The Hatch Valley Chile Festival was held in Hatch, New Mexico USA on 30-31 AUG 2008. Here's Chile Dog 4's first-hand report about the festival. (She lives in Hatch.) I'm afraid it was not the kind of festival everyone hoped for, but all is not lost. We will explain after the report. We tell it like it is folks.
"Well, it's over. The festival was not like other years. I talked to all the Chile vendors, and they were not happy with the turnout. People were saying that gas prices were keeping people away this year. The only people here were die-hard Chile lovers that need their fix. Ha! I talked to my sister-in-law, and she said it was the worst year ever.
Gilly's did very well. Chile Willie did OK. Every vendor I talked to was not happy, but was OK with it. We had rain all weekend, but not bad. Just a light rain. During other festivals we would have 20-30,000 people in town. This year it was only about 6-7,000. I got a few emails from people who were here in the past, and they said gas prices were keeping them home. But they wanted prices for Chile this year, so maybe it will all work out for Chile Willie and Gilly's."
There you have it, folks. Rain, high gas prices, poor economy and people holding onto their money. Not a good mix for this part of the country. However, I'm certain they will try again next year. Everyone understands the situation. The good news is that there are people out there who want Chile even if they didn't make it to the festival. So, mail order takes over from here. At least a lot of the chile growers will be helped by this, and they have great chiles to ship. The rain and high gas prices may keep some of the folks away from the festival, but the demand for great Hatch chiles goes on. And I think it always will. There's just something special about Hatch chiles.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment