Schedule
We're very excited to be back for our 7th New Mexico Prickly Pear Festival. The festival will be Friday Sept 26th from 2pm-7pm and Saturday Sept 27th from 10am-4pm
The festival will take place at the Gutierrez Hubbell House
6029 Isleta Blvd SW, Albuquerque, NM 87105
Friday September 26th, 2025
Outside
2:00 - 2:30 PM
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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2:00 - 3:00 PM
Prickly Pear Block Print Making
Ayemurs Print Studio will lead festival goers in making their own prickly pear block prints. Create your own beautiful prickly pear inspired art, at one of two sessions throughout the festival. Your can register in advance here or sign up in person
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3:00 - 4:00 PM
Pickling with a Prickly Twist: Preserving with Prickly Pear Juice
Join NMSU’s Amber Benson to learn about the joys of pickling with prickly pear Participants will learn how to pickle their favorite foods using nutrient-rich prickly pear juice—a bold, colorful twist on classic pickles. This workshop includes a live demonstration of the pickling process, and Amber will answer participant questions around safe food preservation practices. Participants will receive printed resources for safely using prickly pear in home food preservation as well as have the opportunity to taste some fun, prickly pear products you can make in your own home!
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3:00 - 4:00 PM
Prickly Pear Cochineal Dye Workshop
Learn about one of the worlds oldest natural dyes with, 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 hands dirty, festival goers will learn about the history of dyeing with cochineal, as well as the processes involved in natural dyeing. Your can register in advance here or sign up in person
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4:00 - 6:00 PM
Prickly Pear Paint Party
Paint your own prickly pear masterpiece with a large canvas paint party led by Susan Gomez. Tickets are sold separately with link here, follow this link to reserve your spot
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4:00 - 5:00 PM
Prickly Pear Cocktails & Mocktails
Join the cocktail slinger behind Teddy Roe’s, Jessica O’Brien, as she shows folks how to mix up 3 different kinds of prickly pear mixed drinks
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4:00 - 6:00 PM
Coming to the Prickly Pear Stage:
We have an awesome line up of local artists to grace our prickly pear festival stage including
Dance your way into the evening with Ritmo y Tambor Dance Troupe, leading group bachata & salsa lessons for festival goers
Sat September 27th, 2025
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
–
10:00 - 11:00 AM
Prickly Pear Block Print Making
Ayemurs Print Studio will lead festival goers in making their own prickly pear block prints. Create your own beautiful prickly pear inspired art, at one of two sessions throughout the festival. Your can register in advance here or sign up in person
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Prickly Pear Cochineal Dye Workshop
Learn about one of the worlds oldest natural dyes with, 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 hands dirty, festival goers will learn about the history of dyeing with cochineal, as well as the processes involved in natural dyeing. Your can register in advance here or sign up in person
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11:00 - 11:30 AM
Blue Corn Pancakes with Prickly Pear Syrup Demo
Join Three Sisters Kitchen for an easy, but hardy breakfast staple showing folks how to make blue corn pancakes drizzled with prickly pear syrup
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11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Prickly Pear Tunas with Tajin & Prickly Pear Tea Demo
Lilia Avila of Fiesta On the Go will show folks a quick but delicious way to enjoy fresh prickly pear tunas, sprinkled with tajin and other spice and washed down with some prickly pear tea
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12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Prickly Pear Mini Watercolor Workshop
Join Scarlet Selleck for a prickly pear-themed painting class where you will get to make mini (3” x 3”) creations that will shine alongside the New Mexico landscape. One of two sessions during the day. Your can register in advance here or sign up in person
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1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Prickly Pear Cochineal Dye Workshop
Join us for our final natural dye workshop of the festival with 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 hands dirty, festival goers will learn about the history of dyeing with cochineal, as well as the processes involved in natural dyeing. Your can register in advance here or sign up in person
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Prickly Pear Mini Watercolor Workshop
If you missed the first session, Join Scarlet Selleck for the second prickly pear-themed painting class session where you will get to make mini (3” x 3”) creations that will shine alongside the New Mexico landscape. Your can register in advance here or sign up in person
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Sweet & Savory Prickly Pear Cooking Demo with Red Mesa Cuisine
Learn from James Beard Award winning chef Lois Ellen Frank and Walter Whitewater of Red Mesa Cuisine on how to make a healthy and savory grilled prickly pear nopal cactus salad and sweet blue corn pudding topped with prickly pear syrup
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2:30 - 4:00 PM
Coming to the Prickly Pear Stage:
We have an awesome line up of local artists to grace our prickly pear festival stage including
Inside the
Gutierrez Hubbell House
Programming for farmers, ranchers, and gardeners
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Prickly Pear Propagation
Former Albuquerque Botanical Garden curator and local Opuntia (aka prickly pear) expert, Dave Ferguson, will show folks how to properly propagate and care for young prickly pear cacti.
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1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Agriculture, Ecology and Seed Saving in the Southwest
The Southwest Seed Partnership (SWSP), led by the Institute for Applied Ecology, is a network of land managers, farmers, and ecologists which aims to produce the materials needed for successful environmental restorations in Arizona and New Mexico. Many of the techniques employed in this process, including available resources for determining site suitability and sourcing of native plant populations, are crucial for development of agricultural projects involving native plant materials. Join staff ecologist Clay Merdith to learn what tools are available, how they can inform farm production, and how you can get involved with native plant production as a partner institution of the SWSP.
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3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Sharing with Our More Than Human Neighbors
Join sustainable landscape designer Judith Philips and Laurel Ladwig director of the ABQ Backyard Refuge Program as they talk about ways to help your landscape (home garden, small farm…etc) face the hotter and drier climate of the future. Resilient landscapes contour the soil to capture rainwater when it comes whether as a trickle or a deluge, and emphasize native plants that respond quickly to any available precipitation, root extensively creating a network of channels in the soil to absorb rainfall, and are adapted to low humidity and intense sunlight. And best of all, such gardens share habitat with wildlife to maintain With one of the plant tools in this tool being the hardy prickly pear