Record heat yields bountiful harvest for vineyards in El Paso, Southern New Mexico
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Amid the cotton and alfalfa fields along highway 28 in Southern New Mexico and the western edge Texas, two vineyards saw their grape vines hanging heavy with fruit as temperatures soared to record levels this summer. Now, with the advent of cooler weather in the region, the wineries are hoping to see more visitors stopping by.
“The negative way is people don’t want to go outside when it’s hot,” said Bryan Oakley, owner of Mesa Vista Winery. “So even though we have refrigerant air in our building, people just didn’t want to venture outside. And not just us, but all the wineries had the same effect that it was too hot and business was slower due to the heat.”
Today seven wineries and vineyards can be found on along Highway 28 between Canutillo, Texas, and Mesilla, N.M., But the root of winemaking in the region goes back hundreds of years. New Mexico is America’s original wine country. In 1662 Spanish missionaries established the first vineyard in North America which was located near present-day El Paso, Texas. A full 140 years before California planted its first grapevine.
Borderland queer youth embrace new film based on bestselling book
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It was an historic evening at the screening of Aristotle and Dante, a queer story set in the Borderland. Fans of the YA novel by Benjamin Alire Sáenz packed the theater to watch the movie when it opened at the Alamo Draft House in El Paso.
El Paso baker’s whimsical creations showcased in Food Network’s Halloween Cookie Challenge
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El Paso baker, Naomi Gil, did not believe it at first when the Food Network invited her to be on one of their seasonal shows. “They reached out on my business profile, and they even went to my personal profile,” Gil said.
Neighborhood center, anniversary newspaper highlight Black El Paso stories
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Lifelong El Pasoan Karen Cooper Linen calls the little rock house at 3231 Wyoming “a hidden treasure.”
The house on a quiet street corner in El Paso’s East Five Points neighborhood connects to a larger building to make up the McCall Neighborhood Center. Inside is a vibrant community gathering space and repository of El Paso’s Black history and achievement.