Fiestas de Las Vegas

For four days around the Fourth of July, Historic Plaza Park in Las Vegas, New Mexico, holds a music stage and a ring of vendors. The 2026 edition, billed as the 138th Annual Fiestas de Las Vegas, ran July 2 through 5, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day. The City of Las Vegas, which stages the fiesta, reported stalls selling food, sweet treats, handmade goods and artwork, and live music from 29 bands and artists. Its count of visitors ran to the thousands, from Las Vegas, from communities across the Southwest and from across the country, and its report spoke of dancing and family reunions in the park. Admission to the Plaza is free.

The city closes the blocks around the park for the occasion. In 2026 parking was barred there from the evening of June 30 until the morning of July 6, and on parade morning portions of Bridge Street, Valencia, Gonzales, Moreno and Morrison were shut. Schedules come in a 32-page Fiestas & More Guide, issued in the Las Vegas Optic. The 2026 guide carried the entertainment lineup, the honorees, the Reina candidates and some Las Vegas history.

A crown in the West Las Vegas cafeteria

The fiesta begins in June, a week before the Plaza fills. On Sunday, June 28, 2026, at 3 p.m., nearly 200 people gathered in the West Las Vegas High School cafeteria for the Reina and Royal Court Pageant, admission free. The candidates gave speeches, performed talents, and appeared in Fiesta attire and evening wear. Brenda Ortega sang several songs. Two young women competed. Marisa Archuleta was crowned 2026 Reina de Las Vegas, and Navaeh Gurule was named Princesa. The 2025 Reina, Jaiden Saiz, handed over the crown. The special guest was Aliyanah Montoya, a girl about to start middle school, whom the city credited with “some serious pageant skills.” The city named Ane Romero as the woman who prepared and mentored the candidates.

The Fourth, from 6 a.m. to fireworks

On the morning of July 4, 2026, runners gathered at 6 a.m. The 10K started at the Montezuma Skating Pond, and the 5K started at the San Miguel County Fairgrounds. The city’s tourism office says the pond was once cut for ice by hundreds of men in the railroad years and no longer freezes. About 179 people ran. No winners were named, and a sponsorship from Southwest Capital Bank made the race free to every runner.

The parade followed and lasted about 45 minutes. Veterans and first responders led it, with Grand Marshal Dr. Eric Romero. Behind them came Mayor David Romero and City Councilors Benito Pacheco, Marvin Martinez and David Ulibarri, then the current and former Reinas and Fiesta royalty from other northern New Mexico communities. Families, children, representatives of the area’s colleges and city staff made up the rest of the entries.

After dark the Las Vegas Fire Department, working with Precision Fireworks, set off the city’s Fourth of July show. The display depends on the weather. In 2022 there was none at the Gene Torres Golf Course because of drought and a high threat of wildfire, and fireworks were banned throughout unincorporated San Miguel County that weekend.

On Sunday, July 5, the last day, children went fishing. Harris Pond had been closed to the public since June 30 so crews could prepare it, and the New Mexico Department of Wildlife stocked it with more than 200 pounds of catfish. About 100 to 120 anglers, ages 0 to 11, came from Rio Rancho, Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Roswell and Las Vegas, Nevada. They landed 95 fish: 11 in the 0–3 group, 30 in the 4–7 group, 54 in the 8–11 group. Maelegh Cordova, Ziamarra Lucero and Yadiel Orantes took first in their groups and won pedal bikes. A $25 gift card in each group went to whoever caught the smallest fish. The Las Vegas Wildlife Refuge and Fort Union set up information tables at the pond’s edge.

Saints James and Ann

According to the Santa Fe Fiesta Council, which lists the Las Vegas fiesta among its partner events, Las Vegas was officially founded in 1835 as Senora de Los Dolores de Las Vegas, Our Lady of Sorrows of the Meadows. The council’s account describes a farming town that held an annual fiesta honoring saints James and Ann for providing the water needed to feed the community. In 1888, it says, that celebration became known as the Fourth of July Fiestas. The Optic, writing in 2022, said only that the event “first began back in 1888.” The numbering runs from that year: the 2022 fiesta was billed as the 134th, the 2026 fiesta as the 138th.

The church still has a part. In 2022 the Friday program included the Reina Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, which the Optic called one of the most anticipated parts of Fiestas each year. The same day was given to traditional New Mexican music in the park, with trios and mariachi groups including Trio Bravo, Mariachi Calor, Mariachi Plata and the RHS Mariachi. On Saturday the parade stepped off at 9 a.m. Mayor Louie Trujillo then welcomed the crowd, followed by an Aztec Dance Blessing and a poem from Las Vegas Poet Laureate Kayt Peck. Political candidates spoke at 11:30. On Sunday the 5K and 10K left the Riverwalk at 7 a.m., and the 44th Army Band opened the music at 11.

Two summers without the Plaza

The 2022 fiesta was the first full one since 2019. In 2020 the fiesta was not held because the COVID-19 pandemic restricted public gatherings, and the next year still ran under pandemic changes. The Optic expected more than 10,000 people in Plaza Park for the return.

Two years later, water stopped the fiesta. On June 21, 2024, several inches of rain flooded much of the city. The reservoirs filled with debris and sediment left by the 2022 Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire and had to be shut down, leaving Las Vegas with days of usable water. On June 25 the city canceled the fiesta set for July 4–7, for which more than 11,000 visitors had been expected. “The priority at this time is providing all available water to our residents for essential needs,” the city’s release said. “Over the past 48 hours, even with many businesses closed, the limited amount of water production has not been enough to meet our current demand, even with all restrictions in place. We simply cannot sustain an event of this stature.” The Optic noted it was the second fiesta fully canceled that decade.

Backup systems held, and the restrictions were lifted over the following weeks. On August 15, 2024, the city announced a “Fall Fiestas” over Labor Day weekend, August 31 through September 2. The program had twenty-six musical acts in Plaza Park, several of the food trucks that usually line the Plaza, a parade and the 5K. Siempre opened the stage at noon on the Saturday. Kenny Medina, booked for the July fiesta that never happened, played at 3 p.m. Several names on that fall bill had also played the Plaza in 2022: Brenda Ortega, Gonzalo, Dynette Marie, Wild Country, Simpatico, Sangre Joven, and Severo y Grupo Fuego.