Bandelier National Monument offers abundant mid-summer activities. Courtesy/NPS
BANDELIER News:
For anyone who’s been intending to get out and make a visit to Bandelier this summer but hasn’t done it yet, now is a good time. Besides it being beautiful with all the summer greenery, there are some good programs coming up. Just remember that most are outdoors and depend on the weather!
On most summer weekends there are cultural demonstrators 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the back porch of the Visitor Center. The next two weekends will provide opportunities to meet at least two of the well-known drum-making Herrera family members from Cochiti Pueblo. July 29-30, the artist will be Arnold Herrera, and Aug. 5-6 will be one of his sons, Tomas.
Many evenings there will be ranger programs at the Juniper Campground Amphitheater, and non-campers are just as welcome as campers. This July the programs start at 8:30 p.m., and upcoming titles include:
- Friday, July 28, The Fabric of Frijoles (traditional textiles);
- Saturday, July 29, Songs of the Night (nature’s night sounds); and
- Sunday, July 30, Wildland Fire (ecology of forests and fire).
And Astronomy:
Thursdays, July 27 and Aug. 3 Night Sky Program, ranger talk and viewing through giant telescopes.
Later in the summer and on into the autumn, there are some very special events in the works.
Aug. 18-20, Western National Parks Association, which runs the bookstore, is bringing the Historic Hubbell Trading Post Navajo Rug Trunk Show to Bandelier for the first time. Those days will feature talks and traditional Navajo weaving demonstrations, as well as a great number of beautiful authentic rugs for sale.
Sept. 30 is National Public Lands Day, a fee-free (no entrance fees!) day at parks nationwide to celebrate our public lands. But at Bandelier that is just the beginning. That evening is the sixth annual Opera On The Rocks. This year it will feature excerpts from Mozart’s “The Escape From The Seraglio”, done Star Trek style! It is presented at the Juniper Campground Amphitheater, and tickets and more information can be obtained at www.guildsofsfo.org/LA.
And for those who enjoy work by artists from the local Pueblos, don’t forget to plan to come to the annual Fall Festival, Saturday, Oct. 7. Many of the cultural demonstrators who have been at the park on weekends through the summer will all be here at once, showing and selling their work.
For more information, check the Bandelier website at www.nps.gov/band or call the Bandelier Visitor Center at 505-672-3861 x 517. The park also has a Facebook page and Twitter, each at BandelierNPS.