Hatch (NM) hijinks

Though this blog is the Tucson Murals Project, from time to time we've shown murals somewhere outside Tucson — such as Randy's 2009 post from Baghdad, Iraq.

During my August visit to New Mexico, I drive through Deming. Then I drove to the village of Hatch. I also took some photos. First, though, a story.

To New Mexicans and other chile lovers), Hatch is famous for its fields of chile — and the endless number of establishments selling chile (in all forms — including delicacies like chile-shaped Christmas lights :) to travelers as well as locals. To other travelers, Hatch is a shortcut between Interstate 10 heading east and I-25 headed north (and vice versa). I passed through Hatch for both reasons: I grew up in New Mexico, so I'm a chile addict... and I was headed that way, so I took the convenient shortcut road between Deming and Hatch to save an hour or so of driving.

But this blog is actually about murals. :) Let's see some!

As I drove eastbound on NM 26 (along the portion that uses Hall Street), I spotted this mural on the front side of what looked a bit like an abandoned building:

Would you like a Google Maps satellite view of Hatch? (it's centered on the corner of Hall and Franklin Streets.)

That mural was just north of the corner where you turn left to continue eastbound (this time, in an easterly direction) on NM 26. I took the turn... and pulled over right away. What a scene!

Hatch has discovered “fun” art: murals, sculpture... it lined both sides of Franklin Street, from this corner east. Then there's the back the northeast corner) of Sparky's:

I'm showing only the corner of Hall and Franklin. If you like this kind of art, you'll Have Fun in Hatch! (And avoid Sparky's at lunchtime, if you can. When I was there, at least — as you can see from the photo above — it was jammed with hungry people.)