Two articles in the news this month had me wanting to pack my bags and bike and head to New Mexico where Taos is celebrating the Summer of Love 2009. Couldn’t resist passing this information along.
Quite a bit of publicity lately for this gem of a mountain town in New Mexico.
Las Cruces Sun – News article will give you a taste of this summer’s events, Summer of Love: Counterculture celebrated throughout summer in Taos.
Taos, once one of the planet’s grooviest hippie hot spots, is celebrating the golden alternative counterculture days of yesteryear with the Taos Summer of Love.
Summary of events
More than 300 summer events have been scheduled, including live concerts, parades, motorcycle rallies, shopping specials, a Hippie Homecoming, readings and lectures, art shows, festivals and more.
Summer of Love
Taos, one of the country’s earliest and most enduring meccas for 1960s counterculture aficionados, seemed a logical site for celebrating the 42nd anniversary of the original Summer of Love, which in 1967 attracted tens of thousands to the then epicenter of flower power, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury District.
Highlight – Taos Mountain Music Festival
Debuting from 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Aug. 15 will be the Taos Mountain Music Festival in the Taos Ski Valley. Joan Osborne, The Wailers and Ozomatli will headline the first of what organizers hope will be an annual event, featuring rock, blues, hip- hop, country and Latin music. Tickets are $35 in advance and $38 on showday. It’s free for kids 10 and under with an accompanying adult. Info: www.taosmountainmusicfestival.com.
And if you get out there this summer to experience the love, don’t forget your mountain bike.
Highlighting Taos outdoor recreation, Forget the galleries, Taos drawing mountain bikers encourages the exploration of Taos mountain bike trails.
Northern New Mexico has managed to keep itself out of the mountain biking spotlight, but those who have ridden South Boundary and the hundreds of miles of other singletrack and old forest roads in the area say the potential is limitless.
“In Taos, everything is in place,” said Rey Deveaux, who owns Gearing Up Bicycle Shop, referring to the region’s alpine and high desert terrain. “All they need to do is tap into it.”
Deveaux said the region is a mystical place, but hasn’t gotten the publicity like Moab and other mountain biking meccas.
Wondering how to best sum up this post on the mystical Taos, I headed to the Taos Ski Valley web site and there it was, perfectly stated …
At some point when you’re here, it’ll happen. Call it an instant of clarity, epiphany or whatever. It’s the moment you realize what Taos is all about. We could try to define it with lofty language about your spirit mingling with the wind and snow. But that would be inappropriate. This moment is yours to find. Besides, it’s a little different for everyone. But rest assured, it happens to all who come here. And when it does, you’ll feel it right down to your bones. A little smile will spread across your face. And a tiny whisper will escape your lips that says it all: ‘I’m home.’