This is the introductory editorial for this site. In it I will tell you a bit about us, about what we intend for the site and why we are doing it.
Prior to coming here we lived in Southern California for 27 years. The climate is great, there is a lot to do but over time it seemed way too crowded for us. Despite being is close proximity to millions of people we seemed never to really find a community we could fit into. Each year we would take a summer vacation, usually to the more open states east of California. When we got to Santa Fe one year I felt this would be a great place to live. Nancy felt similarly but would have preferred Flagstaff AZ. My vote was against that as being too cold in the winter for my old bones. In 2000 we came out to scout the housing situation. In a week we looked at about 200 properties outside the city proper but within 25 miles. By great good fortune we found a home South of Madrid that we loved. Within 3 days we had made an acceptable offer. The sellers were not ready to move nor were we so they leased back from us for 18 months. For you old timers the place we bought is on Mackie’s old property with a house built by Cory and Andy Wendt incorporating the original Mackie stone building.
We moved here in May 2002 not really knowing anything about the town except it had an interesting bar and great coffee shop. We spent about a year just decompressing from the megalopolis, coming into town occasionally to meet a few people. Gradually we became aware of what an amazing place Madrid is and what a strange and wonderful group of people who have chosen to live here. Unlike our experience in California we were easily able to find people to make friends with. Since then we have become involved with any of the activities in town both as volunteers and in my self assigned role as community photographer. The development of the Madrid 2004 and 2005 photo CD’s allowed me to meet most of the business people in town and to attend most of the events here.
Now let me discuss the objectives for the site. First Madrid is a great place with great people and wonderful art but its economy isn’t so great. We need more people to visit and frankly to leave money here. So one of the objectives is to let people outside see what we have to offer. This is supported by the business directory and business pages – shamelessly stolen from my 2005 CD. Second I think that we sometimes miss out on opportunities to share with our neighbors. To help with this there is a calendar of events and a directory of local service providers. While Nancy and I have created this site we need your help to make it as good as possible. If you have events to publicize, services to offer or want to contribute an editorial please send them to BruceMcIntosh@Gmail.com