July 14, 2017

I had received a gift of two tickets to the folk art show preview. The tix had a very expensive sticker price with no parking near the venue. We stood in line for a shuttle bus for the short ride up to the venue. The driver seemed a little strange but friendly enough. We were on the first bus there, ready to hop off and get in line when the driver decided to take us on a sight seeing trip around the neighborhood after talking to the security people. After a few minutes of this and zooming past the entrances another time, the man in front of me, standing with his wife in the stairwell starting protesting loudly. "Hey, I didn't pay x amount for tickets to take a tour of this area. I already know it." He started chanting, "Stop this bus...stop this bus." At first I laughed, turning to my neighbor for his reaction. He stayed stoic. We both realized later, we should have pulled out our cell phones and video'd what happened.

The driver wouldn't stop, now passing the forming line of patrons, driving further and further from the venue. A woman started walking up the aisle speaking in a rough, threatening voice to and about the driver. By now, nearly everyone was chanting, "Stop this bus." Most riding the bus were senior citizens, btw. The driver finally stopped but wouldn't open the doors. The same man initiated a new chant, pounding on the door, "Let us out...let us out." This chant rose to a volume surpassing the first. She finally opened the doors.

The man told us later, after a little alcohol, we think, that the head of the whole shebang apologized to him when he entered the show. I kept thinking I would see how the other half lived, and ended up seeing how a segment of the more affluent locals behaved when frustrated. This was one of the more interesting protest events I've attended.

Santa Fe Folk Art Preview | ©Sam Escobedo 2017