First time attending this annual event. Was not thrilled with production- given 250th anniversary US. Script didn't make sense. Very long if you go right at 4. Not having been before, I scoured the do's and don't listed on the website. Despite rereading on day of event- there were significant changes made that were not updated on the Zozobra website. No lockers for items not allowed in, bag policy was changed without notification. Once in the venue- certain areas were not clearly marked (beer garden). Lots of security present- multiple items on the not allowed list seen in the venue. Fireworks and burning were good to see. Need to review the website to ensure accurate information- not wait until people arrive. Honestly, wait to enter until 730pm. Still plenty of time to peruse the vendors, buy merch, grab a spot on the lawn (general admission). read more

Attended the 100th Annivesary burning this weekend. We have attended over the past years but this time was just not well planned. There were just too many people because of the 100th year and attendance should of been limited for safety. We essentially were packed in like sardines and could not move. The food lines were outrageous, and the limited number of portable toilets with limited lighted was unacceptable. The 2nd security screening made entry slow and backed up. There was one improvement and positive. The drone shows added this year were a great addition to the fireworks. Overall, we were disappointed at 2024s burning. read more

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You couldn't pay me to go again- It's so crowded. As a Santa Fe resident, I'm hearing more and more complaints about it and people getting scared In the massive crowd. I was uncomfortable, not scared, but if a fire had started in this dry New Mexican land or a crowd stampede, Id been very frightened. What used to be a family event is now quite commercialize, what used to be 20,000 people is now 50,000. I wish I could enjoy the Zozobra of the past-it sounded so much better. read more

I must say the greed that you have to put on this show has now destroyed it forever. Me and my husband went three years ago and had the best time ever.. then we went to the hundredth anniversary and saw how greed overtook what was once and enjoyable, cultural celebration for New Mexico people you turned it into chaos. we were packed like sardines. You can cut all the flipping trees and make it as ugly as you want to to try and pack more sardines this year, but guess what those of us that experienced what you've done to a beautiful tradition are now soured forever. We will never return. Keep your greedy hands after somebody will not support you anymore. What a shame that y'all destroyed it's a crying shame. read more

It's interesting that Zozobra isn't better known. Or known at all for that matter. before going I asked friends around the country about it, and no one knew about it. Once we were in Santa Fe I asked people about it and of course they had heard of it, but many hadn't been to it. I was surprised. I had been as a kid a couple times when I lived in Santa Fe. I had great memories, but I questioned that it could be as good as I remembered. We decided not to take on the parking challenge, so we took a ride share. It was an easy walk from there. There was strict metal detectors and security and there was no alcohol, so I was not surprised at how family friendly it felt once inside. We were only slightly early, but we got to enjoy some of the live music before there show. Pretty good stuff. The show itself started slow. I realized 20 minutes in it was on purpose, as to build the suspense. the fire dancer built things up,, small fireworks going off one by one. I don't want to spoil things and tell you all that happens, but it stay till the very end, things get bigger and bigger. It was easy to leave, and we all had a good time. And honestly, I was fine they didn't have beer, it was a nice trade off that it was a friendly non-drunk crowd. I'm sure if we are in town again at the right time, it would be nice to go back. read more

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This is a tradition in Santa Fe, and it was my first time going with someone that had experienced it as kid. The idea of the festival is to mark the start of the fiestas, and to do so, they burn this giant marionette. The marionette is called "old man gloom" and inside of him are all the worries and troubles people want to leave behind, forget, and symbolically see them burn when the marionette burns at the end of the festival. The burning of old man gloom is the finale, followed by a show of fireworks that will keep everyone in awe. While the festival gets to this point, there's music, food trucks, and vendors keeping the people entertained. It is a first come event, so if you get there early the better chance you get to be closer to the stage but honestly it doesn't matte much. The main event, as mentioned, is the burning of mad who stands 50 feet tall, so everyone in attendance can see it and celebrate the start of a "new year". I was very impressed with how organized and safe the whole thing was, especially when there was (reported) about 60K people there. Nice to have started my trip to Santa Fe with a local tradition. read more

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Would not recommend. This event has to be organized by actual idiots. The line to get in is just a mass of people pushing forward towards whichever entrance they end up at. Simple ropes or barriers to define the lines could fix this. They don't really even check tickets once you're thru the first security checkpoint so there's no capacity threshold checks going on. There's a second security checkpoint that's even more chaotic and badly organized. The park is too small for how many people are there. There's one trash can for the entire crowd. There's 4 port a potty's for the entire crowd. And there's a big tree blocking your view of anything. read more

Zozobra - Good view watching a bright spot light. - Performing Arts Near Me - Santa Fe, New Mexico

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I would not recommend this event. I've never seen a public event so badly organized. The location is way too small for the crowd size. You are packed in like sardines with little place to move. Everyone is standing so it's impossible to see the event. It's just a sea of crowd with not defined exit so people push past you constantly when they want to leave early. It's ripe for a stampede or mass casualty event sadly. It's mostly adults and they reeked of booze and cannabis. The police presence was there on the exit and entry but not enough in the crowds. read more

The BURNING OF ZOZOBRA, or OLD MAN GLOOM, has taken place for 83 years as a kick-off to the FIESTAS DE SANTA FE. Any chance this was the pre-cursor to BURNING MAN?????? www.zozobra.org "Zozobra is a hideous, but harmless FIFTY FOOT MARIONETTE. He is a toothless, empty-headed facade. He has no guts and doesn't have a leg to stand on. He is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. He never wins. He moans and groans, rolls his eyes and twists his head. His mouth gapes and chomps. His arms flail about in frustration. Every year we do him in. We string him up and burn him down in ablaze of fireworks. At last, he is gone, taking with him all our troubles for another whole year. Santa Fe celebrates another victory. Viva la Fiesta!" - A.W. Denninger (from the website - www.zozobra.org/history) This tradition of kicking off Fiestas has ENDURED SINCE 1924! It is the city's way of releasing all the BAD SPIRITS THAT LURK ABOUT and the GLOOM WE CARRY INSIDE US for another year. The celebration begins slowly as nightfall sets in. The FIRE SPIRIT DANCER appears! Zozobra begins to slowly move his arms and head with a very slow moaning & groaning beginning. The Fire Spirit Dancer, dressed in red, with increasing intensity drives alway the SPIRITS OF GLOOM, dancers dressed in white, from the steps at the base of Zozobra . As they begin to dance FASTER AND FASTER to the music, they light the bottom of Zozobra's LONG DRAPED ROBE, it slowly burns up & up, he begins to thrash violently and with increasingly LOUDER AND LOUDER FURY! FIREWORKS begin to light up the sky shot from the base of the figure and the music INCREASES IN INTENSITY and his GROANS BECOME LOUDER . . . . until . . . . . . finally he is caught up in a FURY OF FLAMES and GROANS and . . . . then . . . then . . . he is GONE. . . along with ALL OUR GLOOM so we can CELEBRATE FIESTAS for yet another year! A renouned tradition, the OLDEST CIVIC CELEBRATION IN NORTH AMERICA, Zozobra was created by one of the original Santa Fe artists, Will Schuster, and is carried on by the local Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe as a community fundraiser. "The fire dance was created by Jacques Cartier, a former New York ballet dancer and local dance teacher, who performed the role for 37 years. His dance student, James Lilienthal took over the fire spirit role in 1970 and has continued it for 32 years." FIESTAS DE SANTA FE is a time of music, dancing, fun & celebration, good food & friendships. When my parents were still in Santa Fe, they lived right next door to this park, so I always had front row seats - of course I was looking at Z's backside, but, hey, the food was free and the wine bottle was bottomless! A TIME OF JOY each September! A TIME YOU WON'T EVER FORGET, if you are lucky enough to be at the BURNING OF OLD MAN GLOOM! ZOZOBRA! www.zozobra.org read more

Zozobra - Performing Arts Near Me - Santa Fe, New Mexico

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This was the worst event I've ever been to in any of the places I've ever lived to be honest. The event didn't start until like 90 minutes after it was supposed to due to there being too many people trying to get in and they were waiting for everyone to make it inside before starting. The musical selections sucked, the live band they had was honestly awful, and it took them forever to burn the damn thing. Once they actually started the burn it was like 5 minutes and that was it. Completely underwhelming and embarrassing to be honest. There was also no coordination or organization with getting guests onto the shuttles back to the train station where they had parking. We had to wait in a huge throng of people for about 2 hours for the shuttles and people were constantly cutting in line and shoving us in the main line to the side. Do not waste time or money on this event I'm begging you. read more

Very fun experience must recommend we got front row seats and got some free merch along with a free pass to look at him up close. read more

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The event sounded cool and we waited and prepared for months to go. We scoured the website and thought we were ALL good to go... we bought a plastic see-through backpack but read on their website NO BACKPACKS... so we returned it and got teeny around the waist packs which the website said they allowed... but when we got their the security said our packs were "too big" and made us put all of our tiny bags into see-though plastic bags, which I have no clue to how that made us safer. When we asked why--we were told for security reasons--and that actually the event was less safe then ever because of recent shootings. We brought a blanket and were wanded and patted down, but the security never checked the blanket--which hey hey hey--would have been a really great place to hide a gun. We were so disgusted at the "security theater," we decided to bail. Unless you are from Santa Fe, don't bother going: It really seems like a locals (only/mostly) event. And if I was from Santa Fe, I'd worry about defenselessly getting corralled into that large crowd. At least from were I'm from, security at local events actually tries to keep families safe. read more

The Burning of Zozobra is a not to be missed event. Let me tell you in advance; there is no booze, there are no seats, and you will do a lot of walking. So, my advise is to bring either seats or blankets. Get there early to get a good seat. You can buy hamburgers, funnel cake, cotton candy and soft drinks there. I'd advise eating beforehand. Or bring your own picnic. And before you get there, write out things you'd like gone from your life on little pieces of paper. If you get there before dark, you can go up front and have them put into boxes that will be put inside Zozobra so your bad things can be burnt right along with him. Very cathartic. As for getting to the event, you'll hear that there are shuttle buses. There are not. You can ride the regular bus (the #2) into downtown, but that only runs until 10:30pm. Pay for parking downtown. Again, get there early. WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES. And you will get ash and smoke on you. Don't get your hair done or wear a nice outfit. Deal with it, or stay home. It is one hell of a good time. The people in charge could cut down on the amount of interpretive dance before they actually torch him, but it did give me a chance to hit a port-a-potty and they did set off a Fourth of July worth of fireworks. They will not torch him before full dark. And they will take their time doing it. Once lit, he will burn up in about a minute. And then everyone will head for the exits. This will take more time than the set-up to burning him. Again, plan for this. Either deal with the slow crush to get out of the park, settle down in the park and listen to the free music, or find an alternate place to watch. But where else are you going to see a three-story-tall marionette scream as he burns and people cheer while fireworks are set off? Might be slightly disturbing for the younger viewer. :) read more

Amazing 57,000 people If you don't like big crowds or a lot of people.. This is not your event This was my first time attending and it's crazy but definitely worth experiencing... I have lived in Albuquerque for 22 years. The meaning is to leave behind your negative energy and let the old person go. Firework show was impressive.. They do have fire dancers but was too far to see anything... Be prepared to walk quite a bit.. read more

2014 - Love this event...we go every year! Only complaint is the food prices are crazy! $6 bucks for a lemonade $10 for an Indian taco. Cool thing is you can bring your own food into the park. Major issue this year was the guy who sang the National Anthem he messed up and said "something something something...or whatever" then said whoops let's try again...crowed booed. It's really disrespectful to play out your mistake like that. Hope he isn't asked to come back. read more

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VIVA LA FIESTA Copyright 1990, 2000, 2010 Katrina Levert Kirkpatrick Eyes shinning like diamonds across a crowded room Ruben & Antonio strum a Spanish tune Flirting smiles on the rise randy wishes in disguise Flirting, floating, tantalizing Like illusive fireflies Better get myself back to the Bay Else I'm never, ever gonna Get out of Santa Fe Every night at home I have the neatest dream Then I wake up To the same ole scene No clouds above No earth below Traffic's backed up From the bridge to Tahoe Movers and shakers eating gourmet pizza Oh take me back to Hollyhocks and chamisa Galleries galore The old, the new, the rare The smell of sopapillas and walks on the square To be lost & found was a hidden treasure Viva, viva, viva Birds of a different feather Visions of vista's Dancing in my head From opera to Indians All around the bed Beware of pirouettes And another funny thing There are no Matadors At the Bull Ring This one over here Wants to see me dance That one over there Wants to make romance Jimmy, Joey, Jocko Me oh, me oh, my oh! I would settle for tacos Later in Chimayo See Paul, Ron, Blair And Nick Just one more tequila Then I'll take my pick Theres "little" Richard Thrown in for good measure Viva, Viva, Viva Viva La Fiesta! Then comes Roberto Courting with his feet Any single direction For a lover's leap On a flee to safety La Fonda created Bill And my mind starts to echo Uncle John's will Hello Glynn, Lynn, Doug & Dave Lingering thoughts Between a casual wave Games, names And what's your pleasure? Viva, Viva, Viva Viva La Fiesta! When Fiesta winds down Autumn is at the door I'll be homeward bound Santa Fe no more Riding on the wing As the sun begins to sink Reflecting golden moments Golden at The Pink But something got left behind Thought I had come home Beauty is skin deep Ugly is to the bone The notion in my head Seems to never fail All roads lead down the ole' Santa Fe Trail And if I were free To give my heart away Would you buy me an adobe? Would you love me every day? Lunches at the Palace Margaritas every night Picnics in the aspen A horse would be alright Sweet, cunning Diana And her Spanish eyes Comfort and amuse me With her alibis Paseo de Peralta Take me for a spin There are some circles Worth the price of sin 10,000 waves Starry turquoise skies Gaze the aspen moon A trillion, million sighs Gather all your sorrows Learn a different tune Come to Zozobra See The Old Man Gloom Burn , Burn, Burn Hear the masses shout A 50 foot marionette Shaking all about Blazing flames of glory Guarantee to getcha Viva, Viva, Viva Viva La Fiesta! read more

Soooo much fun. It was great to see old and young screaming "burn!" Love the symbolism of the festival and met some really great people. Everyone was very friendly, and the festival is a great time. Lots of fireworks, performers, and buildup to the big burning. The Marionette is well done, moves, moans and groans, lots of fun! read more

Zozobra! Something you must see! First - the other reviews here are great! read them also, this is just my small experience. Ok... just a few things, no there isn't any alcohol but that might be good for some. The bands I have never heard of but they were good. I have never met a person who couldn't get in at the gate, so you don't have to buy tickets ahead of time like the website says. Food there was well... fair type food with long lines and big prices, eat before you go. Now on with Zozobra. 2008 was my first Zozbra and WOW was I amazed! Nearly 25,000 people showed up and a good majority was just 30 minutes or so before the big show. The VERY best fireworks show I have ever seen! another great thing was hearing the kids chant "Burn Him, Burn Him, Burn Him!!" Which sounds awful but read Rachel's review to get a better history on it and why kids would be chanting that. Over all it was just a killer awesome event and would love to go to it again! read more

Incredibly crowded and incredibly boring. Giant waste of time. Long lines for shitty food and no booze. Fireworks seemed like a couple dudes threw it together in an afternoon. Show was drawn out and stupid read more

Zozobra is hands down the coolest thing about Santa Fe. Reviewer Rachel already did a good job of explaining the history, so I won't go over that again. I'll just say some of the funnest times I've had in this town have been at the beginning of Fiestas when they burn Old Man Gloom. Too many times I've had to work and missed it but I've still seen it 4 times, once in 1982 when I was a wee child and then 3 more times in the past 8 years. It has changed (in my eyes) from a much smaller crowd (1982) watching him burn from what seemed like much closer up, to the even more massive inundation of downtown by drunks, old-timers, tourists, part-timers, kids, leftover Fiesta goers, accidental tourists and whatever else you can think of. I have to say I think last night was the best one ever for me. I walked to the top of the path to the cross and watched him burn while drinking a couple of beers with my pal and we had a great view. Of course you never know who might plop down next to you and this year it was a couple of biddies who talked about lung cancer to each other while me and my pal smoked (and then chain smoked to try to get them to move). We later dubbed them "the staters of the obvious" as they felt the need to narrate each and every detail of the night but oddly late, like "oh, he's making some sort of noise, do you hear that" all the while, Old Man Gloom has been moaning and wailing for 5 minutes, getting louder and louder all the time and if not for the yapping blather of Our Ladies Of The Obvious behind us, they might have heard it earlier. Of course this all added to the night - My favorite - "Oh no, we're missing McCain's speech!!!" - reminding me to add another bad thought from the last year to the fire. Thanks ladies, for some pretty incredible entertainment. You filled the gap that I like to call "round 2" that was sadly missing this year: As you walk away from the field, after the burning, marching along in the sea of people all screaming "Viva Fiestas" and some even singing, you are usually greeted after walking past the Scottish Rite Temple by the fine folks from Potter's House, who have set up a flatbed trailer and given microphones to some of their teenage members and piped up the PA system and broadcast for all to hear about how evil we all are for participating in the Pagan ceremony of Zozobra. Pure excitement! But like I said, gone this year, or maybe they were somewhere else and I didn't see them. Phooey. Well anyhow, the Ladies Of The Obvious were almost as entertaining, so many thanks to them and I hope their dog is ok and one of them makes it to her hair appointment next time (instead of forgetting it like she did yesterday, sillyhead) and I know they're worried about kids thinking Zozbra is too scary but I'm sure they'll figure something out in years to come and one day we'll be able to thank them and their "Committee for Censoring the Ceremony" and I'm sure the McCain speech will live on in some other form, re-incarnated as a hot dog or a birch beetle one day or maybe even as a youtube video, imagine that?! read more

One of the worst organized public events I've ever attended. We had premium tickets, but there was no expedited check in. Then we couldn't find anyplace to fill our water bottle. We were hoping to have a glass of wine or two, but we couldn't find any vendors. We were "east of the beast", so we were pretty close, but still had to peer over the many folks in front of us to see. They started and finished early due to rain, so everyone headed for the exits before 10pm. We had ridden the Rail Runner up from Bernalillo, which worked fine on the way up, but there were thousands of people lined up to catch the shuttles back to the train station, and the shuttles couldn't move due to gridlock. Since we had plenty of time, we decided to have a drink and then catch an Uber to the train. However, all the bars on Washington Street had unexplainably closed at 10pm on a Friday night. And Uber was charging about 5 times their normal rate for rides. So we ended up walking a mile and a half in the rain to the train station. If you have a room in downtown Santa Fe, go to Zozobra and enjoy it. But if you're commuting from somewhere else, DON'T GO! Stay home and do something more enjoyable. read more

Four stars We went to the 2015 Zozobra and had a great time despite the rain. I timed the official show, including the robed people and the fire dancers to the end of the fireworks to be about 40 minutes with Old Man Gloom groaning or growling throughout until he collapses into cinders. The fireworks start before Zozobra starts to animate, and continue as accents throughout the firedancer and Zozobra's gyrations and flashing eyes. Finally fireworks go off in his head and body, then the flames start. The fire seems to last for about ten minutes until He collapses, then the big fireworks show takes over the remainder of the show with big long lasting display and bigger finale. It was a great show. However I have some helpful suggestions for the organizers and out of town visitors. I'm somewhat surprised that after 91 years these details still need to be addressed. - I could not find the actual location (Fort Marcy Park, 490 Bishops Lodge Road, Santa Fe) mentioned anywhere on the official event map or website. The only map showed a too-small-to-use version of shuttle and train routes with an arrow pointing off the top of the map toward "Zozobra." Maybe clear to people who already know where it is, not so clear to new people. I did not find the name Fort Marcy Park anywhere. This should be on the front page of the website. Visitors need to plan and want to know about nearby restaurants, etc. - We arrived early and found what appeared to be free and legal parking outside Fort Marcy Park on Old Taos Highway which is a back street with no curbstones. This impression was reinforced by some specific locations with "no parking between signs" and no other signage. I've been to many events and festivals over the last 60 years and if there were temporary festival related parking restrictions, officials have always put up plenty of temporary no-parking signs, but for Zozobra, nothing. Nor did any of the many nearby security guards advise us of the parking restriction. We parked in a safe-looking unmarked space and went into the city for food and to kill time spending money locally. When it started raining, we went back to the car to read and wait until the event was closer. Lucky us, we were there when a fleet of police cars and tow vehicles arrived to tag and tow all the cars that were lulled into parking in the unmarked areas. We escaped just in time. This lack of proper notification reeks of entrapment. Out-of-towners beware. For $10 we were able park a block away. I shudder to think of the fines and delays for the unsuspecting victims getting their cars out of hock at midnight. - Thirdly, somebody needs to hire a qualified sound professional. When we came onto the grounds an excellent rock group was doing a great job of covering a bunch of crowd-pleasers. Their sound was perfect and I'm convinced that's because they monitored their own sound. After that, another band came on and clearly good sound control went away. Everything for the rest of the evening (up to the pre-recorded Zozobra soundtrack which was done well) was massively over-driven, resulting in painful distortion, loss of all detail, and mostly only buzzy thumps of the bass. This was true for the musical acts and the announcers. I was very disappointed in not being able to clearly hear the all-female Mariachi band because of the over-driven sound equipment. It's a shame for the many people who worked hard to put together their acts or their speeches only to have it trashed by a clueless sound operator. - Finally, amateur speakers, enough of the repeated "I can't hear you" gimmick. It's like telling the same joke over and over. Twice is too much. But Zozobra itself was great. read more

An event with so much potential. Cool but for hours preceding the burn there is really is a huge gathering for 10 minutes of burning with nothing going on beforehand. recommend you arrive as late as you can toward. 9:00 so you don't have to wait and do nothing . Walk as close as you'd like and watch the burn. Would be a better festival with a better location and activities, drinks and food while you wait hours for a quick burn. One Zozobra is lit however it's fun to watch his burn while people scream and yell Burn him! Its nothing like the "Burning Man" event, but it's a family friendly safe albeit a bit boring, original burning man event. Charge double and add an adult area with cocktails, good live entertainment, preceding the burn and then you're on to something. Worth seeing while we happened to be there in town, but don't plan a trip to Santa Fe just for this event. read more