AT THE GERONIMO SPRINGS MUSEUM, in Truth or Consequences, festive dresses, parade costumes, and photographs of glamorous Hollywood celebrities share space with the museum’s other exhibitions featuring prehistoric fossils, Native pottery, Western art, and even an authentic miner’s cabin. Incongruous? Maybe. But no history of this area would be complete without the Ralph Edwards Room, which houses a collection celebrating the day in 1950 when Hot Springs, New Mexico, became Truth or Consequences. When Edwards, host of the popular radio and television game show Truth or Consequences, challenged cities across America to adopt the program’s name and promised a live TV episode from the first town to do so, Hot Springs jumped at the chance. On March 31, residents overwhelmingly voted in favor of the name change, and Edwards broadcast the show from there the following evening. For the next 50 years, Edwards and some of his Hollywood pals returned to T or C for the annual commemoration that became known as Fiesta. “I had a new Fiesta dress every year as a young girl,” remembers Ann Welborn, a museum board member. The museum’s exhibition spans seven decades and features Fiesta mementos, including Edwards’s honorary sheriff’s posse uniform and saddle. A recently installed television plays a clip of Edwards relating how the town embraced its new identity. “We want people to hear the story directly from Ralph,” says Welborn.
Visit the Geronimo Springs Museum at 211 Main Ave., in the heart of Truth or Consequences.