Smart Meetings

Santa Fe’s dedication to ensuring that the past intertwines with the present is evident in the historic and lively Santa Fe Plaza. It’s a kind of open public space typical of settlements in the West that were first established by the Spanish. A plaza served as the community’s central gathering place, and while Santa Fe’s tree-shaded square dates back nearly four centuries to 1610, it remains the cultural heart of the place.

Directly across from the Plaza is the Palace of the Governors (palaceofthegovernors.org), which was built the same year, and is the oldest public building in the U.S. Originally constructed as the regional headquarters for the Spanish, who ruled until 1821, it now serves the state’s history museum. After the Mexican War of Independence from Spain, Santa Fe came under Mexican control until the U.S. successfully battled for the area in 1848. New Mexico entered the union as a state in 1912, with Santa Fe as the capital.

Underneath the Palace of the Governors’ portal, Native Americans gather daily to sell their distinctive jewelry and crafts. Their people’s settlement in the Santa Fe vicinity predates the city’s Hispanic residents by another 400 years. A 2005 excavation near City Hall uncovered artifacts from a village existing in the early 1200s, a time when the Spanish were just beginning to dislodge the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula. The 13th-century enclave had water and at one point even an acequia, or community canal system, to carry it—a luxury in often-parched northern New Mexico. Thus it was a prime location for settlements.

All around, the Hispanic influence is still identifiable in the earth-toned adobe buildings, the often-narrow streets, the airy courtyards and the restaurants that serve dishes accented with chili peppers, black beans and other savory flavorings.

Further, this strong cultural influence has yielded a distinctive local cuisine; some of the restaurants, like Chef Mark Miller’s Coyote Café and its adjunct Coyote Cantina (coyotecafe.com) have brought this cuisine to the forefront, acquiring national reputations for their unique creations. In cooking, too, the Native American presence is strong in the area. Outside the city are the pueblos (and, sometimes, casinos) of numerous tribes like the Tesuque, San Ildefonso and Santa Clara which welcome visitors (santafe.org has links).

    Also true to its Hispanic roots, Santa Fe also has a profound religious heritage. The 1878 Loretto Chapel (lorettochapel.com) on the Old Santa Fe Trail is a pilgrimage site because of the so-called “miraculous staircase” that rises circularly from the chapel to the choir loft without visible means of support. A mysterious carpenter built it after the Sisters of the Chapel prayed to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters.

And beyond all of Santa Fe’s history and character is the felicitous environment. The city benefits from gloriously bright light and cool evening air. It’s the happy result of being located some 7,000 feet above sea level in a climate with little humidity, just south of the scenic Sangre de Cristo mountain range. The area gets four seasons and much sunshine, although it can be cold on winter nights, perfect for inspiring outdoor Christmas-season celebrations. In fact, the climate, sunlight and scenery are so good that Santa Fe is a major lure for people seeking healthful, holistic respites.

“It’s a softer kind of light, but it brings out more detail,” says Steve Lewis, spokesman for the Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau (santafe.org). “The moment the sun comes out, it etches everything into high relief. Things stand out. I’ve heard it described as a golden light. The magic time at the end of the day seems extended.”

That light, besides delighting nature lovers, also has long inspired artists and writers. Throughout the 20th century and into this one, northern New Mexico has been a magnet for such painters as Georgia O’Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, Agnes Martin and John Marin, as well as writers D. H. Lawrence, Tony Hillerman and John Nichols.

Right across from the central plaza is the 1917 Museum of Fine Arts (museumofnewmexico.org), the city’s finest traditional art museum. Its strength is an in-depth collection of Southwestern art.

A few blocks away, on downtown’s Johnson Street, is the nine-year-old Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (okeeffemuseum.org), which has a fine collection of her iconic paintings of desert skulls, flowers and cityscapes.

And a few blocks from downtown, on Museum Hill (museumhill.org)—and serviced by a special “M” shuttle bus (santefenm.gov/public-works/buscshedules)—is a not-to-be-missed cluster of Santa Fe’s museums. These include the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian and Museum of International Folk Art. The latter—which opened in 1953 and is considered one of the best of its kind—has a collection of more than 130,000 objects from around the world.

Lovers of cutting-edge contemporary art head to downtown’s Site Santa Fe (sitesantafe.org), located in a minimalist-designed converted warehouse on Paseo de Peralta for its curated biennial featuring top international artists.

Picturesque Canyon Road (canyonroadarts.com) near downtown is known for its galleries that sell contemporary artwork that colorfully depicts the area’s landscape and architecture.

The city also is a center of style for Southwestern furnishings and fashions. Fanning out along the streets leading from the plaza are stores offering colorfully embroidered Western clothing, rustic cowboy boots and turquoise jewelry.

For shopping, it’s simply best to walk around downtown and go into any place that looks interesting. There are many. But Back at the Ranch (backattheranch.com) on E. Marcy Street is renowned for its handmade cowboy boots; Purple Sage (purplesagesantafe.com) on Don Gaspar Avenue, has hand-woven jackets as well as hand-blown glass; and a store called Jackalope (jackalope.com), outside of downtown on busy Cerrillos Road, has thousands of pieces of Southwest-style hand-carved animals, ceramic pots, Navajo-style rugs and furniture. It’s its own tourist attraction; ask about its prairie-dog town.

MEETING VENUES
Santa Fe is building a new convention center, slated to open sometime in 2008. The $55 million project will have a total of 72,000 sq. ft. This will include an exhibition area of 19,000 sq. ft., a 9,800-square-foot lobby, breakout space totaling 8,750 sq. ft and a 4,000-square-foot kitchen.

The center has been designed with outdoor areas, including an open interior courtyard, as well as an ability to serve multiple meetings. For ambience, the plans specify fireplaces in some rooms, but the building will also be “green” in design and construction technique, befitting a city whose mayor was the first in the U.S. to sign the Architecture 2030 Challenge to create buildings that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions over the next 24 years. 

In the meantime, the one large meeting site recommended by the CVB is El Museo Cultural Santa Fe (elmuseocultural.org) which has 32,000 sq. ft. of space in a converted warehouse. While it lacks breakout space, it has a 200-seat theater and a smaller facility called Teatre Petit.

Also, about half a dozen hotels in town can accommodate meetings of up to 500 attendees.

UNIQUE VENUES
The Lensic Performing Arts Center (lensic.com), in the heart of downtown, is an intricately detailed Moorish/Spanish Renaissance-style film and vaudeville house from 1931 that was saved and restored by a nonprofit organization in 2001. When not being used for classical or pop-music programming, the 820-seat theater can be booked by organizations for opening sessions, meetings or presentations. Its lobby can also hold about 100 for pre-event receptions.

Gatherings held at the Gerald Peters Gallery (gpgallery.com), on Paseo de Peralta at the edge of downtown, need very little in the way of décor. The venue is a veritable mini-museum, with five spacious galleries, an enclosed outdoor sculpture garden and shows devoted to important New Mexico and Western artists from the 19th century to the present. The entire facility can be rented after hours for receptions and dinners.

Located only three miles from the plaza, The Bishop’s Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa (bishopslodge.com) seems like a whole different world, situated on 450 acres of land in its own private valley. It has 8,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and offers conference guests team-building exercises. These include horse-handling training during rodeo round-ups, blindfolded-retrieval tasks and a chili cook-off where participants have to first search for ingredients. Its spa also has a yoga studio, whirlpool, tennis courts and the city’s largest outdoor pool.

Similarly set in a lovely valley just outside of town, Sunrise Springs (sunrisesprings.com) is a 70-acre retreat with ponds, walking trails, spa and healing gardens that promote peace and harmony among its guests and, by extension, the world at large. In particular, Sunrise Springs offers groups a ritualistic Japanese Tea Ceremony, which encourages equality among all participants, as a refreshingly harmonious way to begin meetings.

Moving into a wellness focus for meetings, Ten Thousand Waves Japanese Health Spa (tenthousandwaves.com) is located on a hillside four miles outside downtown and offers a series of private and communal chlorine-free hot tubs that can be reserved by groups. Smaller tubs hold six people; the midsize ones up to 12; and the large one, available during select daytime hours, up to 20 people. Massages and facials—even a massage that alternates the use of oil with hot and cold stones—can also be arranged.

Santa Fe is a place that takes the search for relaxation and personal enrichment very seriously, as well as an admiration for beauty and the arts. And why shouldn’t it? Being “the City Different” has worked for almost 400 years. And given the vitality existing there today, it well could work for another 400 years. At least. 

Getting There

Santa Fe is about an hour’s drive north of Albuquerque, where Albuquerque International Sunport (cabq.gov/airport) is serviced by eight major U.S. airlines. Flying into Albuquerque and renting a car is the most popular way of getting to Santa Fe.

SHUTTLE EXPRESS
Convenient shuttle services between Santa Fe and Albuquerque International Airport with 26 trips daily to fit your travel schedule. Several services provide frequent transportation between the Albuquerque airport and downtown Santa Fe hotels: Santa Fe Shuttle at 888-833-2300, 505-243-2300 and Sandia Shuttle Service at 1-888-775-5696, 505-474-5696. Santa Fe Municipal Airport is serviced by Great Lakes Airlines to and from Denver, 505/473-4118/1-800-224-5111.

Amtrak’s Southwest Chief trains—eastbound from Los Angeles and westbound from Chicago—meet each afternoon at Lamy, N.M., about 14 miles from Santa Fe. Call the Lamy Shuttle at 505-982-8829 to arrange transportation to downtown Santa Fe or area hotels for possible pickup.

Not To Be Missed

• The Museum of International Folk Art (internationalfolkart.org) on Museum Hill features a fantastic collection of worldwide folk art that includes everything from children’s toys to Asian beds, and reveals the artistry behind everyday functional objects.
• Santa Fe Opera (santafeopera.org), founded in 1957, is one of the world’s most prestigious summer-opera venues; it is also well known for its spectacular outdoor setting.
• Santa Fe Plaza, the still-thriving historic center of the city, is an ideal place to begin a walk around the city.
• On the east side of the city, Canyon Road, with its adobe buildings landscaped with hollyhocks and other colorful flowers, is home to a significant portion of the city’s 250 art galleries. Quality and price of the art varies, but it’s fun to browse; there also are some good restaurants.
• Whether or not construction of Loretto Chapel’s “miraculous staircase” was an act of divine intervention, it’s an inspiring structure in an equally attractive and meditative chapel.

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