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RIO RANCHO — The Mariposa Harvest Festival will be in full swing from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 23 at Mariposa Park next to the community center.
Gene Kolczynski, event co-chair, is new to the handling of the event this year but expects returning attractions and large attendance. This is the fifth annual Harvest Fest in Mariposa.
“I would expect somewhere between 900 and 1,100 people to attend,” he said.
The event will include 55 vendors and five food trucks, according to Kolczynski.
“Rudy’s is going to be kind of our cornerstone barbecue place,” he said.
The event will see the return of several local artists and the Artists of Mariposa, an art group that runs through the community.
Kolczynski also said there will be a live DJ and several rescues, including the Horses of Tamaya.
“Our purpose is to provide a family-centered activity primarily for Mariposans, and then we’ve also extended that invitation to the community at large in Bernalillo or Rio Rancho, the surrounding areas,” he said.
The event is volunteer-driven, according to Kolczynski.
“We have 47 volunteers in the community signed up. So far, we have a 10-person committee running it,” he said.
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The challenge this year was getting off to a late start in organizing the event with new staffing, he added.
“But I thought that we worked really hard at picking up the pace, and I feel like we’re going to have a super festival, and we’re working really hard to get all this pulled together,” he said.
So far the feedback from the community has been positive, and Kolczynski said he sees the event as an opportunity to “show what Mariposa is all about.”
He also mentioned the event brings attention to Mariposa’s recently opened bar and restaurant: Screaming Coyote.
Kolczynski addressed the elephant in the room as well with the Harvest Fest not being really centered around an actual harvest.
He admitted the board considered changing the name of the event but decided to keep it for continuity purposes.
“We felt that there are so many exceptional harvest events. We talked about that early on, doesn’t mean it can’t change in the future, but we decided to stay with it,” he said.
Kolczynski is also getting an introduction to Mariposa, as he and his family just moved there.
“I was studying it from afar; it just looked like a great place to live, and as it turned out, it really is,” he said.
He said he looks forward to seeing people turn out for the event.
“I would just folks to come out and enjoy a fun day with lots of great food trucks; we’ll have music, there’ll be lots of different animals, displays there for the young kids. Just get a little taste of the flavor of what Mariposa is all about, and I feel we represent Rio Rancho, not the best of Rio Rancho, but we’re a good representation of what Rio Rancho is all about,” he said.
The event is free to attend.
