Rhapsody in banjo
Welcome back to The Santa Fe Weekender — five handpicked things worth your weekend, no scrolling required. Wine & Chile week is winding down, the aspens are going gold up the mountain, and the forecast is about as good as late September gets: sunny Saturday near 73, partly sunny Sunday near 75, nights in the low 50s. Bring a jacket for after dark.
The main thing
Béla Fleck plays Rhapsody in Blue — on the banjo — with Santa Fe Pro Musica. It’s the season opener, “Democratic Vistas I,” at the Lensic (211 West San Francisco), Saturday, September 26 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, September 27 at 3 p.m. David Felberg conducts and Colin Jacobsen leads from the violin.
Fleck is the player who spent forty years proving the banjo belongs anywhere: bluegrass, jazz, West African music, the concerto hall. Gershwin’s Rhapsody was written in 1924 for a dance band, so handing that opening clarinet glissando and the big piano lines to a five-string banjo is less of a stunt than it sounds. The program around it is an American one too, with Ives’s eerie The Unanswered Question and Fleck’s own County Clare. Beethoven’s Fourth closes things out, the sunniest of his symphonies.
Tickets are $41 to $123 at lensic.org. Sunday’s matinee is already marked limited availability, so if you want the good seats, Saturday is the better bet. Arrive an hour early for “Meet the Music,” a free pre-concert talk included with your ticket.
Eat
Sazón, 221 Shelby Street. Chef Fernando Olea has been cooking in Santa Fe since 1991 and won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2022. The menu is serious Mexican cooking built around moles, with a list of them long enough to plan a return trip around. It’s a short walk from the Lensic, which makes it the obvious pre-concert dinner. Dinner Monday through Saturday, 5 to 8 p.m.; closed Sundays. Book on OpenTable or call 505-983-8604. It’s business casual, and they ask for no children under 10.
Arroyo Vino, 218 Camino La Tierra — fifteen minutes out toward Las Campanas, and the right table for Wine & Chile week. It’s a Michelin-recognized restaurant with its own wine shop next door, so the bottle list runs deep. Dinner Tuesday through Saturday, 5 to 8 p.m.; the shop is open 11 to 7. Closed Sundays and Mondays, so Saturday is your window. Reservations recommended (OpenTable or 505-983-2100).
See
The High Road Art Tour’s final weekend. It’s the 29th year, and the last chance of 2026: more than 40 artists open their studios and galleries along the High Road to Taos, Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27, and it’s free. The road climbs from Chimayó through Córdova, Truchas and Las Trampas up to Peñasco — weavers, santeros, painters and woodworkers working in the land-grant villages their families have lived in for generations.
This is the scenic tour. The Truchas ridge looks straight across at the Truchas Peaks, and the cottonwoods in the valleys are just starting to turn. Hours vary by studio, so download the map and brochure at highroadnewmexico.com before you lose cell service, which you will. Chimayó is about 45 minutes north of town; start at the tour headquarters there (946 State Road 76) and give yourself the whole day.
Do
Wine & Chile’s last pours. The 35th Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta ends Sunday, and most of the big tickets are gone. Saturday’s Grand Tasting is sold out, Vista Tent included, and it has moved from Fort Marcy to Midtown (1600 St. Michaels Drive), so if you do have a ticket, go there. Two things you can still buy:
- The Champagne & Dirty Boots Brunch, Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., $225, at the Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado (198 NM-592) in Tesuque. Chef Gregory Joseph cooks, Champagne PIAFF (the Fiesta’s Champagne of the Year) is in the glasses, there’s live music, and the Aspen Ballroom overlooks the mountains. Boots welcome — it’s in the name.
- “150 Years of Beringer Vineyards,” Saturday 10 to 11:15 a.m., $150, at the Convention Center (201 West Marcy). It’s a vertical tasting of Beringer’s Private Reserve Cabernet from 1977, 1984, 2005, 2016 and 2021. It’s an early start for a Saturday, but a 49-year-old Napa Cab doesn’t come around often.
Tickets for both at santafewineandchile.org.
Also on
The Turquoise Trail Studio Tour, second weekend. If the High Road is too far, try the other studio tour: artists open their studios along NM-14 through Cerrillos, Madrid and up toward Cedar Crest, 10 to 5 Saturday and Sunday. Pick up a brochure at any studio, or find the map at turquoisetrailstudiotour.com.
The aspens are turning. Ski Santa Fe’s fall chairlift rides run 10 to 3 Saturday and Sunday, with live music at the lodge: Alto Street on Saturday, Zuva Marimba Band on Sunday. We sent you up there for the first gold two weeks ago. This is the better weekend. Go early; the pullouts and the Aspen Vista trailhead on the way up fill fast on a sunny Saturday. Details at skisantafe.com.
Saturday night, loud. The Toadies, with Local H and Olive Vox, play The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing (37 Fire Place), doors at 6, show at 7, $35 in advance or $40 at the door, 21+ unless you come with a parent. Or catch Texas songwriter Joshua Ray Walker at Meow Wolf, doors at 8, show at 8:30, $25 in advance or $30 at the door, all ages. Tickets for both at lensic360.org.
Railyard Artisan Market, Sunday 10 to 3, in the Farmers’ Market pavilion. Local makers, a slow coffee and a lap of the Railyard is a good way to spend a Sunday morning.
Looking ahead: the Balloon Fiesta lifts off in Albuquerque October 3 to 11. Closer to home, the Santa Fe Harvest Festival at El Rancho de las Golondrinas runs October 3 and 4, 10 to 4, with grape stomping, ristra making and a pumpkin patch. Tickets are sold online only, so buy ahead. And up north, San Geronimo Feast Day at Taos Pueblo is Wednesday, September 30, with footraces at 8 a.m. Visitors are welcome, but no cameras or phones of any kind: they will be taken from you.
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
Want to reach Santa Fe locals who actually open their email? This spot is where a local sponsor goes. Reply and let’s talk.