Schedule

We're very excited to be back for our 6th New Mexico Prickly Pear Festival. The festival will be on Friday September 27^th from 4-8pm and Saturday Sept 28th from 10am-4pm

The festival will take place at the Gutierrez Hubbell House

6029 Isleta Blvd SW, Albuquerque, NM 87105

Friday September 27th, 2024

Prickly Nights

4:00 - 4:30 PM

Welcome

We kick off an evening of music, performance, food and drink celebrating this unique local food welcoming folks into the Gutierrez Hubbell House courtyard where you can grab a prickly pear cocktail or mocktail and take in the South Valley evening air

4:30 - 5:30 PM

Music by Basilaris

As you grab a bite or sip a prickly pear drink, enjoy the sounds of Basilaris, a jazz trio named for a species of prickly pear

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5:30 - 6:30 PM

Music by Lara Manzanares

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7:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Performance by National Institute of Flamenco Company

Saturday September 28th, 2024

Outside

10:00 - 10:30 AM

Opening

Our festival and vendor market opens, with vendors selling all kinds of prickly pear food, beverages, arts, and crafts. For a full list of vendors visit our vendor page

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10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Prickly Pear Pot Painting Party

Join Susan Gomez Arts on the main festival lawn in a guided pot painting workshop, show folks how to paint beautiful designs on a pot for your own prickly pear. Register for you spot here (with prickly pear cuttings and soil available separately)

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10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Prickly Pear Agua Fresca

To start off the day’s demos, Lilia Avila of the Three Sisters Kitchen and owner of Fiesta Food on Wheels will be showing festival goers how to make a refreshing prickly pear tuna agua fresca

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10:30 AM (Every Hour until 2:30)

Acequia Walks

Join the Center for Social Sustainable Systems for an engaging educational walk along the Pajarito Acequia, where we'll share stories and discuss key issues related to this vital irrigation system and our community. The Pajarito Acequia is an essential part of the larger acequia network in South Valley. Learn more about this history and the lifeblood of our region

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11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Prickly Pear Cochineal Dye Workshop

Led by Gutierrez Hubbell House contributor Kayln Finnell, in this workshop attendees will dye fabric together with cochineal insects, which live on the pads of the nopal and have been harvested for dyeing for centuries. While getting their our hands dirty, festival goers will learn about the history of dyeing with cochineal, as well as the processes involved in natural dyeing. (pre-registration available here, walk-up spots will be available)

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11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Preserving Prickly Pear: Red Chile Prickly Pear Jam & Pickled Nopales

An intro to the world of water bath canning process, with NMSU’s Amber Benson. This class will provide an overview of several different methods of home food preservation specifically focused on Prickly Pear cactus! Participants will have the opportunity to taste Prickly Pear Jam and Pickled Nopales and receive USDA approved publications on preservation methods and recipes to take home

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12:00 - 1:00 PM

Prickly Pear Pot Painting Party

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12:00 - 12:30 PM

Prickly Pear Cocktails & Mocktails

Join Safe House Distilling Co. and Sugar Moon Syrups to learn how to make some delicious and refreshing prickly pear cocktails and mocktails

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1:30 - 2:30 PM
Bluecorn Prickly Pear Piñon Tamales Demo

Chef Tina Archuleta of Itality will show festival goers how to use the meat of hand harvested prickly pear tuna to make a sweet filling for tamales to make a delicious vegan recipe using prickly pear.

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1:30 - 2:30 PM
Prickly Pear Cochineal Dye Workshop

The last arts and crafts event of the day, Kayln Finnell, will lead a second natural dye workshop using cochineal insects, which live on the pads of the nopal and have been harvested for dyeing for centuries (pre-registration available here, walk-up spots will be available)

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1:30 - 2:30 PM

Prickly Pear Pot Painting Party

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2:30 - 3:00 PM
Prickly Pear + Lion's Mane Green Tea

Join owners Justin Smurawa & Mereya Blanco of Midnight Disco Fungi for a demo of their prickly pear lion's mane green tea, what goes into the drink, and some of the health benefits of prickly pear in tea

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3:00 - 4:00 PM

Prickly Pear Pot Painting Party

Join Susan Gomez Arts on the main festival lawn for the final session of the day of a guided pot painting workshop, show folks how to paint beautiful designs on a pot for your own prickly pear. Register for you spot here (with prickly pear cuttings and soil available separately)

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1:30 - 3:00 PM

Welcoming to the Prickly Pear Stage:

We have an awesome line up of local artists to grace our prickly pear festival stage including

Dust City Opera

Micah Thunder

Mauro Woody

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Inside the

Gutierrez Hubbell House

Programming for farmers, ranchers, and gardeners

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11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Best Prickly Pear Varieties to Grow in Central New Mexico

Former ABQ Botanical Garden curator and local prickly pear (Opunita) expert, Dave Ferguson, will lead a workshop on the species of prickly pear best suited to grow in Central New Mexico.

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12:00 - 1:00 PM

Southwest Seed Partnership: Preserving Native Seed Diversity

Tanner Johnson of he Southwest Seed Partnership (SWSP), will give a presentation on the organization and its mission to establish a network for native, genetically appropriate seeds while advocating for a new industry standard. And about their National Seed Strategy, the vision of this collaborative effort is to assess and prioritize plant populations, to collect and track wild seed, and to collaborate and coordinate with farmers and conservationists in order to increase the commercial availability of genetically diverse, locally sourced seed for restoration, rehabilitation, and reclamation projects in the Southwest.