Want to experience one of the best crops Las Cruces, New Mexico and the Mesilla Valley has to offer? Step into Las Cruces’ backyard this spring and discover how local restaurants showcase the many varieties of the versatile vegetable: the onion.
Mesilla Valley Onion Festival
Mercado de Mesilla area
(near Preston Art Gallery)
April 24 & 25, 2010
Admission: $4.00 per day (children under 12 Free)
After you’ve enjoyed the onions, events and food, make sure to head over to the La Vina Blues & Jazz Festival for wine tasting and great music.
Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley are known for the Hatch Green Chile, but green chile is not the only crop produced in this area. Doña Ana Community College and The New Mexico Hospitality and Tourism Education Foundation have teamed up to present the Mesilla Valley Onion Festival showcasing the onion, another of the Mesilla Valley’s major agricultural crops.
Dedicated to the cultivation and promotion of Mesilla Valley’s onions, farmers, and “homegrown” businesses, the Mesilla Valley Onion Festival will be a signature event kicking off this year’s onion growing season.
With an estimated attendance of 5,000 residents and visitors, the goal is to promote and establish a new community based event while contributing to the area’s economic development. Festivities that begin on Saturday will showcase Doña Ana Community College culinary students, as well as amateur cooks from the general public, displaying their delicious onion creations. An Early Onion Rally Walk, exercise sessions, and kickboxing demonstrations will also take place.
Sunday’s events will include professional cooking demonstrations from restaurants in the surrounding area, an art auction, and much more. Weekend long events will include educational presentations and demonstrations on the attributes of onions by the educators of The New Mexico Museum of Space History and Space Academy.
Fun for the whole family – we look forward to seeing you in Mesilla, New Mexico!!!
Contact us today at 575-523-2500 for more information about the Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley and the amazing lifestyle waiting for you at Picacho Mountain. Custom Homes, Patio Homes, Town Homes, Neighborhood Retail, and more!
For more information about the festival visit the Mesilla Valley Onion Festival web site or contact: Patty G. Montoya, Dona Ana Community College, 575.528.7277, patmonto@nmsu.edu
Event schedule:
Little Sprouts Corner Mesilla Valley Onion Festival
- Jumping Balloon: All Day
- Face Painting: All Day
- Onion Science project: All Day
- Arts & Crafts: 10:30a.m. – 11:00a.m.
- Musical Chairs: 11:15am – 11:45a.m.
- Onion sack race: 12:00p.m. – 12:30p.m
- Boiler onion race: 12:45p.m. – 1:15p.m
- Play doe: 1:30p.m. – 2:00p.m.
- Onion plants: 2:15p.m.-2:45
- Onion Walk: 3:00p.m- 3:30p.m
- Onion Bingo: 3:45p.m- 4:15p.m
- Arts & Crafts: 4:30p.m-5p.m
- Musical Chairs: 5:15p.m.-5:45p.m
- Onion Sack Race: 6:00p.m-6:30p.m
EDUCATION SERIES
Saturday 24, April
- 10:30-11:00 Onion Education Series: #1 Why Onions make you cry.
- 12:00-12:30 Onion Education Series: #2: Proving Onions have no flavor – it’s the smell.
- 1:30-2:00 Onion Education Series: #3: Dehydrated Onions and foods. Using polymers to show what happens in rehydration
- 3:00-3:30 Onion Education Series:#4:Why different Onions are different colors.
- 4:30-5:00 Onion Education Series: #5: Onions in history: Discussion about what ancient peoples used Onions for and what they believed Onions could do.
- 6:00-6:30 Onion Education Series: #6: How to stop crying using water.
Sunday 25, April
- 11:15-11:45 Onion Education Series: #7: Uncovering the myth: Onions do not make batteries
- 12:45-1:15 Onion Education Series: #1: Why Onions make you cry
- 2:15-2:25 Onion Education Series: #2: Proving Onions have no flavor – its the smell.
- 4:30-5:00 Onion Education Series: #4: Why different Onions are different colors.
Contact us today at 575-523-2500 for more information about the Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley and the amazing lifestyle waiting for you at Picacho Mountain.
