Dec. 19—”Applause for the first posada!” yelled a man with an oversized red nose and shoes. Applause filled the gymnasium as spectators tuned into the Payaso Tomy Plin clown show.
The first ever Posada Latina Southside, held Thursday evening, packed the Santa Fe Teen Center with crowds hoping to see the night’s performances, grab a bite to eat or some toys for their kids, engage with their city councilors and, above all, build the sense of community many feel the south side has long needed.
“I almost never go to events, but it’s a posada, so it caught my attention,” said Guadalupe Escárcega, who said she came to show her daughter Victoria a good afternoon.
“But there are almost no events,” Escárcega added. “This area is very forgotten in the city.”
It’s a common sentiment, and part of the reason the event’s organizers saw it as so necessary.
‘I love it … when we’re together’
The Posasa was organized by the Latino Small Business Association, a group that came together earlier this year following community outcry surrounding discussion of the possibility of moving the Interfaith Community Shelter to the south side. Both that outcry and the association were spearheaded by the well-connected Gina Auz.
“I don’t want to cry,” Auz said with a laugh. “It gives me hope, yes, because I love community support. I love it, you know, when we’re together.”
While Auz credited the businesses for coming together to throw the event, she also thanked City Councilors Alma Castro, Pilar Faulkner, and Lee Garcia for sponsoring the event, and helping to secure the space.
“Especially with Trump coming, I wish I could have a place where I can talk to the community and explain what happened, but I don’t have that space. If I have the space to take all these people, be safe, we can help you, we can support you in different ways,” she said.
Despite filling the teen center to capacity, Auz said she expected better turnout. She said she would like to see a permanent community space to throw these kinds of events, rather than temporary spaces provided by the city.
“This is raza. This is where we are. This is our home now. We need to be part of it,” Auz said.
Rollin Jones, a firefighter with the Santa Fe Fire Department, said there were doubts about the event at first. The fire department provided toys from its Northern New Mexico Toy Drive to hand out to attendees.
“We were like sitting there — me and the councilors — and were like, shoot. We got all these toys, all this food, what if nobody shows up?” Jones said.
But there were never any doubts from Auz — or her husband and fellow organizer John Paul Granillo.
“Gina was like, ‘No. Trust me — they’re going to come out and we’re going to have fun,’ ” Jones said. “And next thing you know, we’ve got, like, this massive party, we’ve got like a huge parade. We’ve got food catered. We got all these partnerships and everybody was like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to do a south side party.’ “
Party and politics
Susan Dorn sat behind the voter registration booth, as she did during the Convivio Southside event a few months prior.
This time around, she reported, there’s been much more success in getting people registered to vote, partly thanks to the Spanish-language voter registration forms.
In the banquet hall next to Dorn’s booth, City Councilor Michael Garcia served free meals to a banquet hall of guests. And in the center of the building mingled City Councilors Lee Garcia and Pilar Faulkner, who said it’s the biggest turnout a south-side event has had in recent history.
“We’re so proud of our community,” Faulkner said. “We’re proud of all the people who helped. And this is what, this is what the relationship between readers and the community should be. We have to be one unit. So, this is fantastic. We’re so excited.”
Sonia Peréz, a dancer from Ballet Folklórico De Mi Pueblo, was at the Convivio Southside in September. She recalled a smaller, more scattered crowd there.
“It felt like we were dancing alone. But now it’s great,” she said, looking over the packed teen center. “It’s amazing. And a little bit nerve-racking.”
“But this is what we want to do,” continued Peréz, who has lived on the south side since moving from Mexico 20 years ago. “We don’t want to dance in private events. We want to dance for the public, for the community. And inspire little kids and adults to want to dance with us.”
Also in attendance was Adrian André, an advocate for improved assisted outpatient treatment, which authorizes the courts to mandate those with severe mental illness to seek treatment. Increased funding for such treatment was one of the few measures to pass during a special legislative session in July; André called it a “Band-Aid,” not comprehensive enough to help those struggling with addiction or mental health issues.
“I know a lot of our community is afraid of a lot of certain things that happened with … Pete’s Place,” he said. “But I’ve had homies who fell into addiction, families who fell prey, and were just devastated. And they can be more informed, so you don’t have to look at them like they’re the monsters, or the enemy.”