Spanish Market 2012

I don’t know if people were spending the usual amounts of money, but the economy sure didn’t keep people away from Spanish Market this year.  Even the heat didn’t discourage people from turning out in droves for the annual event.  This year was my first Spanish Market, but I can promise it won’t be my last!




Set up day: all is a ghost town!

 

 

 




The triumphant first day!

 

Photos and blog by AA at Main

Vote on July 31 for local non-profit agency Kitchen Angels!

Please help one of our very important local non-profit agencies get a brand new Toyota automobile. Every day for 100 days during the summer, five non-profit agencies are posted on Toyota's 100 Cars for Good Facebook page. The top vote getting organization for each day will receive a new vehicle. From more than 8,000 applications submitted nationally, Kitchen Angels was one of 500 organizations selected to participate. And Kitchen Angels is the only finalist from Santa Fe!

If you are not familiar with them, Kitchen Angels provides free, nutritious meals to the homebound who are facing life-challenging conditions. Their mission is accomplished through the efforts of 280 volunteers each week who donate 24,000 hours of service annually. Kitchen Angels believes that food and nutrition programs help to keep families together, keep communities stable and bring dignity, hope and independence to vulnerable and ill individuals.

This is a great opportunity to do something magnificent for the community! PLEASE VOTE for Kitchen Angels July 31st on Facebook/Toyota 100 Cars for Good

For more information on Kitchen Angels, check out their website:  http://www.kitchenangels.org/, which details other ways to get involved and help or donate.  (Full disclosure: this librarian’s ninety year old dad volunteers for Kitchen Angels and delivers meals every Thursday, so this organization is very dear to the heart of our family and we see on a regular basis the miracles they can perform!)

by AA at Main

Santa Fe wins Best of the Road Best Food Town Competition!

 

Santa Fe is the small city with the Best Food in the country – according to the Rand McNally/USA Today Best of the Road Rally.  The Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau, with generous support from 13 restaurants, five hotels, one tour company, a cooking school, the Santa Fe Bandstand program, the members of the Santa Fe Chocolate Trail, Santa Fe Spirits, local press, the City of Santa Fe, and the friendly folks of Santa Fe, tantalized visiting Best of the Road judges Mike Shubic and Brian Cox with a belly-full of Santa Fe’s remarkable foods, memorable sights, and Southwestern charm.

“We barely had time to scratch the surface of the city’s amazing food scene,” said Santa Fe Convention Visitors Bureau Marketing Director Cynthia Delgado. “There was only time for a small sample of Santa Fe’s 200 plus restaurants, and every one could have wowed the judges.”

Online voting determined six finalist towns in five categories. Each town was then visited by a two-person team of judges–one team judging all the towns in one category–in a month-long, cross-country trip to find which small town had the best food, was the most beautiful, most fun, most patriotic, and most friendly.

In the end, judges voted Santa Fe to be tops in Best Food as winners in all five categories were announced at the Destination Marketing Association International Annual Convention in Seattle during the noon general session on Tuesday, July 17.

In addition, video crews from the Travel Channel accompanying the judges caught every delicious mouthful plus Santa Fe’s world-renowned cultures, landscapes, and attractions during the judges’ whirlwind visit from July 4 through July 6. A one-hour show highlighting the rally will air on the Travel Channel, July 25.

This is the second year for the Best Small Towns in America, Best of the Road competition. Santa Fe became eligible as a finalist after an online competition rated cities in five categories: Best Food, Most Beautiful, Most Patriotic, Friendliest, and Most Fun. Other cities in the Best Food category were Lewiston, NY, Burnsville, MN, Bloomington, IN, Charlottesville, VA, and Walla Walla, WA.

In the end, judges voted Santa Fe to be tops in Best Food. This is no surprise to us locals. So who's up for a green chile cheesburger?

Resource Highlight on NewsBank

Have you ever used NewsBank? NewsBank is an online resource available to all Santa Fe Public Library card holders. With NewsBank, you can access and search New Mexico newspapers, like the Albuquerque Journal from 1995, the Las Cruces Sun-News from 2004, the Roswell Daily Record from 2002, and The Santa Fe New Mexican from 1994.

screenshot of available magazines

Additionally, NewsBank provides many magazines, among them, Air & Space, The Atlantic, Field & Stream, Foreign Affairs, Mother Earth News, Newsweek, Parenting, Popular Science, Science News, and Smithsonian.

If you enjoy reading by topic, NewsBank aggregates news of current interest like the Olympic Games, the U.S. Presidential Campaign, and World Economics under the heading, “Special Reports”, as well as content about world travel, the environment, and science and health news.

To get to NewsBank from our website, click on the NewsBank icon on our homepage, or navigate to the link on our Online Resources page. Happy reading!

by ARJ at Main

A Blast from the Past!

In digging through our very impressive vertical file while tracing our history, I came across some fabulous photos of SFPL in days gone by.  Enjoy this stroll down memory lane!

Original Library building circa 1912:

The old Library building, after a remodel in 1931 – this building is now the History and Photo Archives, across the street from the current Main Library building.  Same door, but the windows are gone!  (Printed in the New Mexican April 7 1974, using an old photo from the photo file.)   

Santa Fe Public Library circulation desk, 1941:

 

“Waiting for books at a Minimobile stop” – Pasatiempo from Nov 16 1969:

And my personal favorite: “Students in Tesuque got a treat last week – a visit from the bookmobile loaded with books they could take home and keep.  The give-away was funded through a grant from the federal “Reading is Fundamental” program to the New Mexico State Library.”  July 30 1974

by AA @Main

Enjoy a good cause and an epic afternoon on Saturday, July 21

The Santa Fe Public Library is pleased to receive funding from the New Mexico Library Association Foundation for programs. Here's a fun way to help them raise funds to help New Mexico libraries.

On Saturday, July 21 at 2p.m. the Kimo Theatre in Albuquerque will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary Release of the film, Lawrence of Arabia, with a showing on their new big screen, as well as a silent auction. Tickets are $12 and proceeds contribute to the New Mexico Library Foundation goal of raising $20, 000 in grants for New Mexico's libraries.


For more information about this event, please visit the New Mexico Library Foundation.

Circulating Spanish Collection gets a new home at Main

Our circulating Spanish Collection is growing and now has a new home with other languages next to the Reference Section at the Main Library. Come in and browse!

FREE Healthy Kids Celebration and Family Fun Day on July 21 at Convention Center

Join the Santa Fe Fire Department and city of Santa Fe staff for their FREE Healthy Kids Celebration and Family Fun Day on Saturday, July 21 from 10:00 a.m. -2:00 p.m. at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. 

There will be food and drinks, health screenings, dental and vision presentations, a fire firefighter obstacle course for kids, rock climbing wall, dunk tank, bouncy tents, performances and demos, library book lists and calendars, ID fingerprinting and more.

Families will have the opportunity to interact with a fire truck, ambulance, police cars, the Bear Cat SWAT vehicle and the crime- prevention Corvette.

There will be special presentations showcasing gymnastics, karate, Zumba and other sports activities.

Come join us for a day of fun!