Cooking corned beef and cabbage at Fort Seldon This program highlights outdoor cooking techniques and a history of this unique dish and its relation to Fort Selden Historic Site and New Mexico. The demonstration is from 10-11 a.m. Saturday, March 16 at the Fort Selden History Site, 1280 Fort Selden Road, Radium Springs.
Visitors can learn a historic cooking technique, as well as the types of foods that were made by soldiers at the fort in the late 1800s. Demonstration and ranger interaction is included as part of general admission of $5 per adult. Children 16 years and younger are free. Call 575-526-8911 for more information.
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Annual Las Cruces Arts Fair March 23 & 24The Doña Ana Arts Council is kicking off its 13th year of the annual Las Cruces Arts Fair which provides an opportunity for artists, collectors and appreciators of art to participate.
Artist booths will be featured in the ballrooms, main concourse, and exhibit hall of the
Las Cruces Convention Center 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, March 23, and 10a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday, March 24. You may purchase weekend passes for the event at the Las Cruces Convention Center or online via
Weekend passes are $15, children’s (ages 5-11) weekend pass is $5, and children under 4 years old
are free. Tickets are available at the door and also online at tickets.meetinlascruces.com.
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The Doña Ana Arts Council is hosting a poetry reading, “Looking to the Mountain: Sacred Lands, Healings Cultures,” in conjunction with the Gila Wilderness Centennial, the Museum of New Mexico Press and the Southwest Environmental Education Cooperative.
This celebration and appreciation of the literary arts is from 7-8:30 p.m. at 230 S. Water St. Admission is free and appetizers and refreshments will be served.
The event features Levi Romero (NM State Poet Laureate) and Michelle Otero (Albuquerque Poet Laureate from Deming) in addition to eight additional local poets from the Land of Enchantment.
Local poets whose work can be found in the “New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023,” will be reading their work. Romero and Otero are the editors of the anthology, which represents a collaboration between state agencies. The work represents a broad cohort of New Mexicans across more than 300 pages. The call for work asked for original, unpublished poems that celebrated “the people, cultures, languages, traditions, and querencia” of New Mexico. In making their selections, the co-editors say they found that a common band of themes coursed through the work, ranging from community, identity, our state’s striking landscape, faith, and more.
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The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs (NMDCA) has launched a statewide ekphrastic poetry contest dedicated to finding written inspiration in pieces of artwork on view around the state.
"The artwork on display throughout the Department of Cultural Affairs reminds us that beauty and inspiration are all around us,” said NMDCA Director of Communications and Marketing Daniel Zillmann. “On behalf of the Department, we’re pleased to launch a poetry contest that highlights and celebrates the best of our collections throughout New Mexico.”
In preparation for National Poetry Month in April, NMDCA divisions across New Mexico have selected 10 works of art that showcase the best of their collections. These images are on display at nmculture.org/poetry and are as varied as the institutions that house them: ranging from photographs of life in early New Mexico statehood on display in the New Mexico History Museum on the Santa Fe Plaza, to cosmic depictions of the universe’s vastness at the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo. However, each piece of art contributes to New Mexico’s artistic and cultural heritage in its own small way.
Throughout the month of March, New Mexicans will have the chance to write and submit ekphrastic poetry that responds to any of these 10 selected artworks.
The contest includes two categories, youth (6th to 12th graders only) and adult. Individuals may submit one poem for review during the contest. All poems must be submitted by Sunday, March 31.
