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What a whirlwind this past year has been. A lot has happened and a lot hasn’t. While we are a divided nation at the moment, we are still a community connected to one another. It’s a relief to see so many people come together, enjoy our local events and continuing our time-honored traditions. We thoroughly enjoyed the food, the music, the culture and the company at this past weekend’s World’s Largest Matanza. The Hispano Chamber of Valencia County is a great group of volunteers who are dedicated to carrying on the tradition of the matanza. Many people are still unaware of what exactly a matanza is and, if not for these great group of folks, the tradition might be lost, although there are still many private, family events still going strong. We owe a debt of gratitude and a round of applause to the chamber, its members and the board for their ongoing work for the community and the students who will benefit through scholarships from the profits of the matanza. The World’s Largest Matanza has raised money for scholarships for hundreds of local high school students — for our children and our grandchildren. And many of those students who benefited from these scholarships come home every year to help out at the annual event. Then there was the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. events at UNM-Valencia Campus and the Belen Public Library. For more than three decades, these two events have brought the community together to honor a man who spoke and preached about peace, about equality and about community. These two events are very special to us here in Valencia County. They are literally about us, about our relationships with each other, about how we live and work together, how we play and why we stay. These events are a reminder of what is good in the world. What is right and what is wrong. It’s a time to hug and a time to love. Wouldn’t it be great if MLK Day was every day. Our community — Valencia County — has some great people and wonderful events that bring us together. It’s only the beginning of the year, and we’re looking forward to the next 11 months of being together, celebrating who we are and what we can do. We also have the best of the best people in these organizations and agencies who work so hard to arrange these events, which can take months and countless hours of planning, strategizing, implementing these occasions for the community, for our families and friends. When you see them, please thank them for their hard work and continued efforts to make our county, our community, a great place to live. Next month, we will all have the opportunity to come together once again and enjoy Soup ʼR Bowl, another scholarship fundraiser sponsored by Tomé Art Gallery and UNM-Valencia Campus. Oh the homemade soups and those custom-made bowls, which is worth the few hours spending time with the community and for a good cause. Later, in March, we’ll have the King of the Hill run at El Cerro de Los Lunas, an annual event, brought to us by the village of Los Lunas, that brings out the runners, walkers and rucksackers who are healthy and fit enough to participate in this event. I, for one, have never climbed the hill. Every time I cover this event, I notice the beauty of the hill, and tell myself that when it warms up a little more, I’ll get up there. It hasn’t happened it — yet. March also brings hot air balloons to Valencia County with the annual St. Patrick’s Day Balloon Rallye, sponsored by the Valencia Flying and Retrieval Society. The vibrant colors, the different shapes and the community camaraderie. Weather plays a practical part as to whether this event is able to get off the ground, but we’ll be eagerly waiting. These are not all the events that are happening in the next couple of months, so please look in these pages, more specifically, Page 2, in the Noticias section to find out what events are happening in Valencia County. If you or your organization is planning an event, please email cgarcia@news-bulletin.com to put it in the newspaper.
