Homestead Village Shopping Center will be the spot for connecting with new neighbors and reconnecting with familiar faces this weekend.
Placitas Appreciation Day, set for Saturday, will feature a variety of activities, networking not the least among them.
Ruth Bouldes, an event organizer and member of the Placitas Chamber of Commerce, said the event is a chance for the community to “come out of hibernation,” see what local businesses and nonprofit organizations are up to, chat and socialize.
Visitors will be able to watch remote-controlled hot air balloons, check out classic cars, recycle unwanted electronics and get their dogs washed (courtesy of Watermelon Mountain Ranch). Businesses and nonprofits will be sharing information as well.
She said the event is important to Placitas’ nonprofits, including the local library, which signed up five volunteers last year — the first post-pandemic Appreciation Day.
For kids, local Girl Scouts will be painting faces and the Sandoval County Fire Department will provide an apparatus for exploring.
Firefighters will also be grilling hot dogs. RockZone, which describes itself as an “Albuquerque classic rock ‘n’ roll experience,” will provide live music, returning to Appreciation Day after an absence of a few years.
Bouldes said the goal of the event is to remind longtime residents of what Placitas has to offer and inform newcomers about what’s in town.
The event will run from 9 a.m. to noon. Bouldes said the time has been moved up to avoid the worst of the day’s heat.
Homestead Village Shopping Center is at 221 State Route 165.