King of the Road - December 2010
O, Little Town of Belén
Celebrate the holiday season in the other Bethlehem
Story and Photography by Lesley S. King
On a cool winter day, I stroll through New Mexico’s own Bethlehem, past a bowling alley, an art gallery, and a 1930s movie theater. This town—its name, Belén, is Spanish for Bethlehem—is our local version of that famed Middle Eastern city. The trees glow with lights, vendors sell roasted corn, and an orchestra on a bandstand plays carols—all in celebration of Christmas.
For me, the Christmas holiday is about honoring a different birth: that of the creative genius in each of us. Often, as I go through my days, I hear people lament that they are not creative, and it surprises me—I see their lives as full of meaningful work, comfortable homes, loving families and friendships. Here in Belén, 35 miles south of Albuquerque along I-25, I join the Miracle on Main Street celebration, which includes community gatherings, a folk play, and an electric light parade. As I explore, I find that this town of some 7,000 residents manifests much creativity.
I step into the Belén Art League Gallery and Gifts, where, as part of the festivities, artists and visitors sip cider and eat bizcochitos among delightful pottery, jewelry, paintings, photographs, and fabric art. The work evokes the pastoral beauty of the town, which was founded in the mid-1700s as the Belén Land Grant.
I’m especially drawn to Cheri Reckers’s velvet pillows, shawls, and wall hangings. Reckers creates her art with fiber-reactive dyes, which impart a dreamy feel very much in line with her life here in Belén. She and her husband, sculptor Michael Ceschiat, came here 13 years ago from the Midwest. They chose Belén because it’s rural, but close enough to Albuquerque to have city amenities. “I do my best work when I’m here in my studio,” Reckers says. “Living in the country, I wake up to the birds chirping, the cows mooing, and the sun coming up over the mountains. It’s inspiring!”
IF YOU GO For info: What to Do & Where to Shop Harvey House Museum Miracle on Main Street Through the Flower Where to Dine Pete’s Cafe Where to Stay & Dine |
Reckers is not alone in finding inspiration here. In 1996, nationally renowned artist and feminist Judy Chicago renovated the early-1900s Belén Hotel, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, to serve as her studio and home. Since then, across the street, she has opened Through the Flower, a nonprofit organization that promotes art and education throughout
the region.
As lunchtime nears, I head to one of the best reasons to come to Belén: Pete’s Cafe. The late Pete and Eligia Torres opened the restaurant in 1949, and today their daughter Theresa Padilla and her husband, Alfred, continue to create and serve some of the region’s most flavorful New Mexican food, in a hacienda-style building adorned with Mexican tile and arched doorways. While I feast on chicken enchiladas and honey-soaked sopaipillas, I watch locals lean across tables to one another, laughing and gossiping.
Next I step across the street to a grand stucco structure that is an enduring symbol of creative genius: the Harvey House Museum. In the late 1800s, restaurateur Fred Harvey built a chain of railroad hotels and dining rooms that spread elegance across the West. This one, in business from 1910 to 1939, overlooks a still-thriving railyard, one of the busiest on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line (formerly known as the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway)—some 80 trains pass by each day. Inside, I find artifacts from the Harvey House days and from Belén’s past. Most fun for me is the fine china decorated with images created by the Mimbres tribe, of turtles, turkeys, and goats.
Also of note is an 1888 menu that, while predating this Harvey House, gives a hint of the elegant dining that took place here. For 75¢, a traveler could feast on a dinner of bluepoint oysters on the half shell, roast sirloin of beef au jus, English peas au gratin, and custard à la Chantilly. The food was served by the legendary Harvey Girls, adventuresome young women who came west to live and work in the hotels, where they charmed travelers with their beauty and spunk. The museum also displays a modest bedroom that is a replica of a Harvey Girl’s living quarters.
As evening settles in, I take a seat in what was once the main dining room, in anticipation of a performance of the traditional Christian folk play, Las Pastorelas de Belén. The story follows three shepherds and a hermit on their way to Bethlehem to see the Christ child. Along the way, they sing songs and overcome obstacles. When a flamboyant demonio (devil) leaps onto the stage, I nearly jump out of my seat. Of course, the shepherds outwit him, just as we all must meet the challenges to our creative quests. After the play, I meet with organizer Filomina Baca, who explains that Las Pastorelas was revived here in 1973, but that it dates back as far as the 11th century, when the Roman Catholic Church used plays to teach stories from the Bible. “Early settlers of this region had to entertain themselves, so they continued the Christmas stories and set them to music.”
Next, I and hundreds of others make our ways to Main Street for the Electric Lights Parade. We line up along the curb, and soon hear music in the distance. Then the floats appear. They range broadly, from one displaying the royalty of the Bosque Farms Rodeo, perched on their saddles, to kids in a pull cart decked out with lights, to a cobalt-blue tree, while the Belén High School Intensity Band pounds out the beat. Most of the floats bear symbols of Christmas: twinkling stars, gifts, smiling children—to me, all symbols of the perfect creative being within each of us.
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