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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Police Presence Sours Tradition
By Dan Mayfield
Of the Journal
Editor's note: Canyon Road's annual Christmas Eve farolito walk, has grown from a neighborhood holiday tradition to attract thousands of people — including many from out of town — to become a bigger and more rowdy event than many residents of the Canyon Road neighborhood want it to be. Here's a take on this year's walk from a frequent visitor from Albuquerque, the Journal's Dan Mayfield.
For the last six years I've made the annual drive up from Albuquerque to Santa Fe on Christmas Eve for the walk up Canyon Road.
It's a chance to get out of the same old luminaria tours in the Duke City where you're trapped in a car for hours, stuck in traffic while someone in the back complains that they need a bathroom. ("Luminaria," the northern New Mexico word for the season's bonfires, is substituted for "farolito," the candle-filled paper sacks, south of La Bajada.)
The Canyon Road Christmas Eve walk is a chance to window shop at the galleries, usually see some old friends, and make some new ones around the farolitos the galleries light.
But not this year.
The vibe was different. Sure, it was cold and there was muddy, slushy, snow up and down Canyon Road that found its way into my boots and down the back of my coat.
But this year the usual all-night party, especially the revelry at El Farol, was cut short by Santa Fe Police Department officers.
Canyon Road was opened at 10 p.m. to traffic — all of two cars.
But the SFPD still made a slow, honking, sirens-blaring, crowd-parting, lights-blazing show-of-force up the road, announcing over the police cruisers' bullhorns to clear the road.
Thanks, guys.
You ruined what was a nice quiet evening of slowly strolling with friends between the fires galleries lit, peering in windows and visiting the kiosks selling Turkish tea and hot cider with your caravan of cruisers and snow plows.
The cedar bonfires filled the air with a nice wintry haze that was lit up like a fog machine at a Mötley Crà 1/4e concert when the red and blue police lights rotated in the dark.
I've been along Canyon when the road has been opened to traffic before on Christmas Eve, usually about 10 p.m. Only a few drive up the road once it's opened. Most prefer to walk.
But this year the blaring, buzzing and shouting from the cars did nothing but ruin the mood of what is always a peaceful, fun, family night on Santa Fe's most famous road.
The worst part, however, came when the police cars arrived at El Farol. The bar usually has a line of folks waiting to run in for a Christmas Eve drink, or just to warm up. Sure, there were several dozen people spilling out into the road near the cider stand and the restaurant entrance. Some made noise. But when the SFPD started to do what at least looked like arresting people who were holding their ground in line, the feeling turned sour.
The handcuffs were out. So were the scowls.
The right words could have easily incited a riot against the officers.
After all, the only cars trying to get though were police cruisers.
I'm wondering if I want to make the drive up next year. What's the point of spending $4 for hot cider and freezing my rear off if I'm only going to feel like I'm part of a police state? From where we were, there were no unruly revelers.
The sirens drowned out the few groups of carolers trying to sing. The only time anybody ever got splashed with muddy slush was when the police cars drove by.
It's not that anybody is expecting the road to be closed all night, but clearly thousands more people were using the road on foot than could have ever used it in cars.
It's one night a year to leave the road to pedestrians.
Several of us near the end of the road had to chuckle, however, when in the attempt to open Canyon Road, one police cruiser inadvertently blocked it. One of Santa Fe's Finest got his car stuck on a berm of snow near The Tea House. The front end of his cruiser bounded up and over a 30-inch pile of show in a big crunch, almost hit the fence, and when he floored the car to try to get over the snow, the back end stepped out and made a wide ark, turning the car 45 degrees into the driving lane. The front end of the car was raised, high sided on the snow, and couldn't move.
The lone SUV trying to get up the road was stranded behind the stalled cruiser. The driver offered to help.
The irony was not lost on us.
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