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Tradition upheld for Corrales Harvest Festival
Martina Rosetta was selling baked goods from the traditional Horno at Casa San Ysidro for the Corrales Harvest Festival.
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CORRALES — Cloud coverage and light rain didn’t stop people turning out to Corrales Harvest Festival Sept. 27-28.
The event, which included vendors, animals, hay rides, activities for families and a traditional look at the village, appeared to be successful.
Longtime Corrales Harvest Festival attendee Caitlin Erickson was glad for the cooler temperatures. She was there with her nonprofit Horses for Healing, which recently moved to Albuquerque from Corrales.
“I grew up coming to the Harvest Festival. I just love it. As the agency, though, we really value our community partners. The Village Mercantile in particular has been a huge supporter and believer in our mission, and so being able to partner with them and be a part of the community I grew up with I think just has a lot of meaning, and it’s really special to connect with the people that we live with and who support what we do,” she said.
Erickson and her family ran the face-painting booth and brought along three of their therapy ponies — Maximus, Spirit and Tracker — over the course of the weekend at the very first stop along Corrales Road.
The last stop was perhaps the most important with a focus on village tradition. The Old San Ysidro Church and Casa San Ysidro were in full swing.
Site manager Aaron Gardner with the Albuquerque Museum said a little over 200 people showed up at the historic buildings by about noon Saturday.
“Last year, we averaged like 100 people an hour. We’re pretty close to that,” he said.
Inside the casa, people got to see traditional thread spinning, Santeros making retablos and bultos, artists making frames and sconces, and more. There was also live music by the North Valley Tune Tanglers Saturday.
One tasty tradition was toward the back of the house, where Martina Rosetta was making bread, muffins and pie in Casa San Ysidro’s horno.
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“I’m glad village of Corrales is doing demonstrations on the bread because many of us, the 19 Pueblo peoples, still have outdoor hornos,” Rosetta said.
The horno at the casa is a 25-pound oven, according to Rosetta. She said it can bake any kind of dough but also works well for roasting.
“We can bake bread, maybe 20 loaves in one shot,” she said.
The rolls and muffins she made Saturday took about 25 minutes, but a loaf can take bout an hour, she said.
“It’s important because we don’t know what’s the future holds, and it’s so good to go back to primitive ways,” she said.
Gardner also held the importance of tradition close to the heart for the festival.
“I think this event’s really about the traditions of Corrales. Here, we’re making a spot for artists and traditional artists to be and represent their artwork as well as supporting them and selling their stuff, too. But it’s all about the traditions, you know, because San Ysidro is a traditional Greek revival house from the territorial period,” he said.
The Old Church was a popular stop, especially after its complete renovation. According to Corrales Historical Society members, the renovation spruced up the Old Church just in time for a wedding. For the festival, the historic building was full of local art.
Just as the Old Church finished its renovation, Casa San Ysidro will undergo its own facelift.
Gardner confirmed at the festival that the museum got a $250,000 from the state preservation division to redo part of the roof.
“It’s about 25 years old, and it’s a flat roof. It’s time for it. They pool in certain areas when it rains,” he said.
The project is expected to begin in the coming months.
The rest of the festival got on well; however, Wagner’s Farm staff said the rain kept people away for most of the morning on Saturday, which was unfortunate for them because they had plenty of pumpkins, chile and more available.
The money from the event will go toward the Kiwanis Club of Corrales.
