If you're like me, you're still planning your Top 10 New Year's resolutions. But, it's also time to mark January 6th on your brand new 2012 calendar. That's the day set aside to honor New Mexico's Centennial.
At 11:35, New Mexicans are being encouraged to honk their car horns for 30 seconds to wish the state Happy Birthday. That's the approximate time President William Howard Taft signed New Mexico into statehood a century earlier.
We just found out that ABQ RIDE plans a birthday ceremony at the Alvarado Transportation Center. It will feature a Rail Runner locomotive horn, a whistle from a vintage locomotive, horns from ABQ RIDE buses and air and car horns sounding the approximate moment New Mexico became a state one hundred years ago.
“In 1912, President Taft signed statehood papers a few days earlier than expected, so most New Mexicans didn’t find out about it until a day later," said Bruce Rizzieri, Director of ABQ RIDE. “Now, we want to give the occasion the fanfare it deserves at the site of what was once the jewel of Albuquerque, the Alvarado Hotel.”
The ceremony will feature 1912-era songs from the New Mexico Territorial Brass Band, which will also play New Mexico’s state song, “O Fair New Mexico”, during the ceremony. Commemorative Centennial ornaments designed and assembled by students at Van Buren Middle School in Albuquerque will also be given out to participants at the celebration, as well as cake and hot chocolate.
After the ceremony, Albuquerque Mayor Richard J. Berry plans a ribbon cutting to inaugurate a permanent display of photos at the Alvarado Transportation Center. They will depict the storied history of the Alvarado Hotel, along with a history of public transportation in Albuquerque. The public is invited.
