Historias de la familia, amor, aventuras, y desventuras dichas por la gente de nuestro país

Voces de Nuestro País ~ Voices of Our Area are monthly story gatherings celebrating local voices and culture. Featured local guests share stories of family, community, history, love, land, work, adventures, and misadventures.

Voces de Nuestro País ~ Voices of Our Area are monthly story gatherings celebrating local voices and culture. Featured local guests share stories of family, community, history, love, land, work, adventures, and misadventures.
Coming up: On Saturday, September 11, 2-4 pm at Questa Library, Voces de Nuestro País will feature Bobby Ortega and his son and musician Dwayne Ortega in our fifteenth episode.

Coming up: This month’s first event, “Fire Stories Community Open Mic” is on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2-4 p.m. at the Wild Rivers Visitor Center. Voces de Nuestro País is teaming up with The Paseo Project, Del Fuego, and the Forest Stewards Guild to bring the wildfire “Disturbance” project to Questa and Cerro. Fire Ecology Day at the Wild Rivers Visitor Center is a day-long event (10 a.m. – 5 p.m.) exploring wildfire as a both a destabilizing force and generative ecological process with art exhibits, talks, fun family activities, music, food and open mic in the afternoon. This story-sharing session will be a Community Memory Gathering of experiences with fire, as we mark the 30th anniversary of the Hondo Fire that occurred in May 1996. Are you or have you been a firefighter? Have you experienced a wildfire in your community or a house fire? Come share your fire stories! (This outdoor event will proceed with an indoor plan at the Questa Youth Center and Library if weather is prohibitive at Wild Rivers. Please check https://paseoproject.org/disturbance2026 for updates.)

Our second event this month will take place on Saturday Nov. 21, 2-4 p.m. at Questa Public Library, featuring music and stories with David Dawson of Questa, Dino Archuleta of Cerro and Fritz Davis of Red River.
David Dawson is an autoharp pioneer from Hawaii. Dawson fell in love with the instrument in 1960 and after forming Dawson & Cunha, he moved to Los Angeles and co-founded Hearts and Flowers, which recorded two Capitol albums, scored a regional hit with “Rock and Roll Gypsies,” and shared stages with Buffalo Springfield and Arlo Guthrie. In 1992 David retired from music and moved to Questa, where he opened a welding shop, became a beloved community member, and skied 50 days a year. In 2014, he released his album Listen at Bear Rock Studio.

Back by popular demand, Dino Archuleta and Fritz Davis will also join us on November 21. They were featured in our second Voces event and podcast, a year ago on Nov. 8, 2025. Dino’s stories were tear-jerking to gut splitting of his family and wild days, growing up in Cerro and performing in unusual settings. With humility and humor, Fritz Davis shared stories of his early life in Kansas that led him to settle in Red River and his life as a performer, musician and newspaper editor, and how music has been a connective thread through it all. This time Dino and Fritz are bringing their instruments! We are looking forward to a wonderful afternoon of stories and music with these three cherished community members and esteemed musicians.

Looking Back: On Saturday, Oct. 17 a group of over 25 folks came together at the Screamin’ Bull Outfitters Lodge for the Amalia & Ventero Community Memory Gathering. Hosted by Chris, Gloria and Louie Lucero welcomed all with chilé and posolé, snacks and drinks. Relatives, friends, neighbors and curious ones came to the lodge to listen and reflect together on the early days, childhood memories, family connections and experiences, community histories, local schools, teachers, and living off the land through timber production, sheep herding, cattle ranching, farming, hunting, fishing and guiding. We learned that Amalia was originally known as “Piña” when it was established in 1844, but later was often confused by the Post Office with another town called “Pina,” so the name was changed to Amalia by the postmaster in 1919.

Water, land and a strong, self-reliant work ethic were at the center of the conversation. The RCCLA (Rio Costilla Cooperative Livestock Association) was established in 1942, with the purchase of 80,0000 acres of land from the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant. Its cooperative ownership bonds the community together. If one’s family bloodline is not already part of it, there’s no way to buy your way into it. Among the folks who shared stories and historical reflections were Manuel Martinez, Maxine Ortega, Ron Martinez, Vangie Leyba and Louie, Gloria and Chris Lucero, as well as others. We are grateful to all who attended and shared stories.

Each “Voces” event is recorded and released as a video and audio podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music; search “Voces de Nuestro País” to find these new sessions. By sharing these stories virtually, we hope to extend and multiply the sense of community connection and understanding that is felt during the live gatherings. Please tell your friends and family!

Save the date: Christmas Songs & Stories, December 20, 2-4 pm, Cerro VFW.
Musicians from local church groups will come together to celebrate the season. Join us to listen and perhaps sign along!

MC Michael Rael and Claire Coté host these monthly gatherings and podcast episodes, in collaboration with Questa Library and Voices of the Northern Rio Grande, a program of local nonprofit, Localogy. Audio recordings, videos, and images from “Voces de Nuestro País” events are also added to the growing digital community archive, a local repository and resource established by Voices of the Northern Rio Grande and Questa Public Library with support from the LOR Foundation, Taos Community Foundation Chevron Grants for Goodpast and the Manitos Community Memory Project. Thanks to Wyman Edwards for Video Recording and Dan Kuehn for website design and media upload. Learn more about the community archive and listen to community stories at QuestaStories.org.

Don’t miss this month’s events:
Fire Stories Community Open Mic, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2 – 4 p.m. at Wild Rivers Visitor Center, Wild Rivers Visitor Center, near Cerro, 1120 NM-378, Questa, NM 87556

Music & Stories with David Dawson, Dino Archuleta & Fritz Davis, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2 – 4 p.m. at Questa Public Library.

If you have stories you’d like to share, please contact Michael Rael or Claire Coté. Email Michael at rael870@gmail.com or Claire at QuestaStories@gmail.com or call or text (575) 224-9066.

Voces de Nuestro País

Fire Stories Community Open Mic
Date: Sat., Nov. 7
Time: 2 – 4 p.m.
Location:
Wild Rivers Visitor Center, near Cerro
1120 NM-378, Questa, NM 87556

Music & Stories with David Dawson, Dino Archuleta & Fritz Davis
Date: Sat., Nov. 21
Time: 2 – 4 p.m.
Location: Questa Public Library
6 1/2 Questa Pk Rd, Questa, NM 87556