© 2017 Michael
Swickard, Ph.D. “A peasant has to stand on a hillside for a very long time
before a roast duck flies into his mouth.” Chinese proverb quoted by Paul
Theroux in Riding the Iron Rooster
New Mexico
has the challenge of a falling economy. Many New Mexicans are standing around
waiting for something good to happen. It might or might not. Other people have
looked at tourists as a way to perk up the New Mexico economy.
It’s a
place to get new money. Especially if New Mexico appeals to tourists with lots
of money to spend. Problem: some New Mexicans don’t want more people in our
state.
There is a
conflict between bringing people into the state and people who don’t want New Mexico
to grow at all. These people like the lonesome feeling and don’t want any more people
coming here.
My
grandfather wanted to live far enough away from his neighbors so as to not hear
their dogs bark. And he did.
First
there was Lincoln, the little town that developed a great Billy-the-Kid festival.
Then Albuquerque adopted the balloons. Roswell got the aliens celebration
going. I asked someone from Roswell about the aliens. He smirked, “The tourists
come bringing hundred dollar bills.”
Years ago,
some people in Deming were looking for something to increase the money in their
town. Using alliteration, it turned into the Deming Duck Races. If they were in
Lordsburg, I wonder if it would have been the Lordsburg Llama Races?
Perhaps
next the Raton Rat Races, the Taos Tuttle Races, the Alamogordo Alpaca Races,
the Carlsbad Camel Races, the Artesia Ant Races… well, I could go.
Again,
part of the problem involves the people already in New Mexico who don’t want
the state to grow in size. Many people in New Mexico like what Oregon Governor
Tom McCall said back in the 1970s. Eric Cain in OPB.org wrote about this in 2013:
His (Governor
Tom McCall) focus was quality of life and so in a 1971 speech said to the
people who come to Oregon, “Come visit, don’t stay.” He added, “I urge them to
come and come many, many times to enjoy the beauty of Oregon. But I also ask
them, for heaven’s sake, don’t move here to live.”
While some
people might think that rude, I understood. Tourism is a nice relatively clean
industry. But come, look, take pictures, eat Green Chile, go home. How
pleasant.
And truth
be known, I really don’t mind more people coming here. I would just like them
to take a pledge:
“I (state
your name) promise never to tell anyone in New Mexico how we did things back
home and that it was so much better back home.” Amen.
Maybe we
can think of some more festivals: Dust Days in March comes to mind. A
celebration of people baking on their car dash would be interesting. There are
plenty of possible celebrations. Consider a Snake Racing in Springer
celebration. Then we have lunch. Tastes like Chicken, eh?
Email: drswickard@comcast.net
- Swickard’s novel, Hideaway Hills,is available at Amazon.com
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