Thankful In Santa Fe: Stuffing for a City Different Holiday

Santa Fe has enjoyed a lotta buzz in 2017! Travel+Leisure readers just voted The City Different as #1 Destination In The World for the year and DK Eyewitness Travel doesn't just list Santa Fe as a top choice for world travel this Thanksgiving Weekend, but it is the first destination on their list!

So if you are traveling to The Land Of Enchantment this holiday weekend, Santa Fe is ready. The sun is almost always shining, the big snow stays up on the mountains, and there's not only something for everyone, there's gravy too.

Outdoor Winter Activities

First, we light the lights on Santa Fe Plaza. This annual event is Friday night, with festivities beginning at 3 pm. The lighting is a locally and internationally sought after spectacle that features the lighting of our historic Santa Fe Plaza, farolitos and even a certain Sr. Claus. This is a family favorite, not to be missed.

Every year Ski Santa Fe is scheduled to open Thanksgiving Day. Ski Santa Fe is a draw through the winter season and boasts breathtaking views and slopes suitable for all skill levels. This year it has been too warm, even up at 10,000 feet and above, to make snow but they tell us they are on track for a December 2 opening! Meantime the hiking trails on the mountain  and all around are plentiful and beautiful.

The Santa Fe Farmers' Market in the Santa Fe Railyard will be open Saturday morning.  This award-winning market is a great way to start your day with a locally sourced breakfast. On Sunday, in the same spot, the Artisan Market will be open in the morning and early afternoon.

Indoor Winter Activities

Circus Luminous, an annual staple of Thanksgiving Weekend, will be held at the Lensic. This event is Wise Fool's yearly culmination of ariels, dance, trapeze, and clowning. The variety show-like format is centered around a crafted story suitable for all ages. Friday and Saturday evening shows, with Saturday and Sunday matinees.

One-time Meow Wolf artist and lifelong art friend Thais Mather opens her new show Reckless Abandon at form + concept gallery in the Santa Fe Railyard. The show opens Friday night with a reception from 5-7pm. Saturday there will be a special reading by the artist detailing her creative process from 2-3pm. The show features, "...a number of large-scale installations that incorporate ceramics, videos, drawings and other media... Reckless Abandon comprises hundreds of artworks that will fill form & concept’s ground floor, tracing thousands of years of natural and human history."

Saturday morning Collected Works Bookstore will host a book signing featuring local authors and illustrators of children's books. The Event starts at 11am. Families are encouraged to bring their children to meet local authors whose work fosters reading, curiosity and engagement with young readers. Authors featured have a focus on very early readers, ages 3-12.

Saturday, all day, The New Mexico Museum will be celebrating its 100th birthday with free events. In addition to actors portraying famous New Mexico artists, free music and lectures and a host of other day-of activities, the museum will be launching three new art exhibitions.

@ Meow Wolf

Meow Wolf will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but open again Friday and through the weekend. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights our venue will host shows to cater to nearly all music lovers. Friday night we'll be hosting the Desert Dwellers for another installment of dance motivated fun, with Meow Wolf's staple Melt Shake.

‍On Saturday the venue has another night of music, with two locations within House of Eternal Return activated for electronically driven dance.

Finally, Sunday night the tempo changes with singer/songwriters Matthew Logan Vasquez of Delta Spirit, Kelsey Wilson of Wild Child and Cameron Neal of Horse Thief performing as front (wo)men gone solo.Concerts are not all ages, check out each one for the DL.

Santa Fe is a world capital of the holiday season. There is a ton more of awesomeness coming the whole month of December. We'll have more exciting events to share with you soon, but meantime just book that ticket and come enjoy the city when it's at its most romantic and you can easily hang with the locals.Much love + happy trails to you. We are so THANKFUL to have you as part of our creative world.