Kicking off local holiday shopping

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the Alumbra de Questa Christmas Market is back! It is a one-day, outdoor festival and will be held on Saturday, December 11, from 10 am to 4 pm in the open-air Questa Farmers Market space at the Questa Visitor Center. This joyful community event features a broad array of quality local vendor booths for gift shopping, delicious seasonal foods, hot beverages, live holiday music, sing-a-long caroling, a visit from Santa, a kids’ crafts table, and warm holiday greetings and conversation around numerous warming fire pits. (All COVID-19 safety precautions will be in place and enforced.)

Alumbra means “to light up, enlighten,” and there is no better way to lighten your impact on the environment this holiday season than to pledge to do ALL of your holiday buying locally! It is truly “enlightening” to realize that you can do all of your gift and meal shopping right here in our community and support our own area businesses. Our area is rich in culture and heritage, and we are fortunate to have such talented artists and craftspeople right in our own backyard! Many of them don’t have storefronts where they can sell their products, so Alumbra de Questa offers this, and is the ideal event to get your Christmas shopping started—or even finished!

You will find one-of-a-kind gifts and exceptional handcrafted items, such as hand-thrown pottery, original artwork, exquisitely crafted leather goods, jewelry, vintage clothing, stocking stuffers, and so much more.
“Alumbra is like a pop-up Christmas shop with so many quality, original pieces, and so much variety that there truly is something for everyone! Our community has always been generous in supporting us local artists during the holidays—we’re looking forward to seeing everyone again this year,” said Torre Strong of Questa, who handcrafts wearable leather goods: bags, belts, earrings, and accessories.

by the QEDF, the LOR Foundation, Taos Community Foundation, and the Los Alamos National Laboratories Community Foundation. This event launches the “Shop Questa” and “buy local” campaigns for the holiday season. The “buy local” message is far bigger than just Questa—it’s about the entire northern Taos County area, from Arroyo Hondo to El Rito to the Colorado border, and every community in between.

Through the generosity of the LOR Foundation, each visitor to the Alumbra Market will receive a complimentary reusable “Shop Questa” shopping tote. Come by and do your holiday gift shopping and pick up your free tote to show your support for our local merchants!

Put Alumbra on your calendar so you won’t miss it! Next time you’re online, be sure to shop local sites, such as https://northernnewmexicoartists.com/; spread the love among all of your favorite neighborhood shops, and shop local for all of your holiday needs.