Sometimes this town starts to feel a little too big. A surprising number of new restaurants, artists collectives, nonprofits and boutiques spring up every year. Long-time locals keep us in awe with their ever-fresher forms, too.
Our community is growing fast, and it's kind of SFR's job to stay on top of it, week in and outbut sometimes, it moves a little too fast, and between managing the details and keeping sight of the bigger themes that make this city great, our heads get all muddled. This week, we're saying "maana" to the barrage of new stuff. We're gonna slow down for a moment and focus on all the good that's already here.
In honor of the beginning of our annual Best of Santa Fe reader poll, SFR staffers each contributed some thoughts on what they really love in our city, so together we can wrap our thin, papery arms around you all. Keep an eye on these projects; they're what makes our sense of Santa Fe identity so strong, no matter how big we get. Nominate the things you love at www.sfreporter.com/bosf
Alas de Agua Art Collective finally has a space
If the name Israel Francisco Haros Lopez looks familiar to you, it's surely because SFR has been following the artist/writer/activist's career for some time now with stars in our eyes. Haros Lopez is co-founder of the Alas de Agua Art Collective (1520 Center Drive #2, 660-9563), a nonprofit grant- (and blood, sweat and tears) funded entity that provides events, workshops, training, mural painting, poetry and so much more to the underserved denizens of Santa Fe's Southside. After years struggling to find a physical space to house the goings on, Alas de Agua finally boasts a real-life building, the former Zephyr Community Arts Studio spot off Airport Road, and the future is looking good. The official kickoff came a couple weeks back when the collective showed a bevy of local artists, told us all a little bit more about what they see for the futureand proved spaces dedicated to arts for PoC and LGBTQIA2+ are vital at this point in human history.
Here's to many more years!
(Alex De Vore)
SITE Santa Fe makes weekends civilized
There's two types of Saturdays: 1. Deal with laundry and stay-in-pajamas-all-day, or 2. Act like a civilized person living in a quasi-urban environment.
The Chatter (in) SITE Santa Fe series (1606 Paseo De Peralta, 989-1199) inspires the latter approach to the weekend. On the second Saturday of the month, Chatter, an Albuquerque contemporary chamber music ensemble, brings programming to the north. The performance pairs the music with a reading by a local poet and delicious coffee for the audience sponsored by Ohori's.
The upcoming Feb. 8 performance features the Attacca Quartet playing Beethoven's Opus 18 No. 6 along with an untitled piece by Paul Wiancko. Poet Nathan Brown is the featured reader. SITE Santa Fe Director of Education and Curator of Public Practice Joanne LeFrak worked with Chatter to create the Santa Fe outpost for the group. "Chatter presents avant garde chamber music and SITE presents contemporary artso it dovetails with the quality of the work that SITE shows," she says, noting that Chatter calls itself chamber music for "sonic explorers," which parallels SITE's goal to offer contemporary art "for the adventurous explorer." Bonus: The concert begins at 10:30 am, leaving plenty of time to visit the Saturday Santa Fe Farmers Market across the street, and SITE is free on Saturdaysduring the Farmers Market.
Win. Win. Win. (Julia Goldberg)
Delphino the Artisan Snake
When it comes to in-store pets, Santa Fe is definitely up on its game.Not only can Artisan art supply store (2601 Cerrillos Road, 954-4179) fulfill your art-making needs, the owners also have a giant Burmese python named Delphino in a glass room at the back of the store.Delphino is the son of Delilah, the 17-foot, 275-pound female snake who lived at Artisan for 17 years and even starred in a movie called Rising of Isis.Ron Whitmore is the man behind the python. He began as a sales clerk in 1988 when Artisan was still on Canyon Road, eventually becoming a full-fledged partner before the store's move to Cerrillos Road. A plaque on the wall next to Delphino's home bears Whitmore's words: "Why is Delphino at Artisan?I love snakes and my wife loves her Chihuahuas at homeneed I say more?"You needn't.
(Allison Sloan)
Game on
What I needed for my birthday this year wasn't balloons or cake or attention. As 41 knocked on the door, I was craving something with low-key rewards. So my husband grabbed two rolls of quarters and we headed to the Santa Fe Place mall. It was also our most recent stop on a tour of something else we are celebratingthe resurgence of pinball in our city. It's turned into a personal rediscovery of all things arcade. We'd already checked out the shiny, flashy pinball machines at The Alley in De Vargas Center: Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Aerosmith machines and the vintage Black Knight (and maybe even played for so long that my wrists ached the next day). But now, the old arcade space off the mall food court is once again an old arcade. All Out Zone (4250 Cerrillos Road, 407-3206) is open from 3:30 pm to 9 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 6 pm on weekends.
Our mall date was fun, especially in the vacancy of the early hour. Even as it filled up, we popped coins into the crazy, stand-in ski game that doles out encouragement like "Way to carve!" as your avatar slides down the mountain. I didn't get the high score of the day on Galaga, but since it was my birthday, the winning player entered my initials. (Julie Ann Grimm)
Many hands get help from Chainbreaker Collective
The inequality of wealth and opportunity in Santa Fe is staggering, and access to transportation is one of the biggest stakes in the divide. It's federally illegal for employers to ask if you own a car unless it's required for the job, but they will ask if you have reliable transportation; with the help of the community organizers at Chainbreaker Collective (1515 5th St., 989-3858), there's no reason for any Santa Fean to say "no."
I started looking into the group after three different strangers on the bus told me to, and I'm so thankful for their advice. Chainbreaker is careful to specify that they don't do anything for anyone, but members of the organization will help you repair your bike or even set you up with a used bike of your own if you don't already have one. You just have to be willing to get your hands dirty and put in some work. After receiving a bike through their program, you also get a free, annual bus pass. "Annual?" I said to the strangers. "Yes, a whole goddamn year," they said (I'm paraphrasing).
If you've recently bought a bike for more than $240 at a local shop, you're also eligible for the annual pass rebate. Spend more than $20 at a local shop on bike gear, and you're eligible for a monthly pass. Besides this, Chainbreaker does tons of work educating folks on local politics, combating gentrification and protecting renters' rights.(Cole Rehbein)
Tributes to music icons
In the dog days of winter, the mind wanders to warmer times of hanging outdoors with friends listening to music, drinking a beer and waiting for the sun to set at, say, 9 pm rather than 4:30 in the afternoon. This particular tank-top wearing fantasy revolves around the popular Santa Fe Salutes series each summer in the Santa Fe Railyard. The series has a slightly morbid spine, in that it brings together New Mexico musicians to commemorate departed rock icons. It launched to pay tribute to Prince, following The Purple One's death in 2016. Since then, the show has gone on to celebrate the music of David Bowie (our heart still breaks for this one), Tom Petty and Aretha Franklin.
Sad as we are to see these living legends go, nothing beats a free night of music and seeing the Railyard at full capacity. Produced by AMP concerts, no word yet on the direction for Santa Fe Salutes for 2020 (we cantotesimagine a Rush tribute following drummer Neil Peart's departure from this mortal coil, not to mention some Cars songs ala Ric Ocasek but, of course, the year is young). Ringleader and guitarist Mikey Baker tells us he met recently with the AMP folks to discuss "how to make the show even better and we haven't decided yet what this year's theme is going to be." Santa Fe Salutes also coincides with SFR's biggest party of the year celebrating Best of Santa Fe on July 31. See you there! (JG)
Deeper experiences at the state museums
While recently perusing the incredible Yokai: Ghosts and Demons of Japan show at the Museum of International Folk Art, the tail end of the exhibit welcomed us (and all visitors) to check out manga, create our own artworks and otherwise engage beyond the display cases. It was delightfully whimsical and a welcome change of pace from the stuffy reputation of most institutions. In Santa Fe, however, it's not new. Look to recent exhibits at the New Mexico Museum of Art, others at MoIFA and the New Mexico History Museum for a long tradition of getting folks' hands into the game. This is a godsend for the kiddosas well as the kiddo in us adultsand a far more intriguing way of deepening the museum experience than simply reading further at home. (ADV)
George RR Martin opened a freaking bookstore
If it hadn't been for George RR Martin, the Jean Cocteau Cinema would have stayed closed instead of playing weirdo art movies and boasting a full bar. If it hadn't been for Martin, there'd be no Meow Wolf. If it hadn't been for Martin, we certainly wouldn't have had Game of Thrones. Like a hypothetical lottery winner talking about all the things they'd do with the cash, Martin actually took his fame and fortune andimpacted his community for the better. Enter Beastly Books(418 Montezuma Ave., 466-5528), the writer's newest project and a veritable cornucopia of dorky fantasy tomes for the discerning fantasy dork. We kid because we love, and because it's honestly kind of hilariously amazing how many great things Martin has done for the community. Beastly Books only carries signed editions (including Martin's work) and seems the perfect browsing spot for those who've stopped by the next-door theater for an arthouse flick. We even hear Martin hangs around in the shop from time to time, so stop by and ask him when we're gonna see that video game collaboration with Japan's FromSoftware. (ADV)
Delicious homemade Mexican food for sale on social media
Santa Fe has more authentic Mexican and Central American food to offer apart from what you can get at the numerous Mexican grocery stores and hot food bars around the city like El Paisano's and Panaderia Y Tortilleria Sani.
We're talking about the active Facebook group La Yarda de Santa Fe that has daily posts from the Santa Fe area and Albuquerque selling fresh, homemade Mexican and Central American food like gorditas (usually around $2.50 each), pupusas, empanaditas de cerveza and quesadillas, just to name a few. Pupusas, a special dish from El Salvador, are thick flatbreads made from cornmeal or rice flour and usually stuffed with a few different ingredients like cheese and meat.
They're all reasonably priced and can be picked up and sometimes even dropped off wherever you are in town, depending on what you arrange with the cook. The prices are not normally posted with the food and it's up to you to negotiate with the seller.
With so many Facebook posts per hour, it's an underground but important part of the food landscape in Northern New Mexico. (KL)
The theater community is incestuous (in the best way)
You know those stereotypes about actors being petty and cutthroat? Yeah, we need to abandon those STAT, especially here. Go to a show and you'll see at least five other theater kids in the audience. It's not abnormal for someone to be simultaneously directing a show at one theater, doing PR for another theater and planning an audition at a third. Many of the same names appear in two out of three programs you receive all over town. It wasn't always like this here, but recent shifts in community leadership and ageneral sea change in our town's performing arts ethos have ushered in a new era of camaraderie and collaboration, and every single show that goes up around here is the better for it. This kind of behavior isn't necessarily normal in a theater scene; many times, folks choose one theater to which they're loyal and sink their teeth in as deep as they can. But it ain't like that in Santa Fe. Everyone plays everywhere, and everyone hasfun. (Charlotte Jusinski)
Tumblings!
Monday night can tend to be a dead zone for eating out in these parts. We don't begrudge restaurants for needing a night off, but we get hungry and lonely! So, it's been really great to find more than just a fill-up at Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery(2791 Agua Fria St.), where chef Brent Jung is now putting on a weekly Monday dumpling dinner. Jung sold the Marcy Street Izmi Sushi Bar he'd long run with his mother and now offers a simple menu that's also quick and mid-priced.
Tumbleroot opened in the old Club Alegria space in the spring of 2018 and has had success with both in-house kitchen options and visiting food trucks. Concerts there can be packed, and we are trying hard to remember how nice it can feel on the outdoor patio in a different season.
This weekly delight from Jung, however, is warming right now. Plentiful seating and short waits are perks that lead up to the main show: These dumplings are damn good. Try a sampler served in a steamer basket with two each of three different kinds (shrimp, pork and chicken) for $12, and make sure to add a couple veggie-only versions for another $3. The spicy dipping sauce is out of this world, and sides such as kimchi slaw and seaweed salad round out the meal. Wash it down with a Tumbleroot shrub, beer or cocktail while you're at it. (JAG)
Letting it grow and passing it on
We love the idea of sharing resources and knowledge to nurture a community where everyone has equal access to growing their own food. That's the vision behind the Santa Fe Seed Library, a new project started last spring at the Santa Fe Southside Library (6599 Jaguar Drive, 955-2820) by the Santa Fe Extension Master Gardeners in collaboration with library staff. It works like this: Check out any seeds for free along with expert advice about how to plant them, grow your seedlings to maturity, and save some seeds to return to the library at the end of the season.
First-time seed savers need not worry, as members of Master Gardeners are on hand on weekends to chat about what you want in your garden and help you choose some vegetables that are easy to grow for seed. Organizer Christine Salem tells SFR that in its first year, the library "loaned" out almost 1,000 veggie and flower seed packets to library patrons and held seven workshops covering various aspects of vegetable gardening and seed saving. The library will start up again this year with a kickoff party and seed swap on March 14.(Leah Cantor)
Salsa Night con Nosotros
Santa Fe is lucky to call itself home to Nosotros, a nine-piece Latin band that successfully blends jazz, rock and classic Latin beats in both their original compositions and their covers of some of the biggest Latin music hits. Nosotros has won numerous accolades from the New Mexico Music Awards and plays weekly at various venues around town, like Evangelo's, Tumbleroot and Draft Station. But what we love most about this band is the devoted fans who show up at every show to dance, effortlessly keeping time with the rhythm even when the band embarks on one of the lengthy jam-bandy interludes they sometimes sneak into the middle of a song. Go regularly, and you'll start to recognize most of the faces in the audience. Nosotros brings together a community. But that doesn't mean there isn't room on the dance floor for those of us still learning the steps.
(LC)
Twenty years of La Cocina de Doa Clara
This colorful Mexican food restaurant has provided a homey atmosphere for the last two decades (4350 Airport Road, 473-1081). It's complete with traditional-looking flowery tablecloths and flags, fast service and the best gorditas and mole in town. We're huge fans of the large but out-of-place marine mural on one wall. The restaurant opens daily at 8 am for breakfast and serves lunch and dinner, too.
Gorditas ($2.50) are a pastry made with masa and stuffed with cheese, meat and other things like Mexican cactus. With a lot of different options on the menu, including margaritas ($6) and micheladas ($6.50), pretty much anything you like from Mexican cuisine is available.
For those who don't drink alcohol, order a licuado ($3.50), a creamy fruit milkshake, made with papaya, banana, strawberry, mango or guava. If your friends force you to go there and for some strange reason you don't like Mexican food, there's corndogs ($4.95) and chicken nuggets ($4.95). Go wild.
There's sometimes live music on the weekends, and don't forget it's cash only! (KL)
The SFR legal team
We love our lawyers here at SFR.
No, not the attorneys at law often found bloviating on issues past their depth or extolling the virtues of their surely guilty clients in the pages of your beloved weekly.
We mean our lawyers. Specifically,Daniel Yohalem and Katherine Murray, who, if you are not aware, are New Mexico treasures here in Santa Fe. (Yohalem's shingle is a prominently displayed mainstay on Paseo de Peralta, appropriately placed in the shadow of the state's seat of power.)
SFR enjoys a good tussle with powerful government officials who would prefer you, Dear Reader, not have access to records showing how they're conducting your business.To wit: We sued former Gov. Susana Martinez in 2013 for a litany of violations of the Inspection of Public Records Actand won in court! But only because Murray and Yohalem, without the promise of a dime, agreed to champion our cause.
Martinez fought payments to the pair till her last day in office. But we're pleased to say that, with the expiration of a state-mandated confidentiality agreement, our legal superheroes were paid just north of $360,000 in fees and costs.
It's not nearly enough.In truth, there is no amount of money that could repay our debt for such amazing help in the fight for transparency.And we're not done yet.The duo is representing SFR afresh in another attempt to free public records (because, of course they are). Stay tuned (Jeff Proctor)
Harrell House Bug Museum
Tucked away in a faraway corner of the Travelers Market in the DeVargas Mall lies a magical place called the Harrell House Bug Museum(542 N Guadalupe St., 695-8569). The museum, which is really an amalgamation of tanks and terrariums, houses a collection of over 150 live animals including insects, spiders, scorpions, millipedes, reptiles, amphibians and fish, some of which you can touch and hold, all for $7 or less. If you consult the online feeding schedule, you can also time your visit with the feeding of your choice: lizards and lungfish on Thursdays; tarantulas, scorpions and other predatory invertebrates on Sundays and fish, turtles, toads and salamanders on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. (AS)
You can take the fam museum hoppin for free
Just one more reason we love our public libraryas a library card-holding resident, you can check out a museum FamilyPass that gets you and five other people into over a dozen New Mexico museums and historical sites, for free, for up to two weeks before you have to return it. The pass is part of a program by the state Department of Cultural Affairs and includes museums in Alamogordo, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces (in case you wanna take your pass on a road trip). But in Santa Fe, it will get you into the New Mexico History Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Art, Museum of International Folk Art and Museum of Indian Arts and Culture.
If all this museum traipsing sparks a true fire for the arts in your family, return the FamilyPass and check out theShare the Experience Pass (S.T.E.P) to get intoThe GeorgiaO'Keeffe Museum, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, The Santa Fe Botanical Garden and the Santa Fe Children's Museum. STEP is part of a local city initiative to make the arts more accessible to everyone. (LC)
Dildos and dusters and lace thongs, oh my!
Finally, Santa Fe has a sex store that's just for ladies! Cruiser's Boutique (1494 Cerrillos Road, 349-1362) opened a little over a year ago in the building once occupied by the beloved and sorely missed restaurant Mudu Noodles (SFR first wrote about the new adult store before it opened under what we thought, at the time, was a truly hilarious headline: "Wet Noodles." Looking back, all we can say is.eww!).
Boutique manager Janay Armijo tells SFR she wants Cruiser's to be a place where women feel safe asking questions and talking about their desires without the uncomfortable male gaze that is ever present at Arcade News, an adult movie and accessory store further down Cerrillos. Both stores are owned by the same parent company out of Texas, but Armijo only hires female staff, stocks a selection of erotic items marketed specifically towards women and is passionate about helping women discover what makes them happy so they can advocate for themselves in the bedroom.
The lingerie here might be tacky, but they've got some great "Kama Sutra" candles that melt into massage oil. A gal who wants to buy something special for herself or surprise her hubby no longer has go through the icky, degrading, and sometimes scary experience of getting ogled by the guys leaving the private viewing booth down the road. (LC)
Animal shelter dog park
This city loves its dogs. To express that love, there are multiple scattered dog parks, but none so inviting as the dog parks at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society (100 Caja del Rio Road).
Visitors enjoy sweeping views of the Jemez Mountains on one side and the Sangre de Cristo range on the other, plus miles upon miles of open land. The shelter runs its free community dog parks using public donations. Visit the 7-acre open space for social time or one of three smaller enclosures where just you and your dog(s) can play, if your fur-babies are less than sociable. Of course, there's also a fenced-in area for little doggos under 30 pounds. While your pets play, you can socialize with the other friendly dog owners and complain/brag about your one-of-a-kind fur baby.
The only thing to watch out for are the cacti growing freely in the big space. A fast, clumsy dog could run right into them. Over the summer, I spent 30 minutes under the hot sun picking spines out of my 70-pound American bulldog after she ran straight into one. (KL)
Coffee just right
The three fundamentals of a good coffee shop are cheerful, polite baristas, clean tables and excellent coffee. Some coffee shops in town hit one or two of these things and add in a bunch of decor or pretentious attitudes to cover up for the rest, which makes the simple process of going out for a coffee quite a distracting affair. However, Sagche's Coffee House(730 St Michael's Drive, 780-5263) nails all three points on the regular, without extra frills, and it tops it off with a delicious food menu featuring crepes and waffles for breakfast and enchies, salads and burritos for lunch.
The origin story is a true American tale of success from two brothers who migrated from Guatemala. The beans come from OdaCrem in Albuquerque, with a focus on organic, medium-light roasted Latin American terroirs, my personal favorite. Take a trip to Sagche's, but there's no need to put on your face or lint your jacketthey just wanna serve up some coffee.(CR)
Volunteers who make the city go-round
Take any local event or organization that's successful and you're likely to find one thing in common: Volunteers are doing heavy lifting.
With The Food Depot's Souper Bowl just around the corner on Feb. 1, and more than 1,200 patrons due through its doors, organizers are counting on help from a veritable army of others. The Food Depot hosts dozens of restaurants who compete for the championship of soup-making each winter, but it also recruits helpers for its year-round warehouse and distribution operations. Volunteer coordinator Sarah Carter says the nonprofit has 1,800 people on its worker roster and is always welcoming new faces to keep the hunger-relief work happening.
Same goes for this summer's International Folk Art Market, which needs volunteers to keep shopping smooth at the three-day event in July on Museum Hill. For the extra mile, volunteers here even sign up to house players from the Santa Fe Fuego semi-professional baseball team over the summer. Communities in Schools is always looking for people to help with public school projects. Pancakes on the Plaza relies on volunteer flippers. We could spend all day at this. The point is: There'ssomething you can do to pitch in. And when you do, you'll make Santa Fe's good things even better. (JAG)
Saturday mornings at the Railyard
Big confession: I love trains more than most. Some call my breed "foamers," because we foam at the mouth every time a locomotive chugs past. It's derogatory, but in my case it's kinda true. I also love local agriculture, of course, and flea-market-y type situations, so you'll imagine my limitless delight when I learned that all three things are taking place in the Railyard every Saturday morning. My routine: Grab a coffee from Sky and watch the northbound train arrive at 10:05 AM. The caffeine plus the thrill of a 500-ton piece of public metal coming into the station brings my spirits up to tip-top shape in no time.
A short walk to the Farmers Market Pavilion promises (at this time of year) dried herbs and flower arrangements, craft items, local honey and CBD, among tons of other sensory delights. Pro tip, if you use your SNAP benefits to buy food or produce there, you get double the exchange value. Just across the tracks in the Museo Cultural, dozens of local, cheerful vendors sell their art, clothing, books, stuff from around the world, more food and anything else you can imagine. Two hours later, I feel as though I've traveled the backroads of New Mexico's farming communities and taken a trip across the globe, all from the comfort of the Railyard.(CR)
Malbec and Dr. Field Goods Pizza
Santa Fe and New Mexico in general is definitely not known for its excellent pizza joints, but Dr. Field Goods Kitchen (2860 Cerrillos Road, 471-0043) breaks the mold and makes a kickass pizza pie.
Hit up Dr. Field Goods for the best combination of wine and pizza in the city. It's is a small, cozy space in a strip mall parking lot, totally unassuming, but delivers good service and other things to eat besides New Mexican food.
Sit at the bar or at a table and enjoy a glass of Malbec and one (or two) of their three speciality pizzas baked in a wood-fire oven. Faves include margherita ($15.50), cheese pizza ($14) or Pizza De Gallo with diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapenos, smoked mozzarella and New Mexican gremolata ($16.50). Or build a pizza of your own with 14 available toppings, including local goat cheese. Green chile is an option too, obviously.
Dr. Field Goods touts its habit of buying from local farms, including a community farm in Espaola and organic produce from La Cienega. Even their pork and dairy are New Mexican! (KL)
Stunning Canyon hikes
Everyone who was ever a teenager here or knew one knows about Diablo Canyon. But it's enough out of the way to stay off the mainstream day hiking radar. The beautiful walk through a dramatic canyon off Old Buckman Road is only about 15 miles outside of the city limits.
Guidebooks typically recommend this 6-mile hike for winter and spring because it's mostly along a dry riverbed in the sunlight. It's a stunning 3-mile out and back through the canyon walls and down to a glittering piece of the Rio Grande. You'll definitely spot free-ranging cattle, lots of birds and maybe a few adventurous people rock climbing the faces of the canyon near the trailhead.
It's a relatively easy hike, except your feet do sink in the sand and snow as you walk, so be prepared to sweat while you're walking in the sun, even in the winter. Bring your dog along too! My dog loved every second of running freely along with us and jumping over the rocks in the dried-up riverbed.
Just make sure to hike with a friend who has an automobile with four-wheel drive. After you turn onto Old Buckman Road, it's a skull-rattling 7.5-mile hell trip to the trailhead. My Honda Civic is going to need some bodywork after I drove there on a slushy day several weeks ago. (KL)
Indie Film Festival Keeps Growing
Though the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival's Executive Director Liesette Paisner-Bailey told SFR earlier this year that some of the fest's funding comes from grants that feature National Endowment for the Arts money, a recent $15,000 picked up from the NEA itself is no small matter. See, the SFiFF has grown explosively in the 11 years (2020 marks its 12th iteration) since it began in the old Warehouse 21 space within the pre-modern Railyard. Now, instead of a projector and folding chairs, the annual brouhaha takes over almost every theater in town to screen a combo of features, docs, shorts, art films and more. That's not even mentioning the speakers and parties, the panels and awards (which have in recent years been given to the likes of Stephanie Seymour, Tantoo Cardinal and animator Bill Plympton, among others)Turns out this was the first time SFiFF applied for the grant, too, so who even knows what next year will look like? We just hope John Waters comes back to the festhe's our greatest natural resource. (ADV)