I got a bit ahead of myself - warming up to grouse about event planning and organization politics and games and forgot about welcoming visitors. Take a look around.
I complain about foibles and frustrations and crave venting from time to time, but the place and the people have become very dear to me. Why else would I build Mountainair web pages and put myself in the line of fire by volunteering? So I bite my tongue - maybe not as often as I should - and put a moderately nice public face on official exchanges and site, the public persona. A blog does not exactly hide the persona - it's public but as my private self.
Here's the main drag - Broadway, US 60, coming into town on US West from points north and east (Albuquerque, Belen, Los Lunas, I-25).
The Post Office, neutral ground, is the brick building on the left. Cibola Arts Cooperative is two doors down, and the Mountainar Grocery is across the street from the Post Office. The grocery, along with Uncle Walter's and Gustin's Hardware are the heart and pulse of traditional Mountainair. Cibola represents the art community incursion - here to stay, however tenuously. Although somewhat accepted it remains more apart than part of Mountainair. Abo Trading - further down the street is even more apart, despite - or because of - its contrived "local" atmosphere. It is a manicured simulacum plopped down in the midst of gritty authenticity.
Overall, the grocery, Uncle Walter's, Gustin's, the Weaver Hotel, and any number of crumbling, ill-maintained buildings are more interesting and authentic than either Abo Trading or Cibola.
Mountainair Snapshot gleaned from the 2000 Census
Mountainair is less prosperous than it was during its years as "Pinto Bean Capital of the World" but essentially the same town. The gas is source is different these days... urban refugees nurturing the fantasy that Mountainair will become another neat, tidy New Mexico art-kitsch burg.
And, finally, a brief history of Mountainair by Biddie McMath before you leave town, retracing Geronimo's raiding route through the Abo Pass.
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