NNMC NEWS RELEASE
Northern New Mexico College invites our friends and neighbors to the Northern New Mexico Garlic Festival and Farm Truck and Tractor Show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 11, 2026, at ¡Sostenga! Farm. This free event will bring together farmers, families, youth, elders, community members, vendors, musicians, educators and land-based leaders for a day celebrating garlic, traditional agriculture, community resilience, food, culture and the living acequia and farming traditions of Northern New Mexico.
The annual Garlic Festival was one of ¡Sostenga!’s most beloved events from 2008 through 2018. Northern is excited to welcome everyone to the revival of this joyous celebration where neighbors and visitors alike can relax, connect and celebrate Northern New Mexico’s rich cultural heritage. The event includes youth activities, creative expression opportunities, garlic sorting competitions, cultural sharing and spaces where families can learn and play together. Lunch will feature local and traditional food by Chef Ray Naranjo, with garlic tasting and additional community food offerings. Live music by Vicente Griego Y Revozo and cultural sharing will follow lunch.
“The Garlic Festival is meant to feel less like a formal festival and more like a community gathering rooted in land, culture and the traditions of Northern New Mexico’s land-based community,” said Joseluis Ortiz y Muniz, coordinator of ¡Sostenga! Farm. “It has the warmth of a family reunion, the energy of a harvest celebration and the spirit of an old-time acequia gathering where people come together to share food, stories and knowledge.”
Participants will experience the sights, smells and flavors of garlic. There will be tasting, educational activities and hands-on demonstrations that celebrate one of humanity’s oldest and most beloved crops.
“The gathering is rooted in querencia, the deep love and responsibility people carry for land, water, food, family and community,” said Ortiz y Muniz. “This is part of a larger effort to strengthen relationships across Northern New Mexico’s watersheds and foodsheds, including acequia associations, Pueblos and Genízaro Indigenous communities, land grants-mercedes, land-based families, farmers, youth and local organizations working to protect and renew traditional agricultural knowledge.”
The gathering also supports ¡Sostenga!’s larger goal of developing the next generation of land-based people. The festival will include living traditions and land-based wisdom, with demonstrations on soil health, cover crops, seed saving and traditional remedies that have been passed on through generations.
“We really aim at inspiring the younger generation, and when I say younger, I mean 60 and younger, because most of our farmers are above 60,” said Ortiz y Muniz. “At ¡Sostenga! we want to develop, train and share the agricultural wisdoms that people need to sustain themselves farming. Whether they want to be market farmers or subsistence farmers, we want to share the, the tips, tricks and trade skills of agriculture, so that when people re-enter or enter agriculture as a practice, they have the skills and the tools, the knowledge necessary to succeed in that sort of economy,”
Farmers, acequeros and community leaders will take part in a community resilience panel focused on how local communities are adapting to challenges such as drought, climate change and the preservation of traditional food systems.
Local vendors and partner organizations will be present throughout the day. Vendors and organizations are welcome to participate, and vendor spaces are free or donation based. Vendors should bring their own tables, tents, signage, and setup materials.
“More than anything, this festival is an invitation to slow down, to visit with old friends, to make new ones, to enjoy local food and remember that agriculture is not just about growing crops, it’s about growing communities,” Ortiz y Muniz said. “Our hope is that people will leave this event feeling inspired, nourished and more deeply connected to the land and to the community, especially to one another, because this festival celebrates resilience and querencia and this deep love for place that goes beyond all differences of people, beyond race, class, cultural upbringing or where you come from. The true uniqueness of New Mexico, especially as it relates to our acequia communities, is that it embraces everybody, regardless of those differences.”
This event will be held on Ancestral Kha’p’o Owingeh lands that are irrigated by the Acequia De la Vega de Los Vigiles and the Acequia de los Salazares.
The Northern New Mexico Garlic Festival and Farm Truck and Tractor Show is hosted by the ¡Sostenga! Center at NNMC and sponsored by the Greenroots Institute, Seeds in Common, Muy Chingon Creations, the Rodale Institute, the New Mexico Acequia Association, Grow the Future, Los Jardines Institute, La Merced Del Pueblo de Santa Cruz de la Cañada, American Friends Service Committee, Viva Vida Botánica, ENIP Behavioral Health Collaborative and Northern New Mexico College.
Garlic Festival schedule:
9 a.m. Setup and breakfast/atole for helpers
10 a.m. Welcome, opening remarks, and land/community acknowledgement
10:30 a.m. Garlic sorting activity, cover crop demo, youth track, creative expression table, vendors and traditional healing
12 p.m. Lunch and garlic tasting
12:30 p.m. Music by Vicente Griego Y Revozo
1 p.m. Community resilience panel
1:40 p.m. Closing circle, acknowledgements, and awards
2:00 p.m. Formal close, cleanup and optional river gathering with paletas
About Northern:
Northern New Mexico College has served the rural communities of Northern New Mexico for over a century. Since opening in 1909 as the Spanish American Normal School in El Rito, NM, the College has provided affordable access to quality academic programs that meet the changing educational, economic and cultural needs of the region.
Northern is an open-admissions institution offering the most affordable bachelor’s programs in the Southwest. Now one of the state’s four regional comprehensive institutions, with its main campus in Española, Northern offers more than 50 bachelor’s, associate, and certificate programs in arts & human sciences, film & digital media, STEM programs, business, education, liberal arts, and nursing. The College has reintroduced technical trades in partnership with two local unions and five public school districts through its new co-located Branch Community College, the first of its kind in the state’s history. Northern is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and has earned prestigious program specific accreditations for its engineering, nursing, education, and business programs.Learn more at https://nnmc.edu/.