A cold beer at the old ranch
Welcome back to The Santa Fe Weekender — five handpicked things worth your weekend, no scrolling required. This week we head out of town for a cold one, then home for one of the last calm weekends before the city fills up.
The main thing
The Santa Fe Beer & Food Festival, out at Las Golondrinas. Saturday and Sunday, noon to 6, the old Spanish colonial ranch about twenty minutes south in La Cienega turns its cottonwood-shaded fields over to more than a dozen New Mexico breweries, food vendors, and live music. This year there’s live hops-harvesting and a hands-on sorting area, so you can see how the thing actually gets made. It’s a rare excuse to spend a summer afternoon at a 300-year-old living-history ranch with a cold beer in hand. Go early, bring a hat, and pace yourself in the sun.
Eat
Tomasita’s, by the Railyard — the margaritas are strong, the red chile is the real thing, and it’s an easy landing spot if you’re coming back into town from the festival. A local institution that earns the wait.
Second Street Brewery at the Railyard — if the festival left you wanting one more, this is the hometown taproom, with a shaded patio, honest pub food, and a stage that often has a band. Beer where the trains ran.
Do
Saturday at the Railyard Farmers Market, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Get there in the cool of the morning: green chile by the sack, ripe August peaches, fresh-cut flowers, and half the city out doing the same. It’s the town at its friendliest — and the right way to start a weekend before the afternoon heat sets in.
See
The Santa Fe Opera, under an open-sided roof and a desert sky. The season is in full swing, with five productions in rotation — including Lili Elbe, an American premiere new this month. Even if opera isn’t usually your thing, the setting alone is worth it: sunset over the Jemez, the mountains going purple, and the music starting as the last light fades. Tailgate in the parking lot beforehand like the regulars do.
Or, in town: the Chamber Music Festival. Running through late August in the intimate St. Francis Auditorium and the Lensic — world-class musicians in rooms small enough to hear them breathe.
Also on
A heads-up worth planning around: Indian Market is next weekend. August 15 and 16, the Plaza fills for the 104th Santa Fe Indian Market — nearly a thousand artists from more than 200 Native nations, and the biggest weekend on the city’s calendar. If you’re thinking of coming in for it, this is your reminder to book a table and a room now, because both go fast. We’ll have the full guide for you next Friday.
That’s the weekend. If a friend would love it, forward it their way — they can subscribe at thesantafeweekender.com.
See you next Friday, The Santa Fe Weekender
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