It’s the centennial year of Indian Market. Let’s get the party started with 21 things to experience in Santa Fe.
For Native American art, Santa Fe is the place to be in August. In this special centennial year of Indian Market, there’s a dizzying array of special exhibitions and events to enjoy, in addition to the usual enchantments of the City Different.
It’s the year of Indigenous Celebration New Mexico 2022 (IC22), a big citywide celebration of the 100 years of Indian Market, 100th Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial, 85th anniversary of Wheelwright, 60th anniversary of Institute of American Indian Arts. It’s such a big deal it’s got its own website: indigenouscelebration22.org.
But it doesn’t take a mega celebration to make travel to the City Different super-special. Here are just some of the memorable experiences that make Santa Fe one of our favorite places in the West.
—Compiled by C&I Editors with reporting contributions from Wolf Schneider
21 Super Santa Fe Experiences
1. Immerse in the Market.
Santa Fe in August is all about Indian Market. This year, Market is August 20 – 21, with lots of events swirling around those dates. Some of the highlights: the IAIA Making History 60/50 Anniversary Dinner and Auction for Scholarships at La Fonda on August 17, SWAIA Best of Show Ceremony and Luncheon on August 19. The SWAIA 100th Anniversary Gala on August 20. And SWAIA Indigenous Fashion Show on August 21.
Photography: © Thosh Collins/Courtesy SWAIA/ Santa Fe Indian Market
2. Go the Artist’s Way.
Any time in Santa Fe is art-intensive, but during Indian Market, everything amps up. The gallery-oriented satellite art fair Art Indigenous Santa Fe, modeled after Art Basel, takes place at El Museo Cultural on August 18 – 21. Participating galleries include Blue Rain Gallery, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, and L.A.’s Trotta-Bono. Blue Rain Gallery mounts a Native American Group Exhibition on August 18 – 22 with a reception on August 18 from 5 to 8 p.m. A solo show for Preston Singletary follows August 19 – September 3, with a reception on August 19 from 5 to 8 p.m. Manitou Gallery holds three shows: Palace Jewelers, its annual Native jewelry trunk show on August 18 – 19 from 5 to 8 p.m.; JD Challenger in person on August 18 from 5 to 8 p.m.; and Oreland Joe on August 19 from 5 to 8 p.m. Sorrel Sky Gallery features Ray Tracey, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, and Kevin Red Star on August 19, reception from 5 to 7:30 p.m., and continuing through August 21. King Galleries presents Legacies, a group show of Native artists including Tammy Garcia and Autumn Borts-Medlock on August 19, 3 to 5 p.m. Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art holds an Indian Market group exhibition and solo show for Emmi Whitehorse.
Photography: Courtesy Sorrel Sky Gallery
3. Quaff a Classic Cocktail.
The Bell Tower Rooftop Bar at La Fonda on the Plaza offers great drinks and great views of Indian Market and all of the Plaza.
Photography: Courtesy La Fonda on the Plaza
4. Get Interactive.
See for yourself why the unforgettable art installation Meow Wolf was just named No. 3 in the live-events category of Fast Company’s list of the world’s most innovative companies.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
5. Hit the Trails.
The City Different loves its trails. There’s the Margarita Trail, the Green Chili Cheeseburger Trail, and, of course, there are actual amazing hiking trails. If you do all three, just make sure the margs come last.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
6. Have Christmas Year-Round.
“Christmas” is what you say if you want both red and green sauce on your New Mex food. That’s how we love it, but, then, we totally love Christmas. Speaking of, if you happen to be in Santa Fe during Christmas season, it’s extra enchanting bathed in the light of the ubiquitous luminaria.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
7. Soak It Off.
Get in hot water and relax your cares away at Ten Thousand Waves Japanese Spa and Ojo Santa Fe Spa Resort. If massages and treatments are your relaxation/wellness jam, Santa Fe obliges with many other top-drawer spas.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
8. Take a Tour.
Walk, eat, photograph — this city has tours for every taste, including the Savor Santa Fe food tour, David Hoptman’s two-hour photo tour/class, 4 x 4 mountain adventures, and Allan Houser Sculpture Garden tours.
9. See the Miraculous Staircase.
A former Roman Catholic church that’s now a museum, Loretto Chapel is home to the famed helix-shaped spiral staircase that the Sisters of Loretto believe was built by St. Joseph.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
10. Go Gallery Hopping.
Take a pleasant stroll along Canyon Road, a lovely, landscaped arts district of more than a hundred galleries and boutiques.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
11. Meander Among Museums.
Museum Hills boasts the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, The International Folk Art Museum, The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, and The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art — and Museum Hill Café, where the views from the outside patio are as gorgeous as the art in the museums. Back on the plaza downtown, make time for the exhibition Honoring Tradition and Innovation: 100 Years of Santa Fe’s Indian Market 1922 – 2022, which runs August 7 through August 31 at the New Mexico History Museum.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
12. Be Botanical.
At Museum Hill, stop and smell the pinyon at the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens, where you can explore orchards with perennial borders, roses and lavender, meadow, and xeric garden; raised beds for annual crops and an extensive collection of plants with traditional uses; natural area showcasing native plants common to the community; and, from July 28 through August 14, Shakespeare in the Garden presenting The Comedy of Errors.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
13. Peruse the Plaza.
Yes, it has four sides, but it’s the entire north side of Santa Fe’s downtown plaza that’s of special interest. There you’ll find the 1610 Palace of the Governors, the oldest continually occupied public building in the country, now housing the New Mexico History Museum. But it’s what’s under the shaded adobe façade that draws the most visitors and shoppers: In this “portal,” you’ll find a rotating selection of artisans from various pueblos throughout New Mexico selling their authentic creations as vetted participants in the Native American Artisans Portal Program. About the only time you won’t find them there is when the space is taken up by Indian Market.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
14. Check Out the Church.
The Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi really is the Cathedral Different. You can’t miss it. Not only is it the most visible thing in town, it’s also oddly unfinished, missing two originally intended belltowers.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
15. Contemplate O’Keeffe.
If you can’t make it out to her former home and studio in Abiquiú, Georgia’s namesake museum in Santa Fe, spans the six decades of O’Keeffe’s artistic career with rotating exhibitions of its collection.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
16. Live History.
El Rancho de las Golondrinas’ 200-acre living history museum represents various time periods in New Mexico.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
17. Make Tracks to the Railyard.
The 50-acre Railyard Arts District offers shopping, dining, contemporary art, entertainment, green space, pedestrian promenade, and the all-important, super-fresh Santa Fe Farmers Market.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
18. Be With the Birds.
On the 135 acres of the Randall Davey Audubon Center & Sanctuary you’ll encounter striking landscapes, wildlife, hiking trails, guided bird walks, and tours of the home and studio of American painter and art educator Randall Davey, known for his portraits and equine paintings.
19. Take a Break in Tesuque.
Founded in 1740, the Spanish village of Tesuque sits just north of Santa Fe, a few miles south of the current pueblo. Today some rich and famous call the otherwise-unassuming village home. Eat at the iconic El Nido and/or the longstanding casual neighborhood hang Tesuque Market and hope for an Ali McGraw sighting.
20. Daytrip to Taos.
The scenic byway to Taos goes both high and low: The High Road winds through the Sangre de Cristos, and the Low Road wends along the Rio Grande. In the fall, the aspens are changing — sublime.
Photography: Courtesy New Mexico TRUE
21. Shop, Relax, Repeat.
This town has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to great shopping for everything from turquoise and textiles boots and buckles. Some of our favorite stops include Samsville Gallery, Rocki Gorman, Malouf on the Plaza, Sunwest on the Plaza, Sorrel Sky Gallery, Maya Gallery, Suzani, Nathalie, Rocketbuster, Santa Fe Goldworks, and Barbara Meikle Fine Art.
Photography: Courtesy Malouf on the Plaza
For more Santa Fe travel tips and a lot more about the 100th anniversary of Santa Fe’s Indian Market—including the history, the hot-ticket fashion show, and, of course the fantastic artists—check out the August/September issue of C&I and visit NewMexico.org.
Photography: (Featured image) Courtesy Studio Seven Productions
