As Secretary of the New Mexico Tourism Department, I welcome you to New Mexico, a truly diverse destination. Summer is in full swing in the Land of Enchantment. A wealth of attractions, activities, natural wonders, and memories like those highlighted in this newsletter are just a short drive away. There is no place like New Mexico and no time like now.
Michael Cerletti
Make plans to help uncover the mystery and discover the truth at the Roswell UFO Festival July 3-7, 2008, one of New Mexico’s more popular annual events.
The City of Roswell invites UFO enthusiasts and skeptics alike to join in the celebration of one of the most debated incidents in history. The event features an alien village at DeBremmond Stadium, the Fourth of July celebration guest speakers, authors, live entertainment, family-friendly activities, a light parade down Main Street, and the showing of the 1994 made-for-TV movie, "Roswell." top^
With its antique steam engines stoked and passenger cars filled, the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad kicked off a season-long celebration of train rides and special events Saturday (May 24, 2008), with Opening Day ceremonies at both the Chama, New Mexico and Antonito, Colorado depots.
“This unique treasure gives New Mexicans and their visitors the opportunity to explore one of the state’s most scenic areas, and at the same time, share in a family experience sure to be remembered for years to come,” said Michael Cerletti, Secretary of the New Mexico Tourism Department. “With this kind of entertainment available in our own backyard, why go anywhere else this summer?”
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Three jewels of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs - the Museum of International Folk Art, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, and the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, all on Museum Hill off Old Santa Fe Trail in Santa Fe - are collaborating to present the sixth annual Arts Alive on Milner Plaza this summer. This year's programs offer creative fun for everyone, from comic art and Native couture jewelry, to pop-up thrones and flying puppets, to tinwork and reverse glass painting, and much more. All of the programs and events will begin at 10 a.m. and run until 1 p.m. All programs at all three museum locations, listed below, are free and outdoors, and are open to participants of all ages. Hands-on participation is encouraged at these popular programs, so arrive early and come dressed to have fun.
“Dawn of the Dinosaurs: New Mexico’s Triassic,” the only Triassic Exhibit Hall in North America, is now showing at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque.
“Dawn of the Dinosaurs” explores the plants and animals of the Triassic Period in New Mexico and the world. The Triassic is a time that saw the extinction of many kinds of plants and animals and the emergence of two types of animals that have dominated the planet ever since – dinosaurs and mammals.
Visitors to “Dawn of the Dinosaurs” will meet one of the first dinosaurs, Coelophysis, a voracious predator who led the way to dinosaurian dominance of the planet and the New Mexico official state fossil. In addition, visitors can interact with the scientist who worked for over three years cleaning the fossils from a two-ton stone slab filled with Coelophysis and other fossils.
New Mexico Transportation Department and Tourism department officials May 14, 2008 celebrated the reopening of the Manuelito Rest Area and Visitor Center near Gallup along Interstate 25.
The facility underwent a state-of-the-art remodeling, nearly doubling its current capacity to accommodate approximately one million visitors annually. Originally built in 1971 and located at the New Mexico/Arizona border, the rest stop now includes a newly-constructed 9,500 square foot visitor center, a media area complete with a theater and wireless Internet, and brand new information kiosks.
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The Taos Historic Museums - La Hacienda de los Martinez and the E.L. Blumenschein Home and Museum – are now open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The museums are closed on Monday.
The Martinez Hacienda, on State Road 240 two miles south of Taos Plaza, is one of the few late Spanish Colonial period "Great Houses" remaining in the American Southwest. Built in 1804 this fortress-like building with massive adobe walls became an important trade center for the northern boundary of the Spanish Empire.
The Hacienda was the final terminus for the Camino Real which connected northern New Mexico to Mexico City. The Hacienda also was the headquarters for an extensive ranching and farming operation. Today the Hacienda's twenty-one rooms surrounding two courtyards provide the visitor with a rare glimpse of the rugged frontier life and times of the early 1800s.
The Hacienda Heritage Quilters and Weavers work is on exhibit year round. On Fridays the Hacienda Heritage Quilters demonstrate in the chapel in the front placita, and on Wednesdays guests can watch the Hacienda weavers in the weaving room in the back placita. Additional demonstrations of traditional crafts occur throughout the summer.
Friendly people, lots of room, a couple of gas stations, two or three places to buy groceries, a laundromat, a Post Office, a tavern, a garage, and - on May 14 –tiny Rodeo, New Mexico added the New Mexico Tourism Commission to its expanding list of attractions – at least for that one day.
The seven-member New Mexico Tourism Commission - created by state statute as an advisory board on policy matters to the New Mexico Tourism Department – met with around 20 Rodeo- area residents at the Theater at the Sky Gypsies Airport in Rodeo. Rodeo is around 50 miles south and west of Lordsburg on State Road 80, about a block and a half east of Arizona.
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Fresh on the heels of the announcement that the New Mexico Tourism Department’s “Best Place in the Universe: New Mexico, Earth” advertising campaign had earned the prestigious Platinum Adrian Award as one of the “most ingenious … marketing campaigns in the travel industry,” the campaign has once again been honored by the national advertising industry.
“For 30 years, the Silver Telly Award as has been one of the most sought-after awards in the entertainment industry for its recognition of outstanding work in non-network television commercials and programs,” said Michael Cerletti, Secretary of the Tourism Department. “I am thrilled to announce that we have not been given just one Telly Award, but four of them. This campaign has been very effective for us and the New Mexico tourism industry, and these Telly Awards confirm once again that we are headed in the right direction.”
The two, 30-second television commercials in which office-bound “aliens” deliver the message that New Mexico truly offers the best vacation experience in the universe, won Telly Awards in four categories: Campaign – Promotional / Branding; Travel / Tourism; Use of Humor; and Special Effects.
Less than 10 percent of the nearly 15,000 entries from all 50 states and around the world each year are chosen winners of a Silver Telly,