Recap of HSFF's 2022 Annual Garden Party & Members' Meeting
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By Hanna Churchwell
Each summer Historic Santa Fe Foundation (HSFF) invites members to the Annual Garden Party and Members’ Meeting. This year, reflecting HSFF’s goal of further opening the doors of El Zaguán to the public, we invited non-members to attend the meeting. Due to overwhelming interest, HSFF made the decision to host our Annual Garden Party and Meeting on both Wednesday, August 17 and Thursday, August 18. HSFF Executive Director Pete Warzel opened this year’s meeting with a recap of our ongoing programs and projects. The list was extensive; however, Pete delivered his recap of HSFF’s past year efficiently and thoroughly. Highlights from the recap include:
The continuation of our Preservation Trades Internships. Three interns undertook projects at El Zaguán, Randall Davey, and Las Golondrinas and assisted Foundation staff with educational programming for the Youth Conservation Corps.
Through our Mac Watson Fellow program, students were hired to research and write nominations to add properties to our Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation.
The long-awaited 5th edition of Old Santa Fe Today hit the shelves of El Zaguán the first week of August. HSFF’s Deputy Director Melanie McWhorter took over this portion of the recap, to provide an overview of the behind the scenes work that took place to create the 5th edition and to update the attendees on the progress HSFF has made in the development of a corresponding app and maps.
HSFF organized multiple tours, events, excursions all geared to the cultural and architectural history of the area. Highlights included a trip to Cordova to see Nuevo Mexico Profundo’s altar screen project and an excursion, overnight, to the Saint Joseph Apache Mission on the Mescalero Reservation.
This year’s guest lecturer, BC Rimbeaux, Mayordomo of Acequia de la Muralla– one of the last of the functioning acequias in Santa Fe, delivered a thoughtful and educational presentation on the history, significance, and contemporary state of acequias and water culture in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. Rimbeaux’s speech gave guests the perfect primer for the unveiling of HSFF’s acequia interpretive exhibit, which nods to the now defunct Canyon Road Community Ditch and was built utilizing the original stone from El Zaguan’s portion of the long-gone acequia. Pete Warzel turned the headgate for the inaugural demonstration of the interpretative exhibit, showing how water from the acequia may be diverted to irrigate the land of water right holders.
Thank you all for your continued support of Historic Santa Fe Foundation. HSFF staff continues to work on important projects as does our Board of Directors. We look forward to presenting even more exciting updates at next year’s Annual Garden Party and Members’ Meeting.
