Last year, Santa Fe Public Schools' music education program planned a promotional event and fundraiser with MusicFest, a weeklong celebration of music performed by students in various band, orchestra, string ensemble and choral groups in the public schools.

That event was such a hit that it's being revived this year, starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 15 with the usual array of speeches followed by music performances on the Plaza Bandstand. A musical parade featuring middle and high school bands and Mariachi Estrella starts at 12:30 p.m., and then student performing groups will play from 1 to 3 p.m. along Canyon Road, as they did last year. All of these events are free, but others — including a 5:30 p.m. concert featuring high school choirs and members of the Santa Fe Women's Ensemble, are by admission, with proceeds benefiting the music program. That latter event, held at Zane Bennett Contemporary Art Gallery on Guadalupe Street, includes a light dinner and champagne.

Festivities continue through the end of the month and include a music faculty cabaret concert on Oct. 28 and a Retro Tea Dance with Santa Fe Swing Shift on the afternoon of Oct. 30. More than 400 public school students will perform during this week, according to Leanne DeVane, coordinator of music education for the district.

"Last year was a success," DeVane said. "We had students performing in front of Canyon Road galleries alongside visual artists who were creating works of art. It was a nice combo of the visual arts community and children from public schools playing music. Canyon Road was packed with people at every performance spot."

This year DeVane's coordinated a few new events, like the faculty cabaret show, and the retro dance, which she described as a replication of a 1930s/1940s swing dance in Acequia Madre Elementary School's gym. Swing Shift will donate its services to provide music for the event. That's from 3 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 30, and tickets are $10 at the door.

Visit sfpsmusicfest.org for a list of events and more information.


"Get your facts first, and then you can distort 'em as much as you please," Mark Twain reportedly said. I don't try to distort facts when I make mistakes — I just make mistakes. Last week's column focused on the one-year anniversary of Dollars4Schools, an independent website designed to raise money for Santa Fe Public Schools programs. I said the site was created by Santafe.com but that wasn't right. It was founded by Patricia and Michael French, the previous owners of Santafe.com. Chris Svetnika is the site's one paid employee, thanks in part to grants from both the Frost Foundation and private individuals. Visit Dollars4Schools.org for more information.


Kudos to Santa Fe Public Schools' students Austin Tyra (the Academy at Larragoite), Elisha Apodaca (Capital High School) and Emily Durham (Santa Fe High School). Last Tuesday, Judge George Anaya swore the trio into office as student advisers to the Board of Education for the 2011-2012 school year. While these advisers have no voting power, they are usually encouraged by the adult board members to speak out on any topic the board raises during meetings.


8,700 lunches, 3,300 breakfasts, and 800 after-school snacks: that's what the more than 100 employees of Santa Fe Public Schools' Department of Student Nutrition prepare daily for students. This is National School Lunch Week (Oct. 10-14) and SFPS is encouraging visitors to sample lunch at your nearest school. It only costs $3 (adults, cash only). Last February, I wrote a piece called "What's For Lunch?" for The New Mexican's food page about my good and not-so-good experiences eating in about 10 of the district's schools. You can still find that article via Google.