El Rancho de las Golondrinas and the Pandemic: Learning to Pivot and Finding New Strength

As the world begins to wake up from a fifteen-month nightmare, and Santa Fe begins to fill with visitors again, we wanted to take a look at organizations we like to collaborate with, to see what projects and progress was made by them during the disorientation of lock down. I asked Dan Goodman, Museum Director of El Rancho de las Golondrinas, to give us insight into what went on at this living history museum when visitors were not allowed. Dan and las Golondrinas’ Development Director Jackie Camborde, wrote this fine piece in response. Thanks to both for their good work in La Cienega and in these words. — Pete Warzel

Find out more about their upcoming activities on their website.

El Rancho de las Golondrinas and the Pandemic: Learning to Pivot and Finding New Strength
Jackie Camborde and Daniel Goodman, El Rancho de las Golondrinas

There is really no way to fully describe 2020. Never in any of our lifetimes have we had such a strange, isolated and distant year. El Rancho de las Golondrinas was closed from June to September, and all our usual festival weekends and other special events were cancelled. The throng of locals and tourists that usually arrive all summer long were unable to visit the museum. No field trips or classrooms visited last year. Our volunteers were sidelined from their passions of teaching and demonstrating the ways of the past. It almost seemed like an impossible time to keep going…but we found our way.

Cultural institutions by their very nature have an obligation to serve their community.  We knew that if we could mobilize hundreds of volunteers for Harvest festival, surely we could mobilize them for the situation at hand.  Our volunteers got to work making masks for essential workers. Our staff, Board, volunteers and neighbors came together for a cleanup of Los Pinos Road, something that we have now made an annual event. We donated almost a ton of clothing and household goods via a community fund drive. We worked together with Youthworks, the Food Depot and Santa Fe County to distribute free grab and go meals and kids’ hands-on history kits in our parking lot every week. At last count we had distributed over 24,000 prepared meals and food packages from our parking lot. We grew produce based on the needs of the Food Depot and have donated thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables to them for those in need. Why so much activity and outreach during a pandemic? Because like everyone else we have a passion for this community, this land, and New Mexico.

This was also a good opportunity for the Museum to tackle some important projects, especially when it comes to Historic Preservation. Our operations crew got caught up with maintenance of our historic buildings. We made repairs to our acequias and take care of invasive species around our many ponds and wetlands. We built out the educational material on our website and expanded our volunteer resource material including information they shared with guests about the historic objects on display in our buildings. Is there more work to do?  Of course!  With 500 acres, 34 historic buildings, educational programs, animals and artifacts to manage and maintain, there is never a shortage of work!  But we are happy to be the stewards of this significant cultural property.

One program we developed to keep Las Golondrinas in people’s minds and hearts is the Las Golondrinas Live Sessions. This series of lectures, demonstrations and projects is being shown live on our Facebook page and can be viewed on our YouTube Channel at any time. Some of the topics covered in the sessions include lectures on New Mexico history and adobe preservation; demonstrations of weaving, bread making and fire building; a tour of the Molino Grande and how-to projects such as tin stamping and other traditional crafts. The Live Sessions are more than demonstrations, they are a repository of historic lifeways in New Mexico!

As we prepare to open on June 2nd for the 2021 season, we know that the most important thing we can do is keep our visitors safe. We have retrofitted our admissions booths with Plexiglass barriers, installed refillable water stations and incorporated a very rigorous cleaning schedule into our daily activities. All of our employees have taken the state Covid online training and Las Golondrinas is listed as a Covid-safe Institution.

One big change this year will be our festival season. We have canceled our June and July events, and are hopeful that our first event will be the Santa Fe Wine Festival on August 14 and 15.  We will be requiring all guests at festivals to make reservations to attend, including our members, who can always attend for free. Members will get a 24-hour priority on reservations for all festivals – a great reason to join us this year!

While the pandemic derailed our usual operations, many good things came out of this time. For one thing, we kept all our fulltime staff employed and working, something we are very proud of as an institution.  We learned that our employees can make the most of a difficult situation. We learned that we can be a bigger force for good in our La Cienega community. We know that we can find ways to reach our members, visitors and friends, even if they can’t visit the museum. None of us ever want to go through another year like 2020, but we feel lucky to know that above all else, Las Golondrinas will continue to survive and thrive.

Jackie Camborde, Director of Development
Daniel Goodman, Museum Director
El Rancho de las Golondrinas Living History Museum
https://golondrinas.org/