A new festival is coming to downtown Alamogordo this Saturday, bringing a Grammy-winning Tex-Mex conjunto band, a veteran norteño outfit and a lineup of food trucks to the historic New York Avenue corridor. Caliente Fest debuts September 12 at the Flickinger Center for the Performing Arts, combining indoor stage performances with outdoor dining along the city's main downtown strip.
According to KVIA ABC 7, the festival opens its doors at 3 p.m. and runs a full lineup of live music, with Grupo Veneno taking the stage at 4 p.m., Los Texmaniacs following at 5:30 p.m., and Los Marineros del Norte closing out the night at 7:30 p.m. The event, reported by KVIA's Iris Garcia Barron, is hosted by the Flickinger Center at 1110 New York Ave. General admission runs $25, while children younger than 12 get in free. Tickets are available through the Flickinger Center's website, by phone at 575-437-2202, or in person at the box office Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Beyond the ticketing details, Caliente Fest carries some serious musical pedigree. Los Texmaniacs frontman Max Baca, an Albuquerque native, led the group to its first Grammy Award in 2010. Borders y Bailes was a 2019 Smithsonian Folkways recording that received a nomination, according to Worldhaus Music. Baca formed Los Texmaniacs in 1997 to blend traditional Tex-Mex conjunto with rock, blues and R&B influences.
A New Mexican Instrument Enters the Smithsonian
Baca's connection to the instrument that defines conjunto music runs deep. As Tejano Nation reports, he became the first native New Mexican musician to have his original bajo sexto, a traditional 12-string acoustic bass-guitar, preserved in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The bajo sexto provides the signature rhythmic and harmonic foundation of conjunto and Tejano music alongside the accordion.
Saturday's other headliner, Los Marineros del Norte, brings a different but related sound. The six-piece band formed in Mexico in the mid-1990s and specializes in traditional norteño music, blending polka, cumbia, Tejano and waltz influences driven by accordion and bajo sexto, per AllMusic. The ensemble built regional popularity in the 1990s with breakthrough recordings including “Amorcito Norteño” and “No Te Convenzas.”
Inside a Converted 1950s Movie House
The venue hosting all of this is itself a piece of Alamogordo history. The Flickinger Center is a 590-seat facility converted from the 1950s-era Sierra Movie Theater, according to Wikipedia. The center hosts live performances.
The center also serves as the primary stage for the all-volunteer Alamogordo Music Theatre. The group is a community theater organization. New York Avenue is home to arts organizations including the Flickinger Center and Otero Arts, as reported by AlamogordoTownNews.com.
A Festival Tied to Local Demographics
Caliente Fest's Tex-Mex and norteño lineup lands in Alamogordo.
Outside the venue, six food trucks will line New York Avenue for the full event schedule, which runs from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., according to the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce. The setup combines the indoor stage performances with outdoor dining along the downtown commercial strip, extending the festival footprint beyond the Flickinger Center's walls.
Caliente Fest also joins an already crowded festival calendar across Otero County. The county's mountain communities of High Rolls and La Luz host the long-running Father's Day Cherry Festival and October Apple Festival each year. The La Luz Apple Festival draws day-trippers from El Paso, as Hoodline has reported. Whether Caliente Fest becomes an annual fixture alongside those traditions remains to be seen, but for its debut weekend, downtown Alamogordo has a new reason to gather along New York Avenue.
