Part of Madrid’s rise as a coal town came from its unique geology – both hard and soft coal were produced from the local mines. The area boomed, providing coal for the Santa Fe Railroad, local consumers and even the US Government. The company town became famous for its Fourth of July parade, lighted Christmas displays and minor league baseball games in the first lighted stadium in the west.

Then, coal mining declined and Madrid ended up a ghost town. Its revival began in the 1970s when Joe Huber, son of Oscar Huber the Superintendent of Mines during the town’s peak in the 1920s, began to rent out some of the old cabins to local artists and craftspeople.

Today the town not only thrives with shops and galleries, it is renewing the traditions that made it famous.

Winter Festival Fun

Santa Fe’s plaza sparkles with lights, Albuquerque’s Old Town and the River of Lights in the Rio Grande Botanic Garden beckon, but Madrid offers holiday charms of its own.

Come the holiday season, its main street is lit up reminiscent of the coal mining years (but without the dust). The whole town is covered in lights – although everyone now can decorate to their own tastes. You can even vote on which display you think is the best. Stores invite shoppers and strollers in for snacks and goodies.

There’s a parade the first Saturday in December, and every weekend until Christmas there is activities including stage coach rides, and music in the Mineshaft Tavern.

Summer Fun

The 4th of July parade is only part of the warm weather fun. With Spring comes the Engine House Theater offering its own form of quirky and fun entertainment. The Mineshaft Tavern offers a cornucopia of entertainment. Music festivals and special events are held in the Oscar Huber Memorial Ballpark.

Of course, there’s shopping and things to do all year long. The Tapestry Gallery representing about 30 artists around the state including several fiber artists who create beautiful shawls and wraps.

The Johnsons of Madrid has been part of Madrid since 1973 gradually expanding and transforming their space into the largest gallery in town. They’ve also been refocusing their art emphasizing "the picture plane." It’s as if you’re looking down from the heights onto the landscape below. Unique and intriguing.

Sharing a building with a faded Sears advertisement on the brick wall towards the center of town are two very different galleries. The spacious Indigo Gallery with its white walls and oak floors focuses on the art of owner Jill Shwaiko. At the other end of building are the delicate luminescence of glass by Jezebel. Using her patented process which she calls the “glass slumping technique” her vibrant pieces make chandeliers and lamps that glow with color. And if you should crave a soda or something to eat, Jezebel’s Soda Fountain is now open.

If leather is your thing, and especially if that interest combines with motorcycles, visit Johnsen and Swan, and chat with vivacious Judy Swan. An award-winning leather artisan for over 30 years not only does Judy create custom-designed purses and business accessories, but also custom chaps for riders of horses and motorcycles.

I confess to a passion for stones and silvery jewelry, so I always stop in the Great Madrid Gift Emporium. Among the highlights are the pieces made of the rare gaspeite (a chartreuse/lime colored stone) named after Gaspe peninsula in Quebec and blue Larimar from the Dominican Republic. There’s even jewelry with turquoise from one of the few remaining mines in Cerrillos, just down the road.

Madrid is more than galleries however. It’s a town you can usually find some of the locals enjoying a cup of coffee at Java Junction. For more serious eating, the Mineshaft Tavern has been serving miners, and then visitors and locals in that building since 1946. It’s filled with history from the “longest standing bar” in the country – about 6 inches higher and just the right height for standing and drinking – to the scuffed old wood floors. Tocororo Café offers Cuban, tapas, and vegetarian items as well as sandwiches and platters.

Madrid is a quirky art town now, but the Old Coal Mine Museum is the final resting place of all manner of “stuff” from its years as a coal mining town – an eclectic and quirky mix of whatever seems to have been deemed worthy of saving when the coal mine shut down and the miners left. You’ll find everything from an old Model T to one of the earliest X-ray machines in New Mexico.

For more information on the many galleries and shops visit VisitMadridNM.com

---