The Santa Fe Fiesta is more than colorful religious processions, the burning of 40-foot effigies, pet parades, Fiesta Queens, mariachi music and chicharron burritos.There is actual blood and guts history to lend authenticity to the proceedings, almost 400 years of history.
In a way, Fiesta is required for the citizens of Santa Fe. In 1712, then-governor of the Kingdom of New Mexico Paez Hurtado issued a Proclamation requiring an annual re-enactment of DeVargas’ peaceful entry into Santa Fe in 1692, twelve years after the Spanish were driven out by an Indian revolt. So every year since 1712, dutiful Santa Feans obey the Proclamation, even though the Spanish Governors have long since gone.
In the 1920's, Fiesta became more than just a re-enactment of the "bloodless conquest," but a celebration incorporating solemn religious ceremonies and considerably less solemn secular activities. Zozobra, parades and Fiesta Queens became annual events. In the early days, the Fiesta was a loose cooperative effort between the City of Santa Fe, the Catholic Church, the Museum of New Mexico and leading businessmen. In 1927, the Santa Fe Fiesta Council was formally incorporated with stockholders consisting of members representing city government, local businesses, museums, the church and various social organizations.
The Santa Fe Fiesta Council quickly grew into a powerful player in Santa Fe life and holding an office on the Council carried with it considerable prestige. Over the next twenty-five years, a surprisingly small group of powerful men and women routinely planned all Fiesta activities and, by and large, Santa Feans seemed comfortable with the results. There had always been some complaint about the creeping commercialization of Fiesta, but the 1951 Fiesta may have pushed the envelope too far.
The 1951 Fiesta was a "shabby commercial carnival." So pronounced Pulitzer Prize winning writer and longtime Santa Fean Oliver La Farge who, judging from his regular appearance in the papers, had a large number of opinions on a great many things. And his opinion was that the 1951 Fiesta was a shabby commercial carnival and something ought to be done about it.
He was joined in this opinion by by artist Will Shuster, the man who invented Zozobra. LaFarge and Shuster believed the Fiesta Council to be under the influence of the concessionaires, the very concessionaires who had turned Fiesta into what La Farge called a hot dog and popcorn affair, paying hefty fees for the license to do so. The two set out to challenge the establishment and recruited lawyer Tom Catron to help them.
The strategy of the rebels was simple and straight from the Council’s own book - the 1927 Council by-laws - which included a provision for a stockholder’s meeting to elect new members of the Council. As it happened, Will Shuster was a Fiesta Council member in 1952 so he stood up and called for an election meeting as the by-laws permitted. The Council swiftly denied Shuster’s motion because, they said, those stockholders meetings had been amended out of the by-laws years ago. As a matter of long-standing practice, the Council members simply filled a vacancy by a vote among themselves.
Shuster was surprised by the mention of amendments to the by-laws because he had never seen any so he asked for them to be promptly produced. But the Fiesta Council parliamentarian couldn’t immediately find them and the the meeting ended with a promise to locate the missing amendments. A day later, however, the State Corporation Commission confirmed that no amendments to the 1927 by-laws had ever been filed. It didn’t count that the Fiesta Council really and truly thought they had filed them.
This was exceedingly good news for the insurgents, and their lawyer Tom Catron, who immediately grasped that, under the current by-laws without any phantom amendments, several previous Council elections had been illegally conducted. It followed that those purporting to hold office based on those elections were acting without any authority. And that was exactly Shuster’s challenge at the next meeting, when he called for the "illegal" officers to step down and for immediate elections of new officers.
While pondering this surprising turn of events, the Council received another written demand for an election by Oliver LaFarge, acting as spokesman for 35 prominent Santa Fe businessmen who represented the elite of Santa Fe’s business world -- La Fonda, The First National Bank of Santa Fe, Public Service Company of New Mexico, Sanco Ford and Santa Fe Motors, Dendahls, Clossons, Zook’s Pharmacy and many others. LaFarge reminded the Council that these businessmen constituted a formidable number of the Council membership and that these same businessmen had always carried most of the financial load of producing the annual Fiesta but were now hesitant because they felt excluded from the planning process.
This was stunning news to the Fiesta Council of 1952, consisting of President John Valdez, Jr., and council members A.B. Martinez, Helene H. Baca, Marie Sena, J.V. Lanigan, George March, Pat Vigil, Irwin Goodman, Delfina Salazar and Dick Bokum – all of whom were accustomed to wielding power, not yielding it. Bowing to the pressure, however, the Fiesta Council approved a stockholders meeting for late February 1952, time enough for several lively letters to the editor and a few op-ed pieces in the local newspaper.
The February meeting was a disaster. The businessmen’s group, calling itself the Members’ Committee, spoke through lawyer Tom Catron. The businessmen joined Council Member Shuster in challenging the legal authority of the present Council based on eight void past elections. Catron apparently spoke at great length, claiming that several members of the present Council were holding office illegally and that, under the by-laws, there were actually eight vacancies because the elections were invalid under the un-amended by-laws and so forth and so on. But the longer Catron talked, the shorter grew the temper of Council President John Valdez who abruptly adjourned the meeting. The Fiesta Council officers put on their coats and walked out, leaving Catron and the Members Committee in "stunned disbelief." Really. That’s how the New Mexican described it in reporting the story.
A new meeting was set up but this time the Council had devised a new tactic. As a result of a secret meeting, the Council quickly granted membership and voting rights to the concessionaires -- the same villains who had bought rights to set up hot dog and popcorn booths and kiddie rides on the plaza. With the added numbers, the Council was obviously attempting to pack the voting membership with allies. Despite howls of protest, the new majority ruled and the new Fiesta Council faction promptly voted down Shuster’s motion to declare vacancies.
The insurgents then brought out the heavy artillery. The Santa Fe businessmen, acting as a group, vowed to stop all and any contributions until the Fiesta was no longer run by the concessionaires and until the businessmen could have some say in Fiesta planning. Everyone knew, including the Fiesta Council, that without the financial contribution of the business community, there simply would be no Fiesta.
The Council quickly formed a so-called Blue Ribbon Committee to explore compromise but the negotiations didn’t last long. The rebel faction had three basic demands. First, that the concessionaires not be allowed to vote; second, that nobody got paid for rendering service to the Fiesta – that was a shot at one of the Council members who was being regularly paid a nice salary for being the council secretary -- and; third, that eight council members resign and new ones be elected to resolve the legal problem with the by-laws. The principals for the Fiesta Council flatly rejected the proposals and all talks were cut off.
But the battle had only begun.
First, Will Shuster demanded $3,000 to put on Zozobra. Usually, he did it for free, but now he said that as long as the Fiesta was being run as a carnival for profit, he might as well get some, too. His point was not lost on the Council, which had little money to begin with but could not envision a Fiesta without Zozobra.
Then, the Museum of New Mexico announced that it would not loan its buildings or facilities for Fiesta use and the New Mexico Alliance for the Arts pulled out of the Fiesta because the once proud event had degenerated into a honky-tonk carnival.
Then came the final straw: The Catholic Church announced it was not going to participate in Fiesta activities and it would hold typical Fiesta religious activities before or after the Fiesta, but not during Fiesta.
In desperation, the Fiesta Council recruited the respected director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Reginald Fisher, to come up with a plan to try to heal the rift. Fisher spoke with all parties, pondered the matter, then solemnly announced a proposed plan calling for the creation of a “popular” Fiesta and keeping the carnival aspects of this popular Fiesta apart in time and space from the more traditional and religious activities. Fisher also recommended restructuring the Fiesta Council along the lines suggested by the Members Committee. Stripped of fancy talk, this was exactly what the insurgents had requested.
Fiesta Council President John Valdez, Jr. publicly rejected the Fisher plan, promptly resigned as President and stormed out the door. At the next regular meeting, half the Council members failed to appear. The Council was in deep disarray. At long last, the Council caved.
A new president was elected, Del Miera, an affable insurance agent tied to the Santa Fe business community. He acted swiftly to disallow the out-of-town concessionaires from voting and sent emissaries from the various clubs and associations to Santa Fe businessmen to return them to the fold. Miera also ordered the carnival-like booths away from the plaza area to restore some dignity to the more traditional Fiesta events that usually took place on the town square. Miera issued an open invitation to one and all to help plan the 240-year-old annual celebration. Some Council Members stepped down and new ones were elected.
Declaring victory, the Church, the Museum and the businessmen all returned to the Council’s side, eager to set aside old disputes and make the 1952 Santa Fe Fiesta the best ever. Looking back, it is debatable whether the ’52 Fiesta was the best ever but it was easily the most expensive. Records show that the Fiesta Council ended up in debt at the end of the year, despite saving the $3,000 they didn’t have to pay Will Shuster who, as it turned out, happily produced Zozobra for free.
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