1 See billboards as urban art.

This is the last weekend to see Soul of a Nation, a public art installation in Albuquerque developed by artist Jodie Herrera and the national SaveArtSpace. Focused on creating art in urban settings, SaveArtSpace worked with Herrera to invent four billboards by four women artists (including Herrera) that center on marginalized people, BIPOC community members, and social justice issues.

Christine Sullivan, a graphic designer based in Santa Fe, took over the one at Wyoming Boulevard and Chico Road Northeast using felt, the form of a woman, and the words “A Woman’s Choice Is Sacred.” In Dismantling the Border, at Broadway Boulevard and Odelia Road Northeast, Erin Currier featured Indigenous and Brown women taking apart the border wall that divides the United States from Mexico.

A portrait of activist Dolores Huerta, part of Adi Norris’s Women Behaving Badly series, sits at the intersection of Old Coors Drive and Gonzales Road Southwest. Finally, Herrera’s billboard depicts a rose rising from a woman’s hand, along with the words “Our Growth in Our Hands,” at the intersection of Washington Street and Central Avenue Northeast.

Jenna Ritter is among the artists participating in the Contemporary Clay Fair, in Santa Fe. Photograph courtesy of the Contemporary Clay Fair.

2 Get arty.

Two of Santa Fe’s favorite craft fairs take place this weekend, just in time for holiday shopping. The Santa Fe Woman’s Club hosts the 19th annual Contemporary Clay Fair Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Over 20 ceramicists show their handmade plates, bowls, vases, and jewelry.

Near the Plaza, the 10th annual Fall Fiber Fiesta brings more than 40 weavers, knitters, and artists to the Scottish Rite Temple. Find blankets, gloves, sweaters, hats, and rugs made from sheep, alpaca, buffalo, and even wolf wool in both traditional and innovative techniques. Hosted by the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center, the fiesta kicks off Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. with a $10 first look. Admission is free Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Vendors set up their tables with local goods to sell at HomeGrown: A New Mexico Food Show & Gift Market. Photograph courtesy of the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum.

3 Hit more holiday markets.

The season of giving starts with waves of markets featuring local artists and craftspeople. Catch these three this weekend.

Jewelry, candles, pottery, stickers, adventure experiences, lotions, books written by Taos-based authors, and clothing are some of the goodies at the Taos Folk Pop-Up, which includes handmade items by over 40 Taos artisans. The event is open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., starting this weekend through Christmas Eve in the Stables Gallery behind Taos Inn.

Giftable goodies by 20 local artists fill Art123 Gallery, in Gallup, during the Pop-Up Holiday Art Market, which opens this weekend and runs through December 23. Paintings, fiber arts, and wood carvings are just a few of the offerings you can peruse. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m.

In Las Cruces, the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum hosts the eighth annual HomeGrown Food Show & Gift Market, where shoppers can peruse and taste delicious goodies from 60 vendors from around the state—salsa, nuts, candy, and locally made wines. (You’ll love the samples.) The show introduces attendees to the state’s bountiful agricultural industry on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The First National Bank Building is one of the stops on the Alamogordo Ghost & History Tour. Photograph courtesy of Chris Edwards.

4 Walk with ghosts.

Sign up for the Alamogordo Ghost & History Tour on Saturday, then walk with historians Chris Edwards and Alice Weinman, who cover the city’s past and a few of the spirits who still wander its streets. It starts at 10:30 a.m. and lasts until 3 or 4 p.m., depending on how many folks have questions.

Edwards and Weinman talk about the building of the First National Bank and its Art Deco safe (now worth a whopping $1.2 million), the 1928 Sands Theater, the Flickinger Center, a former Coca-Cola plant (now a private residence), and the tour ends at the Tularosa Basin Museum. “We merge the history of Alamogordo with the legends of local ghosts,” says Edwards. “We tell stories about the spirits who roam the streets, like Julia, the bank owner’s daughter who wanders the Emporium, or Maggie, who died on a surgeon’s table.”

The walking tour meanders a three-block radius and includes lunch and a glass of wine or champagne served in a garden. Call at least one day ahead (707-880-6382) so there’s enough lunch for all the attendees. This is a monthly tour, so if you miss it this time around, you can catch it in December.

The San Juan College Orchestra performs at Henderson Fine Arts Performing Hall, in Farmington. Photograph courtesy of the San Juan College Orchestra.

5 Name that tune.

Soak in the sounds of the season, classical compositions, and romantic songs on Friday evening at a concert by the San Juan College Orchestra at the Henderson Fine Arts Performing Hall, in Farmington. The program features composers as diverse as Beethoven and Leroy Anderson, who wrote the 1951 popular song “Blue Tango.” A 1714 work by Arcangelo Corelli, known popularly as The Christmas Concerto, kicks off the evening. “I like to choose music the audience will like, and that the musicians enjoy playing,” conductor Teun B. Fetz says. “I call it beautiful music, fun music, and music with a lot of energy and passion. There are lovely things we do in terms of the harmonies and melodies, and there’s a lot of variety in this concert.”
All music students get free admission to the concert; the rest of us can buy tickets online, at the San Juan College bookstore, or at the venue before the 7 p.m. show.

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