2020 Virtual Annual Garden Party & Members' Meeting

Go directly to YouTube to watch the presentation here

Click any images on this page to view the 2020 Annual Garden Party & Members’ Meeting video presentation

Mara Saxer speaking about HSFF’s El Zaguán front wall repairs, September 2020.

Historic Santa Fe Foundation is pleased to present this video version of our Annual Garden Party & Members’ Meeting. Each year, HSFF holds this members-only event in the garden on Canyon Road. Usually, members meet, share refreshments, enjoy the company of our community, and attentively listen to our guest speaker. In recent years, we have had the honor of hosting the State of New Mexico’s Historic Preservation Officer Jeff Pappas, City of Santa Fe’s Historic Preservation Division Manager Lisa Roach, and Director at School for Advanced Research Michael Brown as speakers. With the pandemic restrictions and health safety concerns, the staff and board decided to create a video for the 2020 annual meeting. We are delighted to have Lissa Johnson, of the Santa Fe Extension Master Gardeners, provided a tour of the garden and conclude this year’s online gathering as our keynote speaker.

For this video, we are fortunate to have established a relationship with videographer Kyle Maier who is producing a documentary/art film on Canyon Road and digging into Santa Fe’s history after his return to New Mexico after years in Gettysburg, PA. Along with the garden tour that closes our online meeting, Maier filmed and edited this feature that starts with an introduction to the year’s building projects by Mara Saxer, and follows with a discussion and presentations by HSFF staff Pete Warzel and Melanie McWhorter, and HSFF Board Chair Ken Stilwell. We present a well-rounded state of the nonprofit set in the beautiful background the offices and home at HSFF’s El Zaguán in the heart of Santa Fe at 545 Canyon Road. Please enjoy this video and feel free to reach out to HSFF with any questions or comments.

To join HSFF as a member or donation to our general fund or specific programs including the new edition of Old Santa Fe Today, the Mac Watson Fellowship, and the Faith and John Gaw Meem Preservation Trades Internship, visit the Join & Give page.

Watch the video on YouTube here

Melanie McWhorter, Pete Warzel, and Ken Stilwell on HSFF’s El Zaguán Portal, September 2020

Garden Party & Members' Meeting - A Look Behind the Walls of El Zaguán Online Soon

Mac Watson, former HSFF Board Chair, speaking at the 2019 Garden Party & Members’ Meeting

An Update on the Upcoming Garden Party Video by HSFF Executive Director Pete Warzel

The continuing health crisis has forced all of us to look at, and approach things, in much different, sometimes unique ways, in order to continue our work and maintain continuity. We had originally planned to hold the annual meeting – Garden Party – in September, after postponing in June. We know now that cannot happen. We are committed to keeping staff, Board Directors, tenants at El Zaguán, and all who might attend, safe and sound.

Staff and Board decided that given the circumstances, we would do a video of a different format of the annual meeting, held in the garden, so we have continuity of place, and you all have a chance to see what the Garden looks like while the gates are so unfortunately closed. Linda Churchill and the Master Gardeners have maintained the space on an ongoing basis during this crisis, and it is in wonderful condition.

So, we hope to air the video around September 15, 2020, with a link through emails, from our website, and on a YouTube channel for your enjoyment. As I said above, the format is a bit different as speaking from a podium to an empty garden did not seem very thrilling to any of us.

The video will begin with Mara Saxer, our preservation specialist, walking the front of El Zaguán on Canyon Road, explaining the work that has been done with the gate’s wall replastering and significant reglazing of windows, and repainting of all wood trim. She will walk the camera into the entry courtyard and then down into the garden. Melanie McWhorter, our development associate, Ken Stilwell, our board chair, and I will sit on the porch overlooking the garden, masked and distanced, and discuss 2019 and where we are in 2020. (Spoiler alert – we are in very good shape given the circumstances). There will be individual on camera statements by each of us, unmasked, about specifics of our focus and progress, and there is much progress on several fronts. The group discussion will link the individuals on camera. There will be a few surprises and hopefully some fun for you all.

The traditional lecture is not a lecture but a tour of the garden by Lissa Johnson from the Santa Fe Extension Master Gardeners, with history and information about some of the specific plantings that are favorites. You can then all adjourn to your space of choice at home and have refreshments.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and these times are stretching all to try new approaches. I do hope that next year we can meet in the garden, enjoy the beauty and the fresh air, and hear about the progress of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation in person. In the meantime, let’s try it this way.

As always, our thanks for your continuing support of this fine organization. All staff continues to work on important projects – the revision and publication of Old Santa Fe Today, ongoing implementation of the El Zaguán Master Plan, addition of important and significant properties to the Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation (and you will learn which new properties are being added at the Garden Party), ongoing sala exhibitions (by appointment and online) and some very special interviews that will also be available online shortly. It is a joy to work with such an efficient and dedicated staff and Board of Directors, even during a very unsettling time.