1 Take the family to the fair.

It’s hard not to feel like a kid at the San Juan County Fair in Farmington, where colorful lights, whooshing rides, fun games, and delicious eats are at your fingertips. A parade starts things off on Friday at 6 p.m. The fair opens Saturday at 8 a.m. and features eight days events, including 4-H competitions, a salsa contest, a rodeo, crafting demonstrations, a gem and mineral show, and more.

Savor the essence of summer with over 240 local and regional brews at the Las Cruces Beer Festival. Photograph courtesy of the Las Cruces Beer Festival.

2 Enjoy a cold one.

That first sip of a frosty beer on a sweltering day is one of the experiences that makes us love summer. The Las Cruces Beer Festival offers more than 240 local and regional brews to try and buy, plus cornhole, water pong, live music, DJ sets, and food trucks. Open Saturday, 6 p.m. to midnight, on the Plaza de Las Cruces, the festival has several ticket options. General admission includes 10 2oz samples and a commemorative glass.

Relax under cottonwood trees with a local brew at the Santa Fe Beer & Food Festival. Photograph courtesy of El Rancho de Las Golondrinas/Richard Gonzales.

3 Pick and sip hops.

Find a shady seat under the towering cottonwood trees at El Rancho de Las Golondrinas and enjoy a local brew at the Santa Fe Beer & Food Festival on Saturday and Sunday. Open noon to 6 p.m., the 6th annual fest offers visitors a chance to help harvest the first crop of Las Golondrinas’ hops.

Celebrate New Mexico's iconic lowriders at the Latin Explosion Music Festival & Lowrider Car Show. Photograph courtesy of the Latin Explosion Music Festival & Lowrider Car Show.

4 Indulge in lowrider art.

Lowriders could be the state symbol of New Mexico, they’re that important here. Generations of families lovingly restore cars, creating mobile works of art with intricate paint jobs and handcrafted interiors. At the Latin Explosion Music Festival & Lowrider Car Show, the rides get the spotlight they deserve. Open Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. at Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque, the festival boasts more than 100 classic lowriders, food, a beer garden with micheladas and margaritas, arts and crafts, face painting, and a bounce house. There are live performances by flamenco dancers and music from the likes of Angel of the Cover Girls, Gonzalo, Nuevo Mariachi, and more.

Explore Tony Abeyta's curated exhibit, "Hunter," featuring diverse artists, at the Institute of Contemporary Art Santa Fe. Photograph courtesy of the Institute of Contemporary Art Santa Fe.

5 See a personal art collection.

Painter and jewelry designer Tony Abeyta’s eye for art is unmatched. He puts his curatorial powers to use in the exhibition Hunter: Selections from the Personal Collections of Tony Abeyta at The Institute of Contemporary Art Santa Fe opens a new exhibition, with a celebration on Saturday from 7 to 11 p.m. The exhibition, which runs through September 28, includes works by artists such as Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), Agnes Martin, Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara/Lakota), Roxanne Swentzell (Santa Clara/Tewa), Nicholas Galanin (Sitka/Tlingit/Unangax), and others. “I am a treasure hunter on a quest for meaning and a more comprehensive story of how I exist as a new world Navajo,” Abeyta says in a press release. “Our stories are kept as artifacts, tied with tenuous sinew to a larger story of Indigenous experience. The objects become our language, speaking of both past and present.”

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