The seasons are changing. It’s time to engage our senses. Pay attention to what the world is sending your way this pivotal time of year. Fire up the neurons in your brain and take in all that your eyes, ears, etc. are feeding you right now. That’s my horoscope for you this week. Tantalize your tongue at the New Mexico Prickly Pear Festival. Engage your ears at the bands of Enchantment Music Festival. Widen your eyes in fear at the Depths of Despair haunted house. And get all your senses firing at the multicultural, multimedia SOMOS Art + Music Festival. Scan through our weekly calendar and you’re sure to find events to keep your senses happily engaged for at least the next seven days.
8th Annual New Mexico Prickly Pear Festival (Friday 18, Festival)
We’ve got a lot of cactus here in New Mexico, and generally it’s not good for much more then Xeriscaping a yard or causing a lot of unexpected leg pain on a hike in the foothills. The New Mexico Prickly Pear Festival aims to change that by returning for its 8th year with an entire weekend celebrating our state’s bounty of edible cactus fruit. If you love the taste of prickly pear, you’d better go. If you’ve never tasted prickly pear, you should probably go. Expect prickly pear food and drinks, cooking demos, arts and crafts workshops, 60+ vendors, live music (including Sinister Surfer, Micah Thunder and Taillight Serenade), activities for kids and, according to organizers, a cactus-shaped RC balloon named Cheekytita flying on Saturday! All this cactus fruit goodness happens Friday, Sept. 18 (2 to 4 p.m.) and Saturday, Sept. 19 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) at Gutierrez-Hubbell House (6029 Isleta Blvd. SW). Tickets (tickettailor.com/events/newmexicopricklypearfestival/2243933) are $10 for Friday, $15 for Saturday or $20 for both days. Just watch out for those needles!
Haunted Scarecrow presents The Depths of Despair (Wednesday 16, Haunted House)
Spirit Halloween Stores have started cannibalizing empty storefronts across town and Starbucks is back serving pumpkin spice lattes. That means it’s officially fall! Proving the point, Haunted Scarecrow has returned to the basement of Downtown’s 505 Food Hall (505 Central Ave. NW) for the month or so to stage their new, live haunted house. This year’s eerie theme is “The Depths of Despair.” The frights happen Wednesdays and Thursdays (6 to 10 p.m.) and Fridays and Saturdays (6 p.m. to Midnight) between Sept. 16 and Oct. 31. The week of Halloween, the business will open every night. GA tickets (available online at hauntedhousenewmexico.com/individual-tickets) are $20.
Bands of Enchantment Music Festival (Saturday 19, Music)
Homegrown music TV show “Bands of Enchantment” returns to KiMo Theater to record its sixth season, Sept. 16 through 18. Tickets are free and available through bandsofenchantment.com. But producers have also organized a massive Bands of Enchantment Music Festival on Saturday, Sept. 29 from 4 to 11 p.m. The festival takes over eight stages throughout Downtown — from favorite indoor venues like Insideout, Ex Novo and Sister Bar to two massive outdoor stages. Headliners include Galactic ft. Jelly Joseph and hip-hop jazz group Digable Planets. Among the local legends on tap — covering everything from folk to punk — are Levi Platero, Red Light Cameras, Prism Bitch, Def-i, Nomestomper, Dirty Brown Jug Band, Talking Hours and more. Admission is totally free.
SOMOS ABQ: Music + Arts Festival! (Saturday 19, Festival)
The SOMOS Festival returns for its 9th year. The multimedia celebration of art takes over the National Hispanic Cultural Center (1701 Fourth St. SW) and unfolds across stages, courtyards and spaces throughout the site. One ticket gets you a full day of live music, art installations, workshops, food and creative experiences. This year’s lineup is headed up by Wax Motif, Duckwrth, VNSSA and twin house duo Coco and Breezy. All-day tickets (eventbrite.com/e/somos-abq-festival-ft-wax-motif-duckwrth-vnssa-coco-breezy-tickets-1987281315912) are $24.95. It happens Saturday, Sept. 19 from 4 p.m. to Midnight.