Photo: Visitors to the Pinos Altos October Fiesta stroll the main street to see what information they can glean and what merchandise will open their wallets.

The annual Pinos Altos October Fiesta brings music, vendors, art, re-enactors, children's activities and, in the true spirit of Germany's OktoberFest, bratwurst, sauerkraut, German potato salad, and, of course, a Beer Garden.

The event is hosted each year as a fundraiser for the Pinos Altos Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department. This has been a busy year for the volunteers, with many more fires than usual.

The perfect day for a fiesta Saturday brought a steady stream of visitors to the small town nestled next to the Gila National Forest north of Silver City.

It was also the sad, last day for the Ice Cream Parlor to be open. The day before was the last day the Pinos Altos Post Office, housed in the Ice Cream Parlor, was open. Gary MacGrumbley, Ice Cream Parlor owner and Postmaster, said the post office had been continually delivering mail to boxholders and providing services since 1867.
     Although the boxes are now blocked off, a photo of them on the Photo Essay page brought memories back to this photographer. They looked just like the ones she remembered from her childhood, when she went to the post office with her mother and father.