1 Experience Santa Fe’s biggest Indigenous events of the year.

SWAIA’s Indian Market 

The 103rd Santa Fe Indian Market brings more than 1,000 artists representing 200 tribal nations to the City Different for the largest Indigenous art market in the world. The artists sell works in tented booths surrounding the Santa Fe Plaza on Saturday and Sunday, but that’s certainly not all there is to see and do. A variety of auxiliary events pop up, including the SWAIA Fashion Show on Sunday, parties, and live musical and dance performances on the plaza both days.

IndigenousWays Festival

Native music takes center stage at IndigenousWays Festival, held Friday under the water tower in the Santa Fe Railyard from 5 to 10 p.m. It features Robert Mirabal (Taos Pueblo), a renowned flutist and storyteller, reggae-rock group Innastate, hip-hop lyricist G Precious (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo), and songstress Radmilla Cody (Diné), a former Miss Navajo Nation. The evening is presented in partnership with Lensic 360.

Pathways Indigenous Festival

Hilton Santa Fe Buffalo Thunder transforms into an Indigenous market featuring 400-plus Native artists, fashion designers, filmmakers, and performers during this festival hosted by the Poeh Cultural Center. It’s open Friday through Sunday and includes live performances, movie screenings, and an array of art. Find a full artist lineup on the event’s website.

Free Indian Market

What began as a handful of artists showing and selling work at Federal Park, just off the Santa Fe Plaza, has grown into a massive, anything-goes Free Indian Market with 550 Indigenous artists, Pueblo eats, dance performances, and a silent auction. Catch it 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Indian Market Programming at the New Mexico History Museum

The New Mexico History Museum offers free admission during Indian Market and hosts artists from the Native American Portal Artists Program in its courtyard. Lectures cover the museum’s current Native-centered displays, plus a screening of the film Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery. Portal artists will be in the courtyard on Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

HOSH at El Rey Court

Hear from leading Native storytellers in art, music, and design at El Rey Court on Thursday evening, hosted by HOSH, an Indigenous collective based in New York. The lineup includes founder and fiber artist DY Begay (Diné) and painter Tony Abeyta (Diné), whose work opens conversations and broadens views of what Native art is today. Enjoy pies from Tender Fire Pizza and boozy sips from La Reina during the event from 6 to 9 p.m.

New Mythos at Cara Romero Gallery

Eight profound Indigenous artists show work in New Mythos, an exhibition at Cara Romero Gallery that examines personal and collective history through photography, mixed media, and contemporary art. See works by Bonny Melendez, Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), Diego Romero (Cochiti Pueblo), Robert King (Choctaw Nation), Kent Monkman (Fisher River Cree Nation), and others in this show that strives to retell the story of Indigeneity through a contemporary and authentic lens. New Mythos opens with a celebratory reception Thursday, 4 to 8 p.m., and runs  through September 15.

Experience a new exhibition examining colonization and Indigenous identity through art at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art.

2 Take a trip to Taiwan.

Explore the consequences of colonization in Breaking Ground: Art & Activism in Indigenous Taiwan, a new exhibition opening at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art (MoCNA) on Friday. The works confront language and homeland loss, assimilation policies, and the erasure of cultural knowledge through installation and sound art. The exhibition is co-curated by Nakaw Putun (Pangcah), an independent curator, Jay Chun-Chieh Lai of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and Manuela Well-Off-Man, chief curator at MoCNA. On Saturday, see a special performance by the Bulareyaung Dance Company in the museum’s Art Park at 4 p.m., plus a screening of Dancing Home, the newly released documentary following the dance company’s story and process, in the media gallery through August 21. The exhibition is on view through January 4, 2026.

Head to Red River for three days of barbecue, music, and mountain fun at the 8750' Festival. Photograph courtesy of 8750' BBQ & Music Festival.

3 Chow down and groove.

Bring your appetite to the mountains of Red River, where you can enjoy three days of barbecue and live music during 8750’ Festival, starting Thursday. Running since the mid-1990s, the event features live music in Brandenburg Park while chefs compete in BBQ, chili, and chile cookoffs. Evening dinners and late-night sets at Motherlode Saloon keep the party going. Online tickets are sold out, but you can buy them at the door.

Sip local wines and browse custom cars at Wines of the San Juan.

4 Sip wine and ogle cars.

Wine & Shine Rod, Custom, & Classic Car Show invites car enthusiasts and wine lovers to visit the vineyard at Wines of the San Juan, in Blanco, on Sunday. Sparkling hot rods, classic cars, and custom rides will park on premises beneath the shade of towering cottonwoods. Enjoy bites from Graze Colorado, Manna El Fresco, and Sinalokas while trying the winery’s blends and listening to live sets from Ryan Woodard and Out on Work Release. It’s open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., followed by live music from Mark Smith from 4 to 7 p.m.

Tour J. Robert Oppenheimer's Los Alamos home and explore history, science, and film during the Oppenheimer Festival.

Take a walk in J. Robert Oppenheimer’s shoes.

When director Christopher Nolan released Oppenheimer in the summer of 2023, it reignited interest in the Manhattan Project and its home in Los Alamos, which spawned the two-week Oppenheimer Festival. This year’s theme is Peace, Legacy & Explore. Attendees can tour J. Robert Oppenheimer’s former home, hear from experts and historians, and take self-guided tours of filming locations. It kicks off on Saturday and runs through August 31.

For more things to do, check out our online calendar of events.