Saturday morning, October 5, dawned cold and crisp in the Mimbres Valley and blossomed into a classically gorgeous New Mexico fall day. It was a perfect setting for the 8th Annual Mimbres Valley Harvest Festival, which included a free Health Fair, arts and crafts vendor booths, and a farmers' market.
Photos by Charlie McKee
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
A bountiful harvest is harbinger of the fall season at the Harvest Festival's Farmers' Market.
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
Blue New Mexico skies and Farmers' Market tents frame the Mimbres bluffs.
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
The free Health Fair at the Harvest Festival draws a crowd to be examined, tested, and educated.
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
Massage therapist Kathy Gorum donated her time for chair massages at the Festival's Health Fair. David Marquez is one of the happy recipients.
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
Dr. James Skee shows onlookers the delicate nature of the heart's inner workings with a pig's heart, which is very close in structure to a human heart.
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
The River's Bend band "loves to sing songs that everyone else has forgotten." From left to right are guest bassist Debby Mooring, Vickie Morrison, Sharon Myers, and David Morrison.
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
Melissa Halick traveled all the way from Albuquerque to volunteer at the Health Fair, testing local well water for arsenic.
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
The Health Fair featured a team of water testers to test local well water, courtesy of an EPA grant that provides the testing at 10 events per year in New Mexico. From left to right are Steve Pedro of Las Vegas, testing for nitrates; Violet Miera of Rio Rancho, testing for sulfates and iron; Water Fair Coordinator and trainer Melanie Sanchez of Albuquerque, testing for manganese; and Rebeccas Cook of Santa Fe, testing for ph and fluoride.
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
Three year old Zoey Mosher of San Lorenzo getting ready to score BIG at the Festival's children's games!
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
Kids paint a dragon's "skin" in preparation for the dragon to appear in the Harvest Festival Parade.
Mimbres Harvest Festival 2013
Numerous Mimbres Valley arts and crafts vendors enjoy the crisp fall day at the Festival.