September 2023 Events
Friday, September 1
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Dimensional Expressions
Las Cruces Museum of Art
A dynamic collaborative program featuring dancers with the New Mexico State University Dance Program who will present a movement performance influenced by the “Origami in the Garden: Transforming Paper to Sculpture” exhibition.
Visit the website
September 1 – 3
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Hatch Chile Festival
Village of Hatch
This year marks the 51st anniversary of the festival that put the Village of Hatch on the map, with a parade, a carnival, live music, games, roasting chile, and a chile eating contest.
Visit the website
Saturday, September 2
3 – 6 p.m.
Kids Open Casting Call
Collective CO
An independent feature film is taking place here in Las Cruces and the casting team is holding an open casting event for girls aged 10-13 and boys aged 8-11, at the Collective CO (211 North Water Street).
Visit the website
September 2 – 3
9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Franciscan Festival of the Arts
Holy Cross Retreat Center
The beautiful grounds of the Holy Cross Retreat Center are opened up for lovers of the arts to peruse vendor booths and take in live entertainment by local balladeers on two stages.
Visit the website
12 – 6 p.m.
Las Cruces Harvest Wine Festival
NM State Fairgrounds
This ticketed event features over 100 of New Mexico’s finest wines, direct from 16 New Mexico wineries, giving samples and selling by the glass and the bottle, along with grape stomping, arts & crafts vendors, children’s activities, food trucks, live music and more.
Visit the website
TBD
Bright Side Music Festival
Ascarate Park, El Paso
Two days filled with some of the biggest international artists across Electronic, Latin, Hip Hop & Indie genres, along with amazing food flavors from all corners of El Paso, art installations, and for those in a chill mode, slow it down with a spiritual component.
Visit the website
Wednesday, September 6
7 p.m.
Artrageous
Rio Grande Theatre
Since the late 80s Artrageous – a troupe of misfits, artists, singers, dancers, and musicians from Vancouver – has been paying tribute to a variety of art forms, icons and musical genres, while engaging the audience through interaction, guaranteeing that each show is as unique as the audience.
Visit the website
September 7 – 17
10 a.m. – 9 p.m.
New Mexico State Fair & Rodeo
From livestock competitions and agricultural displays, to live entertainment, arts & crafts, and midway booths, the Fair is good ol’ fashioned, family fun.
Visit the website
Friday, September 8
5 – 8 p.m.
Low & Slow: Lowrider Culture on the Border Grand Opening
Kent Hall @ NMSU
The University Museum hosts a year-long exhibit on the lived history and visual culture of many Mexican Americans, called Lowriding, kicking it off with a free grand opening celebration.
Visit the website
Saturday, September 9
6 – 9 p.m.
Second Saturday Art Hop
Truth or Consequences
Get a peek into the vibrant art scene in Truth or Consequences as galleries, studios, shops and restaurants on Broadway, Main and points in between open their doors for an evening of persuing, shopping and fun.
Visit the website
TBD
Double Eagle 50th Anniversary Dinner Dance
Double Eagle Restaurant
In honor of the restaurant’s 50th anniversary, a celebration dinner and dance will feature exclusive presentations, live music, and entertainment. Reservations required.
Visit the website
7 p.m.
Movies In The Park: Minions – Turning Red
Young Park
The City of Las Cruces Parks & Recreation Department presents a free screening of Turning Red, about a thirteen-year-old girl undergoing the changes of adolescence, who finds that whenever she gets overly excited, she transforms into a giant red panda.
Visit the website
7 p.m.
Cry Baby
Rio Grande Theatre
The 2023 Classic Film series presents John Waters mainstream teen drama about a prim and proper schoolgirl who goes against her mother’s wishes and begins dating a motorcycle-riding juvenile delinquent, played by Johnny Depp.
Visit the website
Sunday, September 10
7 p.m.
Shine On Floyd
Rio Grande Theatre
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of The Dark Side of the Moon by the Pink Floyd tribute band, complete with lasers, moving lights, backup singers, video screens and more.
Visit the website
Wednesday, September 13
2 p.m.
Doña Ana County Genealogical Society Meeting
Thomas Branigan Memorial Library
DACGS member Jeannie Kowalik will presents a demonstration on how to use FamilySearch to locate deeds and wills in unindexed images, as well as finding out about property, relationships, and more about the life of one’s ancestors.
Information
8 p.m.
Diego El Cigala: Obras Maestras
Plaza Theatre
Madrid’s Grammy-winning flamenco balladeer takes the world by storm with his international tour, bringing all of his greatest hits to a much wider audience, and gaining new fans along the way.
Visit the website
Thursday, September 14
7 – 9 p.m.
Night at the Museums
Kent and Devasthali Halls @ NMSU
New Mexico State University’s College of Arts and Sciences hosts its second annual event, with live music, displays and demonstrations by various departments in the college, plus food trucks and custom-made mocktails.
Visit the website
Friday, September 15
4 – 11 p.m.
White Sands Balloon and Music Festival
Ed Brabson Balloon Park, Alamogordo
Spend a cool summer evening listening to the best of our local performers, after spending the day at White Sands National Park watching the balloons lift off into the brilliant New Mexican skies.
Visit the website
7:30 p.m.
Atomic Comedy
Rio Grande Theatre
The Atomic Comedy Company brings America’s hottest comics from television, movies, sitcoms, and streaming to Las Cruces, featuring host John Padon and new guests every other month.
Visit the website
Saturday, September 16
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Doll, Bear, Toy, and Model Train Show
Scottish Rite Temple
The Doña Ana Doll Club presents their annual event, featuring a variety of antique, vintage, and modern dolls and toys, doll accessories, clothes, furniture, and more, along with displays by the local model Railroad clubs.
Visit the website
11 a.m.
Dia Del Disco
Amador Patio Bar & Grill
Enjoy a full day of fun in the sun, with live music and DJs, a Discada cookoff competition, a tequila tasting tent, a Show and Shine car show, Mariachis on the main stage, door prizes, giveaways, and more!
Visit the website
3 – 7 p.m.
Spacelion Fest ’23
Telshor Public House
The Bosque Brewery on Telshor invites you to a Spacelion IPA and merch release party, featuring performances by Triple Jack, Calista, Jadon Chavez, David Olguin, Laura Montes, Damian Luna, and Lawrence Montes.
Visit the website
7:30 p.m.
Freewill: The Rush Experience
Rio Grande Theatre
This authentic three-member tribute to Rush takes the audience on a musical journey filled with the big drum fills, razor high vocals, Moog pedals, double neck guitars and fog… a lot of fog!
Visit the website
September 16 – 17
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Diez y Seis de Septiembre
Mesilla Plaza
Celebrate Mexico’s independence from Spain at one of the southwests premiere family-friendly events, featuring a parade to kick things off, followed by , music, dance, food, drink, and even a greased pole.
Visit the website
Tuesday, September 19
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
NMSU Library Open House
Zuhl and Branson Libraries @ NMSU
Students, faculty and community members are invited to explore both of New Mexico State University’s libraries, with highlights including Branson Library’s exciting new Emerging Technologies Learning Lab, and display tables at both libraries exhibiting historic papers and photographs.
Visit the website
September 19 – 20
9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
39th Annual Career Expo Fair
Corbett Center Student Union @ NMSU
The New Mexico State University Office of Experiential Learning hosts the Career Expo Fair and Engineering, Science and Technology Fair, with more than 180 employers in attendance, all recruiting graduates for full-time employment, as well as for co-op and internship opportunities.
Visit the website
Wednesday, September 20
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
The Wrap
Rio Grande Theatre
Film Las Cruces presents a monthly film screening for Las Cruces and Doña Ana County artists with work to show, including short films, commercials, music videos, documentaries or time-lapse reels.
Visit the website
Thursday, September 21
7:30 p.m.
Speak No Evil: A Tribute to Wayne Shorter
Atkinson Recital Hall @ NMSU
The NMSU Music Department hosts a free tribute concert to multiple-Grammy Award-winning Jazz great Wayne Shorter by tenor saxophone players Josh Carter and Abel Mireles.
Visit the website
Friday, September 22
1 – 3 p.m.
Caring for Your Personal Legacy: Photographs
Thomas Branigan Memorial Library
Archivists will teach techniques to ensure your family photographs, old and new, will be around for years to come. Participants may bring a couple of sample items for review.
Visit the website
4 p.m.
Oddities Night Market
Plaza de Las Cruces
Step into a world of the strange and unusual, as the Fair Farmers Market exhibits the wonderfully odd, with an oddities museum, a silent auction, food trucks, strange arts and crafts, and much more.
Visit the website
Saturday, September 23
6 p.m. – 12 a.m.
Octoberfest
White Sands Missile Range
The Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (FMWR) brings back Oktoberfest for the 2023 festival season, with a traditional keg-tapping ceremony, live music from Bavarian-style swing band Die Polka Schlingel, food and fun for the whole family.
Visit the website
7 p.m.
Movies In The Park: Super Mario Bros.
Young Park
The City of Las Cruces Parks & Recreation Department presents a free screening of Super Mario Bros, about the adventuresome plumber who teams up with Princess Peach to square off against the all-powerful Bowser, who plans on conquering the world.
Visit the website
8 p.m.
Ana Barbara Bandidos Tour 2023
Abraham Chavez Theatre
One of Latin music’s more complex stars, long-regarded in Mexico as the Queen of Grupera, the sexy tabloid star-turned-role model and advocate for female empowerment brings her ranchera-infused style to El Paso.
Visit the website
Sunday, September 24
7:30 p.m.
Kansas
The Plaza Theatre
One of America’s iconic classic rock bands, with more than four decades on the charts and 15 studio albums to their credit, continue their tour of the world in anticipation of their 50th anniversary in 2024.
Visit the website
September 27 – October 1
9 a.m.
Southern New Mexico State Fair and Rodeo
SNM State Fairgrounds
Get ready for five full days of fun and excitement, featuring food, live music, carnival rides and traditional rodeo events, attracting riders from all across the region to compete for money and prizes in bull riding and breakaway roping competitions.
Visit the website
Friday, September 29
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Judy, Joan, and Joni – Three Women Who Defined an Era
Doña Ana Arts Council
Still Small Voice presents award-winning, national touring duo Jennings and Keller, offering up 21st century Americana music, with influences from folk, jazz, and roots music, paying tribute to three incredible female musicians.
Visit the website
7 p.m.
Jazz on the Sands
White Sands National Park
For the second Full Moon Night event of the year, WSNP presents the Rio Grande Revelers Dixieland Jazz Band, a seven-piece band formed in the Spring of 2022, based in Las Cruces.
Visit the website
September 29 – October 1
8 p.m. & 2 p.m.
The Book of Mormon
The Plaza Theatre
The nine-time Tony Award-winning musical comedy follows the adventures of a mismatched pair of missionaries, sent halfway across the world to spread the Good Word, and was called “the best musical of the century,” by the New York Times.
Visit the website
September 29 – October 5
7:30 & 2 p.m.
Manhattan Short Film Festival
Fountain Theatre
The annual “one world, one week, one festival” event is back, and you can help select the winners from the ten finalists, with films hailing from Australia, Afghanistan, Finland, Iran, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Canada, as well as the United States.
Visit the website
Saturday, September 30
8 a.m.
BLM Free Entrance Day
BLM Recreation Sites
The Bureau of Land Management waives entrance fees for visitors to its recreation sites – including Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, Aguirre Spring Recreation Area and Campground, and Dripping Springs Natural Area – in recognition of National Public Lands Day.
Visit the website
September 30 – October 1
9 a.m. – 7 p.m.
3rd Annual Apple Festival
Nichols Ranch and Orchards
Spend a day in La Luz, celebrating all things apple and more, featuring apple picking, a petting zoo, local craft beer and wine, food trucks, over 80 arts and crafts vendors, and live music.
Visit the website
7:30 p.m.
Classics 1
Atkinson Recital Hall, NMSU
The Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra presents Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, featuring Borderlands Ballet Company and the Las Cruces Chamber Ballet.
Visit the website
September 30 – October 29
11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Mesilla Valley Maze
Lyles Farm, Fairacres
A family tradition since 1999 and considered the oldest giant corn maze in the state, it features a wide range of attractions that are good old-fashioned fun for the entire family.
Visit the website
Farmers & Crafts Market of Las Cruces
Every Wednesday and Saturday, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
The award-winning, outdoor Farmers & Crafts Market spans seven full blocks of North Main Street in Downtown Las Cruces.
Visit the Website
First Friday Art Ramble
First Friday of Every Month, 5-8 p.m.
The Downtown Las Cruces Partnership hosts this monthly event showcasing a dozen participating museums and galleries in the Arts & Cultural District.
Visit the Website
Second Saturday Art Hop
Second Saturday of Every Month, 6-9 p.m.
The City of Truth or Consequences comes alive with local art, downtown in the commercial/hot springs district.
Visit the Website
Les Salon Des Art Divers
Downtown Blues Coffee
Wednesday Nights, 7 – 9 p.m.
Spend an evening with writers, poets, song poets, essayists, and local musicians, including the Blazing Butlers, at a free weekly cultural event for the ages.
Visit the website
Branigan Cultural Center
Tuesday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
This historic locale hosts changing cultural exhibits, as well as educational programs, classes, and other special events.
Visit the Website
Las Cruces Museum of Art
Tuesday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Hosting a changing slate of exciting contemporary art exhibits, programs for visitors of all ages and an extensive art studio class program.
Visit the Website
Las Cruces Railway Museum
Tuesday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Located in a historic Santa Fe Railroad depot, the museum interprets the railroad history of Las Cruces and the impact of the railroad on southern New Mexico.
Visit the Website
Museum of Nature and Science
Tuesday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
A museum about looking and understanding – looking up to the stars, looking out to the desert, and looking down to see ancient fossils.
Visit the Website
New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum
Monday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Discover the backbone of New Mexico, via this 47-acre interactive museum that chronicles the state’s 3,000-year history of farming and ranching.
Visit the Website
Check the events calendars for more information.
Amador Patio Bar & Grill
The entertainment district comes alive with diverse restaurant choices, upscale nightlife and live music events.
Visit the Website
Amaro Winery & Taproom
Locally owned and operated winery and tasting room, with a Karaoke night, open mic, and rotating list of live events.
Visit the Website
Boneyard Cantina
Delicious street food paired with Icebox craft beer and appearances by local musicians on the main stage.
Visit the Website
Don Felix
Located on the corner of the Mesilla Plaza, with delicious New Mexican cuisine and live music on the patio.
Visit the Website
Little Toad Creek Brewery & Distillery
Serving craft beer, craft spirits, killer grub and a mix of local and travelling musical acts to chase the blues away.
Visit the Website
Palacio Bar
A neighborhood watering hole since 1936, they don’t serve food, but the music is lively and the drinks are plentiful.
Visit the Website
Truth or Consequences Brewing Company
A cozy little taproom, featuring craft beers and live music on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons.
Visit the Website
Vintage Wines
New Mexico wines, beers and cigars in Old Mesilla, with a relaxing patio and live music several nights a week.
Visit the Website
September 1 – 30, 2023
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Phillip Krumholz and Michael Nail
Mesilla Valley Fine Arts Gallery
The Mesilla gallery hosts metalsmith and jeweler Phillip Krumholz, and artist Michael Nail, whose work is primarily in pencil, charcoal and ink, for the month of September 2023.
Visit the website
September 8, 2023 – Summer 2024
10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Las Cruces: Crossroads of History
Branigan Cultural Center
Using original artifacts and historic photographs, this exhibition tells the overarching history of Las Cruces and its prominent place in Borderland history from prehistory through the 1960s, via multiple topics including Indigenous inhabitants, Mexican occupation, entry into the United States, statehood, the Atomic Age, Civil War soldiers, ranchers, and outlaws.
Visit the website
Through Summer 2023
Tuesday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Honesty of Construction: The WPA and Spanish Colonial Style Furniture
Branigan Cultural Center
Drawing from the University Museum collection at New Mexico State University, the exhibit features a wide range of furniture pieces that were made during a 1930s community vocational training program that was established in Las Cruces at the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (now New Mexico State University). The furniture was made in the Spanish Colonial style that is characterized by the use of Ponderosa pine, mortise and tenon joinery, rounded edges, and decorative embellishments.
visit the website
Through September 16, 2023
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Specter
NMSU Art Museum
On view in the UAM’s Contemporary Gallery, is an immersive multimedia exhibition featuring work by Miami-based artist Cara Despain, who uses sculptural and video-based installations, created with found objects and archival film from the 1940s-60s, to explore the irreversible environmental consequences and hidden psychological and microscopic health effects left in the wake of nuclear weapons development and testing across the Southwest.
Visit the website
Through September 16, 2023
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Meditations on Mentor and Student
NMSU Art Museum
On display in the Bunny Conlon Modern & Contemporary Art Gallery, this exhibition explores the work and intersecting lives of the artists Agnes Martin and Karen Yank who, for nearly 17 years, met weekly as a friendship and mentorship flourished. Featured in this exhibition are a selection of Martin’s lithographs on vellum, and Yank’s steel wall-based sculptures.
Visit the website
Through September 16, 2023
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Wild Pigment Project
NMSU Art Museum
Curated by Wild Pigment Project’s founding director Tilke Elkins, and on display in the Mullennix Bridge Gallery, this group exhibition, which originated at form & concept gallery in Santa Fe, NM, brings together painters and dyers, ink-makers and ceramicists, researchers, scientists and traditional cultural practitioners to explore pigments found in plants, minerals and the industrial waste stream.
Visit the website
Through September 23
10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Origami In The Garden: Transforming Paper to Sculpture
Las Cruces Museum of Art
The innovative artwork of Santa Fe artists Kevin and Jennifer Box is on display, showcasing a laborious process using the lost-wax technique, through which Kevin transforms both large and small scale paper origami pieces into metal sculptures.
Visit the website
Through September 23, 2023
10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Trinity: Legacies of Nuclear Testing – A People’s Perspective
Branigan Cultural Center
With collaboration from the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium and 17 juried artists, this empowering and impactful exhibit exposes the long-term effects and ramifications of nuclear testing in New Mexico, and covers the period from the first use of an atomic bomb to the present day.
Visit the website
Through December 2, 2023
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Antidotes: Seeing Beauty, Finding Connection
New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum
Connect with the world around us through Elizabeth Abrams photography exhibit, featuring 24 beautiful landscape and wildlife images reflecting the light and texture of the environment and the seasons, whether it’s the Rio Grande or the Organ Mountains.
Visit the website
