Celebrate Local Food / Invest in People, Land, & Culture
Friday, October 4 at 5:30pm at the Farmers’ Market Pavilion
Click here to purchase event tickets AND raffle tickets!

WHO will be at Fall Fiesta?

Fall Fiesta is where community comes together at a common table, in an engaging space to share in impeccable food and drink with great people. Community members, Institute supporters, farmers, fans of Dig & Serve – anyone who celebrates local food is invited!

Purchase your tickets and join us at one of the best events of the season! http://bit.ly/ff19tix

WHO is Dig & Serve?

Dig & Serve aims to create a new type of bespoke dining experience. One where the food is not just absolutely ridiculous, but where going out for dinner becomes far more engaging and experiential than it ever has before. Where diners do not only sit and talk with the group they go out with, but rather they connect and share with others in the community, creating a paradigm shift to the typical, while going back to the roots of how we’ve eaten for thousands of years.

Learn more http://bit.ly/digserveFF19

WHO are the Farmer All-Stars?

The Farmer All-Star Awards are one way the Institute acknowledges the hard work of the vendors who are the driving force behind our sister organization, the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market. Click here to learn more and see all of the Farmer All-Star awardees since 2008.
We honor Malandro Farm, RZ’s Bees, and SunStar Herbs for their contributions in preserving the rich agricultural heritage of New Mexico, their contributions to our robust and vibrant market, and their investments in the health of our land and community.
Malandro Farm – Lisa Anderson & Jim Benson
Location: Abiquiu
Farming since 2008
Market vendor: 10 years
Selling a wide variety of produce, they are known for their early-season heirloom tomatoes and giant cabbages. Lisa’s guiding principle is to grow what she likes to eat. (No eggplants here!)

Learn more http://bit.ly/FASmalandro

RZ’s Bees – Ricardo Sanchez & Deborah Hayes-Sanchez
Location: Alcalde
Beekeeping since 1990 
Market vendor: 29 years
Selling pollen and unfiltered raw honey with a lovely and distinctive flavor, collected from bees who pollinate a variety of fruit trees, clover, Locust trees, and wild plants. 

Learn more http://bit.ly/FASrzsbees

SunStar Herbs – Becky & Dave Thorp
Location: Ortiz Mountains
Farming since 1978 
Market vendor: 25 years 
Growing assorted naturalized and native herbs used for tinctures, incense, and other medicinal products. Their signature http://bit.ly/FASsunstaritem is the jujube, a stone fruit originally cultivated in China that is perfect for growing in the varied environments of New Mexico.
Learn more http://bit.ly/FASsunstar
Senator Tom Udall – Special Honors
We are awarding Special Honors to Senator Tom Udall, this year’s Community All-Star, for his life-time commitment to preserving our natural wonders and limited resources, and for his instrumental role in the development of the Railyard and the creation of the Farmers’ Market Pavilion. His vision and leadership helped catalyze hundreds of people into raising $4.5 million so the Farmers’ Market could have a permanent home.
Senator Udall plans to join us for the first half of the evening.
Learn more http://bit.ly/ff19senatorudall

WHO will be on stage?

Kierstan Pickens – Executive Director
Kierstan came to the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute with more than 10 years experience in nonprofit management; from volunteer coordination, special event management, fundraising and board work. She learned early the value of supporting local businesses from her father, a welder who often worked with farmers. A great admirer of the Market vendors, she spends as much time in her garden as possible, trying hard to grow vegetables like the Market pros. 
Hakim Bellamy – Poet / MC
Hakim Bellamy is equal parts poet, musical artist, community archivist, and archaeologist. He was the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Albuquerque (2012-14) and holds many titles, including national and regional Poetry Slam Champion and three consecutive collegiate poetry slam titles at UNM. He facilitates youth writing workshops for schools, jails, churches, prisons, and community organizations, and is working on multidisciplinary performing arts compositions (music & manuscripts). He co-founded Urban Verbs Hip Hop Conservatory & Theater with his creative partners Carlos Contreras and Colin Diles Hazelbaker, and for almost three years he was the on-air TV host for PBS’s ¡COLORES! Program.

Click here to read and listen to the powerful poem about the story of food in New Mexico, New Mexico No. 9 – a food folklorico, written and performed by Hakim Bellamy.

Carlos Contreras – Auctioneer

Carlos Contreras is a WKKF Kellog Community Leadership Network fellow, Dir. of Marketing & Innovation for the City of Albuquerque and Mayor Tim Keller, and a nationally awarded and published performance poet. He is a father to a brilliant 3.5 year-old daughter while also a visual artist currently featured as part of the ABQ Museum’s permanent collection “Common Ground.” He is the Sole Proprietor of the creative consulting business Immastar Productions.
Cloacas – Entertainment
Cloacas composes the imagined folk music of a fictional country, eclipsing time, tradition, and geography. 

Listen https://Cloacas.bandcamp.com

Click here for WHAT

Click here for WHY

Click here for HOW

Click here for EVENT TICKETS & RAFFLE TICKETS

Click here to BID EARLY IN LIVE AUCTION