[Disambiguator]

I suppose, however, it's only a matter of time before someone insinuates something distasteful into it. I mean, beyond the typical southwestern genuflecting to goddesses and such.

Are you familiar with the "Burning of Zozobra" in Santa Fe? That's a strange spectacle. It was done recently - usually right around Labor Day.

[the invisib1e hand]

Zozobra is a hideous but harmless fifty-foot bogeyman marionette. He is a toothless, empty-headed facade. He has no guts and doesn't have a leg to stand on. He is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. He never wins. He moans and groans, rolls his eyes and twists his head. His mouth gapes and chomps. His arms flail about in frustration.

Hunh. Sounds like Jimmy Carter.

[CedarDave]

When I lived in Santa Fe in the 70’s and 80’s, fiesta was a family event and you could bring food and have a picnic (with alcohol) on the grounds. The rowdy crowds and then the gangs took over in the early 90’s so they banned alcohol and changed the date twice: From Labor Day weekend (too many bikers and fights with the locals) to the Friday night following Labor Day (too many drunken brawls on the Plaza and shootings) then to the Thursday night following Labor Day. It’s not so special anymore.

And balloon fiesta is getting harder to fly each year as the infrastructure has built up around the park leading to more difficult landings and tangles with power lines.