Free Living History Event Clyde & Carrie Tingley: August 8

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The next free event in the New Mexico Centennial Speaker & Living History Series at the KiMo talks about two famous Albuquerque figures: Clyde & Carrie Tingley.

Historian David Jackson and actress Van Ann Moore present Clyde & Carrie Tingley: Politics and Influence at the KiMo Theatre on Wednesday August 8, 2012, at 7 pm, and admission is free!

This is part of the New Mexico Centennial Living History Series with chautauqua reenactments of some of New Mexico’s most interesting characters. Clyde Tingley was Governor of New Mexico and Mayor of Albuquerque, and he and his wife Carrie played a major role in the city’s development during and after the Great Depression. We’ve probably all seen the statue of the couple at Tingley Beach – one of the most touching/cheer-making statues in Albuquerque, in my opinion.

The presentation is followed by a meet and greet with refreshments.  Doors open at the KiMo at 6:30 pm.

Clyde & Carrie Tingley: Politics and Influence takes place:

• When:  Wednesday August 8, 2012
• Time: 7 pm
• Where:  KiMo Theatre
• Price: Admission is free!

The KiMo Theatre is located at 423 Central Avenue NW.

–Tania

Free Event: Sandia Mountains Ice Age Vertebrates

The Sandia Mountain Natural History Center is usually closed to the public, but on August 5 you can explore, hike, enjoy the scenery, try geocaching and the solar telescope, and hear about ice age vertebrates. Vertebrates are the ones that have a backbone, unlike some of the fellows I dated before finding Mr Cheap.  

The Sandia Mountain Natural History Center in Cedar Crest is open to all this Sunday August 5, 2012, from 9 am to 4 pm, and admission is free. At 10 am they’ll give a presentation on Ice Age Vertebrates of Albuquerque and the Sandia Mountains.

Usually the 128 acre piñon-juniper forest with over 5 miles of walking trails is only open to school groups, but this Sunday anybody can turn up to hike, spot wildlife from the observation deck and bird blind, do geocaching, or even have a picnic. During the open day a solar telescope will be available to view the sun.

Sandia Mountain Natural History Center open day:

• When: Sunday August 5, 2012
• Time: 9 am - 4 pm. Presentation at 10 am.
• Where: Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, Cedar Crest
• Price: Admission is free!

Sandia Mountain Natural History Center is located at 60 Columbine Lane, Cedar Crest. Take exit 175 from
I-40 East, along NM 14 / The Turquoise Trail. Get directions to the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center.

–Tania

Albuquerque: Railroad Depot to Crossroads of New Mexico

The next free event in the New Mexico Centennial Speaker & Living History Series at the KiMo talks about Albuquerque’s development from an old-time railroad town to its current role as center of the Universe a central point in New Mexico. 

Speakers David Kammer and Jeanne Whitehouse-Peterson present Albuquerque: From Railroad Depot to The Crossroads of New Mexico at the KiMo Theatre on Wednesday July 11, 2012, at 7 pm, and admission is free!

Photographer and scholar Kammer and fiction writer Whitehouse-Peterson give a presentation covering Albuquerque’s evolution from a railroad depot to the fantastic metropolis we know today, with a little historic help from Route 66, commercial aviation, health promotion (guess that would be all the patients with TB and respiratory ailments who came to New Mexico seeking a cure), and of course the role of Clyde Tingley in promoting Albuquerque.

Their presentation is followed by a meet and greet with refreshments.  Doors open at the KiMo at 6:30 pm.

This is part of a series of free events at the KiMo Theatre to celebrate the New Mexico Centennial in 2012. 

The talk on Albuquerque: From Railroad Depot to The Crossroads of New Mexico takes place:

• When:  Wednesday July 11, 2012
• Time: 7 pm
• Where:  KiMo Theatre
• Price: Admission is free!

The KiMo Theatre is located at 423 Central Avenue NW.

–Tania

Prehistoric Pueblo Tools & Turkey Feather Blankets at Petroglyph

Two free events at Petroglyph National Monument Visitor Center this weekend, July 7 and 8, 2012.

If you’re looking for something a bit different to do this weekend, head over to the Petroglyph National Monument Visitor Center. They hold free talks and demonstrations most weekends but I haven’t mentioned them for quite a while, so thanks to reader Kenny for telling me about the Pueblo Tools talk and reminding me to spread the word! He says it looks fun and I agree.

Prehistoric Tools of the Ancestral Pueblo free talk is on Saturday July 7 at 7 pm, and the hour-long presentation is led by archaeologist Ron Fields, who’ll show how projectiles have changed over the 12,000 years that we humans have lived in the Rio Grande Valley. Well, not WE humans exactly. I feel very old some days but I haven’t been here that long. He’ll talk about how prehistoric people survived around the area that is now the monument. (And they didn’t even have microwaves or pizza deliveries.)

There’s also a Turkey Feather Blanket Weaving Demonstration on both Saturday July 7 and Sunday July 8 from 10 am to 4 pm, with Darris Lovato of Santo Domingo Pueblo weaving turkey feather and rabbit fur blankets, and making shell inlay jewelry with silver and turquoise.

Petroglyph National Monument is free to enter, and its located on the Westside of Albuquerque on Western Trail just off Unser Boulevard NW.  

Here are directions and a map to the Petroglyph National Monument Visitor Center.

–Tania

Elena Gallegos Summer Sunset Series

The Elena Gallegos Summer Sunset Series is underway for 2012, with free talks and performances through August 25, 2012.

This Albuquerque Open Space program at Elena Gallegos Park offers family-friendly events at sunset on Saturday evenings, and I always forget about this until it’s part-way through the summer. But it’s so lovely up there (and a tad cooler) and there’s still plenty of time to enjoy it! Especially if you take a picnic to enjoy with the views.

The Elena Gallegos Summer Sunset Series includes talks on subjects from reptiles to the weather, and entertainment including poetry and live music. Although the events themselves are free, there is a $2 per vehicle entry charge to the park.

All events are on Saturdays at 7 pm, and all are held at Elena Gallegos Double Shelter Amphitheater unless otherwise noted. The schedule looking ahead is:

• June 30: Prehistoric Technology demo and talk by Ron Fields from Petroglyph National Monument
• July 7: The Science of Weather talk
• July 14: New Mexico Reptiles and Amphibians talk and display
• July 21: Filipino Cultural Dance Group (this one is at the Kiwanis Shelter)
• July 28: Fire on the Mountain talk
• August 4: Nanoscience and DNA talk
• August 11: Poetry and Spoken Word from various performers
• August 18: Ballads and Runes in stories and music, including a hurdy gurdy player!
• August 25: One Man Band Chris Nolan

See the full Elena Gallegos Summer Sunset Series schedule and details including directions.  

Or here are directions to Elena Gallegos Park at the end of Simms Park Road, in a PDF with maps for both Sunset Series venues.

–Tania

Free Sandia Mountain Day: When ABQ Was An Ocean

The Sandia Mountain Natural History Center is usually closed to the public, but on July 1 you can explore, hike, enjoy the scenery, try geocaching and the solar telescope, and hear about when Albuquerque was an ocean.

The Sandia Mountain Natural History Center in Cedar Crest is open to all this Sunday July 1, 2012, from 9 am to 4 pm, and admission is free.

The theme this Sunday is When Albuquerque was an Ocean, with activities between 10 am and 3 pm to make your own fossil casts and explore the Cretaceous reef right there on the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center grounds.

Usually the 128 acre piñon-juniper forest with over 5 miles of walking trails is only open to school groups, but this Sunday anybody can turn up to hike, spot wildlife from the observation deck and bird blind, do geocaching, or even have a picnic. During the open day a solar telescope will be available to view the sun.

Sandia Mountain Natural History Center open day:

• When: Sunday July 1, 2012
• Time: 9 am - 4 pm.
• Where: Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, Cedar Crest
• Price: Admission is free!

Sandia Mountain Natural History Center is located at 60 Columbine Lane, Cedar Crest. Take exit 175 from
I-40 East, along NM 14 / The Turquoise Trail. Get directions to the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center.

–Tania

ABQ Museum Free Ancient Americas Family Night

The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History offers free evening admission on select Thursdays (usually the third Thursday of each month), with talks and special events on those evenings.

On the Albuquerque Museum free Thursday evening there is no charge for admission from 5 pm and hours are extended until 8:30 pm.

The next free museum evening is this Thursday June 21, 2012, and they had me when they mentioned “sample chocolate”.  The theme is Ancient Americas Family Night, with the aforementioned chocolate samples and the chance to hear about chocolate from Mark Sciscenti, a chocolate artisan and historian. (Some people get all the good jobs.)  Meanwhile, children can make art inspired by the ancients (I assume they’re not talking about Mr Cheap) and at 7:30 pm the Aztec dance group PAZ Ehecatl will perform for all.  Sounds sweet, huh? In more ways than one.

Visitors can also grab a snack at the Slate at the Museum cafe and browse the museum gift store.

Admission to the Albuquerque Museum is also free on:

• Sundays from 9 am to 1 pm
• All day on the first Wednesday of the month

Even on free days and evenings, expect to pay the usual fees for special exhibits.

The regular admission price is:

• $4 for adults, or $3 for New Mexico residents with ID.
• BUT out-of-state visitors can get the same $3 deal for adults if they buy tickets to Albuquerque Museum online and print them out at home.
• $2 for seniors (65+) wherever you hail from
• $3 for youngsters aged 13-18
• $1 for kids aged 4-12.
• Children aged 3 and under go free.

If you’re new around these parts, the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History is located at the corner of Mountain Road and 19th Street, in Albuquerque Old Town.

–Tania

NM Struggle for Statehood: June 13

The next event in the New Mexico Centennial Speaker & Living History Series at the KiMo is Our Struggle for Statehood.

Speaker Richard Melzer presents Our Struggle for Statehood at the KiMo Theatre at 7 pm on Wednesday June 13, 2012, and admission is free!

Melzer is a UNM history professor and the author of a new book timed to coincide with the state centennial: New Mexico: Celebrating the Land of Enchantment.  (Although Amazon strangely describes New Mexico as the Grand Canyon State. Righty-ho. One hundred years of statehood, and people still don’t know where we are.)

Melzer will be talking about just how hard the territory of New Mexico had to work to get admitted by congress as a state. FINALLY they let us join the Union in 1912. They like us, they really, really like us! Even if they do think we’re the Grand Canyon State. Next struggle on the agenda: locate New Mexico on a map.

Melzer’s presentation is followed by a meet and greet with refreshments.  Doors open at the KiMo at 6:30 pm.

This is part of a series of free events at the KiMo Theatre to celebrate the New Mexico Centennial in 2012. 

The talk on Our Struggle for Statehood in New Mexico takes place:

• When:  Wednesday June 13, 2012
• Time: 7 pm
• Where:  KiMo Theatre
• Price: Admission is free!

The KiMo Theatre is located at 423 Central Avenue NW.

–Tania

Santa Fe Opera Free Insider Days

Free Santa Fe Opera summer talks and backstage tours, and they even throw in the coffee and muffins! Until August 25, 2012.

Santa Fe Opera Insider Days give a behind-the-scenes view of the opera on Saturday mornings this summer, starting  June 2 through August 25.   Turn up at Santa Fe Opera – I love that beautiful building high on the hill – and enjoy a free coffee and muffins reception hosted by Opera Guild members, followed by a talk by an Opera staff member, then a backstage tour.

Yep, you’ve got to get up early, they start at 8:30 am. But it’ll be worth it for the free Santa Fe Opera Insider Day experience, and of course the views are just gorgeous. 

• When: Saturday mornings from June 2 - August 25, 2012
• Time: 8:30 am coffee and muffins and talk, followed by the tour
• Where: meet at The Santa Fe Opera Box Office
• Price: FREE!

If you’d rather go on a weekday, regular Santa Fe Opera backstage tours take place each day at 9 am Monday to Friday until August 24, 2012, with a walk around the costume shop, scene shop and other areas to learn how they put the whole spectacle together. For that you pay $5, children 17 and under go free. Again, you meet at the box offices and you don’t need to book in advance.

Santa Fe Opera directions: it’s located at Exit 168 of US Highway 84/285 seven miles north of Santa Fe.

–Tania

Free Sandia Mountain NHC & Transit of Venus

The Sandia Mountain Natural History Center is usually closed to the public, but on June 3 you can explore, hike, enjoy the scenery, try geocaching and the solar telescope, and hear about the Transit of Venus.

The Sandia Mountain Natural History Center in Cedar Crest is open to all this Sunday June 3, 2012, from 9 am to 4 pm, and admission is free. 

At 11 am, there’s a presentation on the Transit of Venus, due on Tuesday, June 5, and the only transit of Venus that will happen in the 21st century.

Usually the 128 acre piñon-juniper forest with over 5 miles of walking trails is only open to school groups, but this Sunday anybody can turn up to hike, spot wildlife from the observation deck and bird blind, do geocaching, or even have a picnic. During the open day a solar telescope will be available to view the sun.

Sandia Mountain Natural History Center open day:

• When: Sunday June 3, 2012
• Time: 9 am - 4 pm. Presentation at 11 am. No registration required to visit.
• Where: Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, Cedar Crest
• Price: Admission is free!

Sandia Mountain Natural History Center is located at 60 Columbine Lane, Cedar Crest. Take exit 175 from
I-40 East, along NM 14 / The Turquoise Trail. Get directions to the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center.

–Tania

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