1 Have a blast at the fair. 

Starting Thursday, the New Mexico State Fair welcomes attendees with delicious eats, live entertainment, rodeos, and thrilling rides at Expo New Mexico, in Albuquerque. A veritable feast of fun for the whole family, this year’s performers include heavy hitters like Cypress Hill, Wynonna Judd, and Clay Walker. Find the 2025 State Fair Beer made by Ex Novo Brewing Co., the largest rodeo in the Land of Enchantment, pony rides, a petting zoo, a foam zone, pig races, Pueblo dances, steel band performances, and so much mouthwatering food. Discount Day lets residents attend for $1, and special Main Street Days bring unique events like an antique car show and Smokey Bear Day. The fair runs September 4–14. Find a full schedule, tickets, and details about each offering on its website. 

Experience the thrill of off-road action, vendor expos, and championship rock-crawling competitions in Farmington. Photograph courtesy of Four Corners 4x4 Week.

2 Experience 0ff-roading. 

If you like off-road vehicles—whether watching or driving them—then you’re going to want to be in Farmington this weekend as the Four Corners 4x4 Week kicks into high gear. Thursday and Friday, the Mods Outdoor Show brings vendors selling gear to augment off-road vehicles to the Farmington Civic Center. The show features a beer garden, so visitors can sip while they browse. On Saturday, the Offroad Downtown Takeover brings the action downtown with a flex ramp where vehicles will show off, along with food and drink vendors, a 4x4 vehicle show, and music. Also part the week, the World Extreme Rock Crawling Grand Nationals Championship happens at the Glade Run Recreation Area, just outside of town, with space for spectators to watch the off-road competition. The championship runs daily from September 1–7.

Celebrate more than 300 years of tradition with parades, food, music, and cultural festivities in Santa Fe's historic plaza. Photograph courtesy of Fiesta de Santa Fe.

3 Party with pets and history.

The Fiesta de Santa Fe, a cultural tradition rooted in the city’s Spanish heritage, has been celebrated for more than 300 years. The weekend celebration offers food, music, parades, and performances throughout the Santa Fe Plaza. Partygoers can dine at food trucks serving classic Fiesta dishes like frybread tacos and roasted corn, shop at the Fiesta Fine Arts & Crafts Market, and catch live music and dance performances on the bandstand stage. On Saturday morning, see kids and their pets in the Desfile de los Niños parade throughout the downtown area starting at 9 a.m., and the Desfile de la Gente (Historical Parade) at 1 p.m. Sunday. Find a full list of events at santafefiesta.org/santa-fe-fiesta-events.

Enjoy space-themed paintings, photography, and sculpture by 30 artists at Gallery 925 in Las Cruces. Photograph courtesy of the Las Cruces Space Festival.

4 See space art. 

On view at Gallery 925, the Las Cruces Space Festival Art Show displays works of space-themed creativity. The juried exhibition includes 30 artists working in mediums like photography, sculpture, painting, and textiles depicting “everything from whimsical interpretations of space, alien-themed pieces, and pictures of the night sky taken through telescopes,” says gallery owner Diane Alire. “There’s a tremendous amount of color and texture, a lot of fun pieces, and also some really technically difficult works too.” Catch the opening reception on Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. The show runs through September 28, with hours Fridays 1–5 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m.–5 p.m. The space festival itself runs September 21–27.
 

Enjoy world-class jazz performances across Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Taos during the New Mexico Jazz Festival. Photograph courtesy of the Outpost Performance Space.

5 Hear world-class jazz. 

The 19th annual New Mexico Jazz Festival opens this weekend with performances through September 28. It brings renowned touring jazz musicians, in addition to some of New Mexico’s favorite artists, to stages in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Taos. Thursday evening, the first concert plays at Outpost Performance Space, in Albuquerque, showcasing the talents of singer Hillary Smith and jazz saxophonist Glenn Kostur, who have been playing together for over three decades. Salsa dura artist Jimmy Bosch, known for his unique New York–style of Afro Caribbean music, performs Friday at 7 p.m. at the Albuquerque Museum Amphitheater. An art exhibition connected to the festival, Works by Greg Tucker 1979–2025, opens Sunday with a celebratory reception from 3 to 5 p.m. at Outpost Performance Space’s Inpost Artspace. There is much more happening during this festival, so see the full lineup at outpostspace.org.  

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