlighted by activities related to apples, including an apple "picking" station and an apple spiraling station. The fall art walk will kick off at 5 p.m. that day, with more than 100 artists showing their work at galleries and shops from one end of downtown to another, including the "Unhooked Again" exhibition of decorative bras at the Artifacts Gallery.
Live music will be offered from 5 to 7:30 p.m. that day in Orchard Plaza, and a storyteller portraying Johnny Appleseed will deliver a presentation at approximately 6 p.m. There also will be a walking tour offered of the downtown Art in the Alley mural project at 5:30 p.m.
Trujillo said downtown restaurants will be offering special apple- or chile-related menu items in honor of the event, and many other downtown businesses will have artists or displays set up on their sidewalks to entice visitors to stroll both sides of the street throughout the district.
"We really want people to walk up and down downtown and shop local and listen to the music that's going to be playing," Trujillo said.
All Southwest Apple Festival events are free, she said. For more information about the event, call 505-320-0615.
Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e.