Sunny Conley holds a Master of Arts in Professional and Technical Writing from New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. She is author of Cafe Hopping in the Southwest: 100 Charming Places to Eat, Plus Tips for Tourists [May 1996, June 1997, Arroyo Press]. The book received a 1997 New Mexico Press Women's Book Award.
Sunny has penned over 600 columns and articles for a variety of media. Her column, "Chile Knights: Chile Lore, Tales & Tidbits" and the accompanying photograph, are featured Fridays in the Las Cruces Sun-News. Her work has also appeared in the Journal for the Society for Technical Communication, Independent Business95, New Mexico Magazine, Southern New Mexico Business Journal, and elsewhere.
Sunny edited Mesilla Valley ROTARIANS HOT ON CHILE! cookbook [1997], a collection of chile-inspired recipes donated by members of the Mesilla Valley Rotary Club of Las Cruces and members of the Las Cruces community. All proceeds benefit non-profit organizations. Her work has received more than 20 state awards (ten for first place) in the past 5 years for her book, food columns, travel and business features, and desktop publications.
Sunny's restaurant commentaries can be heard monthly on KRWG-FM, southern New Mexico, West Texas and northern Mexico public radio. The reviews also appear on-line at http://SouthernNewMexico.com.
She is active in the community. Sunny is president of the Las Cruces Mesilla Valley Rotary Club and serves on the boards of Southern New Mexico Press Club, the Las Cruces Museum of Natural History, and on the Hugh Downs Media Awareness Council. Sunny is also a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce.
She is a frequent lecturer at New Mexico State University, the Las Cruces Public Schools and for civic organizations. Sunny's upbeat and fun Café Hopping in the Southwest slide show, and "My Love Affair with the Chile Pod" presentation is especially popular.
Chile is not going to come and go, like kiwi fruit. It's going to stay, like rock'n'roll.
- Paul Bosland, "Mr. Chileman," New Mexico State University
Chile is surely not going to go away in tiny Hatch, New Mexico. As a matter of fact, there's a bit of a frenzy this time of year. It's just the annual Chile Festival in Hatch, a forty-minute drive along the Rio Grande from Las Cruces. The madness happens on Labor Day weekend, with folks driving in from as far away as Tucson, Albuquerque and Fort Worth to load up their trunks with genuine Hatch chiles (that's the New Mexico spelling as decreed by the state legislature). |
To paraphrase Dallas guru Frank X. Tolbert, a chile festival is a kind of Brigadoon to aficionados. Upwards of 30,000 of them will take home this precious cargo - enough for enchiladas, chiles rellenos, caldillo and salsa for the next year.
Getting there
To join the multitude of chile fans, take Highway 185, a winding two-lane road that parallels the Rio Grande from Las Cruces through Radium Springs right into The Chile Capital of the World. You'll see wisps of smoke alongside the road; roll down your windows and breathe in the heavenly scent of roasting chiles. Most of the houses will be festooned with ristras, strings of dried red chiles. Many of these are for sale, usually for less than those at the festival. Bring them home to hang on your porch, and when you're through with them, you can grind them into chile powder. Note: If you're in a hurry, just take I-25 north from Las Cruces and take the Hatch exit (about 30 miles).
After you get there
When you get to Hatch, be sure to check out the Hatch Chile Express at 622 Franklin, about three blocks off Hall Street, the main drag. Jim and Jo Lytle run this nifty little shop which features almost any variety of chile you could want, including habaneros, which are reputed to be the world's hottest. Dried red chiles cover the roof - this is a good camera shot. You might even see Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, who own a nearby ranch. Fonda's friends came for a housewarming a few years ago and cleaned out the Lytle's stock of ristras. Prices run from $5 to$25.
| Where to eat
For delicious restaurant chile, try Las Palmas at 104 Franklin Street. Here you can request the degree of hotness of your chile. Also, try B&E Burritos at 300 Franklin, just down from Chile Express. Their red and green burritos are a feast for chile lovers. Both restaurants are very moderately priced. Arriving at the festival The festival occurs at the Hatch Airport, just west of town on Highway 26. Just follow the signs or the bumper-to-bumper traffic. Admission is free, but there is a $3 per car parking fee.
Kids will find plenty to do inside the grounds. Carnival rides, pony rides, games of chance - all offer energy outlets for the little ones. Furthermore, there's plenty of room for them to romp without getting lost. Temperatures are usually in the high 80s or low 90s, so be sure to wear a hat and put on sun screen. This applies to kids, too. The festival starts with a parade at 10 a.m. Saturday morning, and an old-time fiddling contest is tentatively scheduled for Saturday afternoon. There will be a big barn dance Saturday night at the airport from 9-1. You can buy chile in sack, roasted or unroasted. Mind you, roasting doesn't impart any special flavor to the chiles; it just makes them easy to peel. If you really want a delicious smokey flavor, bring them home and throw them in your smoker for 15 minutes. Use hardwood such as pecan, oak or mesquite. Peel and freeze the chiles in plastic bags to satisfy you craving all year. Caveat: Wear rubber gloves or coat your hands with oil before handling chiles. Keep your hands away from your eyes or you'll be sorry. Remember this: Corn tassels signal harvest time, which peaks about Labor Day. So, if you can't wait for the festival, just head to Hatch in mid-August. You'll still find chiles, but not the hoopla. |
