Report from Santa Fe; Michael Cerletti

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... And that our hearts are beating fast I think it's almost time for the fair So first of all I'd like you to tell us a little about your background We've known each other for years and then what what is with exponent in Mexico on what's new and exciting this year? Okay By way of background marine I was born and raised in San Francisco and We came here my wife and I came here in 1974 and i my whole career has essentially been in the hospitality business, I had a couple of restaurants

out in California and then I ran a large golf club. When I came to New Mexico I got into the hotel business, in fact I was brought here to La Pazada de Santa Fe in fact where I was the managing partner for ten and a half years and then subsequent to that I also did the hotel St. Francis here in Santa Fe and built the Plaza Real here in Santa Fe, La Pazada de Albuquerque down in Albuquerque, Los Alamos Inn and the last one was Rancho Encantado which was which is lovely was a lovely resort just north of town that I know you're very familiar with we used to see you out there a lot yeah so that's that's been pretty much my career and then but when you say you're in the hotel business I must tell you you are really being very deprecating and and and you are one of the few inkeepers that New Mexico has known there are people like Betty Ditto there's you know some very fine people who've devoted their life to this profession

but you bring that touch of glass at a claw to whatever property you're with and now you're bringing it to the state fair. Well thank you I appreciate that I that's all I've done in my whole life is I started out at age 15 and working in a restaurant in a in a resort area northern California and it's just sort of sort of going from there. Now you did wear an academic hat for a while tell us about your a couple of years at state and then your government experience has cabinet secretary for tourism our first cabinet secretary for tourism in 1919 from 1991 till 1995 under governor Bruce King right when when governor King campaigned that time one of his platforms was to split the Department of Economic Development and Tourism into two separate cabinet positions because of the importance of tourism. Visionary a very good idea. Absolutely was and it's still it is still has department status of course cabinet status I should say and I was I was very honored to be selected by governor King to be the first secretary

and I enjoyed my four years very very much and that was really the first experience I had outside of the private sector and then in in 19 let's see I'm in 2000 I was asked to go to New Mexico State University to take over the department of hotel restaurant in terms of management and I was I committed to do that for one year turned out to be two years but it was a wonderful experience great program terrific school and those kids were wonderful and we had a we had a faculty of seven and and 300 300 students in the program and I'm very very proud of that program and it continues to do well in fact Janet Green who was a former secretary of tourism took my place down there and Janet is still there and doing a great job well I wish her well she's one of our favorite people and we miss her in Santa Fe so now you've landed as general manager of expo New Mexico tell us about the new name who thought it up what does it

signify and what do we have to look forward to it this year's fair the name when when when the governor asked if asked me to to take the job I did a little bit of a little bit of research just to I mean obviously I had been to the fair many times but I really didn't know a lot about the internal workings of it I didn't know very much about it other than I had been to it the one thing that that I that I found out was that there was a perception and still is a perception that with many people that that the only thing to the fair at the fair was the fair and while the several people when I said well I was going to go and be the manager of the fair several people said well what do you do the rest of the time you know sort of like it's because it's a 17-day annual event but there's a whole lot more to the fair than than just the fair and so it occurred to me that what we really needed to do is maybe try and and and and give the venue not the fair

it's it's the state fair is still the state fair but to give the venue more to to to really more accurately accurately reflect what it really is and so I just started thinking of names and and I just thought of expo and again there are no new ideas I knew I know that lots of the some of the the world's the world's fairs and stuff have been called expositions and and then and then also the state of california several years ago change theirs to cal expo and since when we change the name there are probably a half a dozen other fairs in the country I found out that that that that have done or or doing that it can't sound as good as expo new mexico expo Kansas and also it and you know everything is cyclical the original name for that for the new mexico state fair back in 1881 was the new mexico agricultural mineral and industrial exposition

so we've come full circle yes we're back to the expo was it also called the territorial fairs like it was called the territorial fair it's in the harvest festival it's had it's had several there have been several incarnations with with that with that facility um and and one of the things although again the fair is is is the most important event in the largest event that goes on there every year last year we had five hundred and thirty nine thousand people who attended the fair during during the 17 days which is a lot of people but over and above that we had more than a million people the rest of the year came to to different things at expo I don't think people really realize that so you could have a million more or less during the actual fair but a million the the other days not that seventeen that's right for the rest of the year exactly yeah people need to know that yeah and so that's why we thought well let's kind of let's and let's try to let people know that there's more to say more to the fair than just the fair and this is fair

number 66 so tell us about the theme our theme is here is 66 years on root 66 and as as you know um and hopefully most of our viewers know uh the fair is in fact located right on um on central avenue and and old root 66 so we thought that was kind of an appropriate name and and it's been great fun doing doing some of our some of our promotional stuff kind of surrounding the 66 years on root six so you have the 66 highway sign you have a lot this logo incorporated into you yes now um for this year's fair yeah you have there are there just so many things to talk about the exhibits quite why do people go to the fair the exhibits the racetrack the rodeo of the food booth um the the concerts it's there's so much all of that all of that as as as we like to say it's still true it's still the greatest show in New Mexico uh this year the carnival I forgot about the carnival yeah great carnival this year and um uh one one of the things that

that we're very excited about is for the whole 17 days of the fair this year we're going to have the world famous um uh Budweiser Clod's dance and you know sometimes we've had them in the past for a day or two and and this year they're going to be with us the whole 17 days and give people an opportunity to see them and to uh and and and every day they're going to be leading the uh leading r the the parade around the the the the fairgrounds into the in in around the coliseum and in on the fairgrounds itself and uh so we're very excited about that lots of photo opportunities with them and they are as they're advertised as the gentle giants and they truly are I've only I've only had one I've been fortunate enough once to see them and uh they're in person and they're too horrific I've seen them in person and and they had a fool they had a Clyde stale fool which is of course as big as any ordinary horse but it was just so beautiful I think they're absolutely magical creatures and and I'm I'm thrilled to know that

you're going to have them there all 17 days we've got them and then we've got the the normal all all of the terrific exhibits we have we have our our four-h our four-h kids and our FFA kids and and we're really trying to put a lot of emphasis this year too on the junior livestock sale you know what the junior livestock sale is is is is many people know but for those that don't uh basically it is the sale of the animals that that the kids uh raise and uh and groom and take good care of and then bring to the fair and um and then they're they're auctioned off and and it's a terrific fundraiser for for the kids the kids get the money and um and and the commission I've got it it's a terrific commission this this the commission that we have the state fair commission and they are all working very very diligently as is the the great staff that that we have to make this junior livestock sale the best that we've ever had and there've been so many many many generous

people that that come every year and uh and this year we're hoping to really increase that number I'm glad to hear that because it's so poignant to me to think of this child raising this animal and then selling it I want them to get a whole lot of money to understand you know to see how the cycle goes and then they get another animal to raise and all of that and and you've had some celebrity contests too I think you have a goat milking and we've got all that we've got we've got um of course we've got the all of the the the the the the animals that we we have the the the the milking is that we've got the the cattle we've got the dairy cows we've got the heifers we've got the rabbits we've got the poultry we've got them all and we and everybody so proud as they should be of these of these animals that they have brought to that fair and uh and then in addition of course we've got the pies and the pickles and all the great things that that make a fair a fair yeah and and incredible floral displays and uh and the red barn the baby animals the the

baby animals where we're that it's like the petting zoo sort of where they can the kids can come and see the see the the baby animals and pet them and hold them and we think that's all that's all very very important for for the education especially for the educational aspect I mean it's a lot of fun but it's important too as agriculture is is so important in our country and and so important in the state of New Mexico but as we become sometimes we become a bit more urbanized people kind of forget that the the the big role that agriculture plays in in our state and and the fair goes the long way toward educating people about all well everybody's country at the fair yeah that's exactly right in fact I've threatened to uh I threatened even everybody says well you know about all this your city boy well I have a city boy but I spend a lot of my growing up years on it on on a ranch on a ranch that my family had out in Petaloma, California and uh so

I know how to milk the cow and and that my mother was one of the contests once as the fastest milker in whatever the county she was living in out in out in California so I'm hoping some of those genes will yes we'll come back again when I'm well maybe you'll enter one of the contests on the vineyard contest but Lisa I'll give it I'll give it a shot well those people that are not country a lot of them come to rock and roll and to listen to country music um could you tell us the lineup for some of the evening shows and and the the real stars that are coming we've got we're opening with opening with Martina McBride and she's terrific I have not seen her I've seen her on television I have never seen her in concert I understand she puts on just just a great show and she is going to be along with another act one by the name of Jamie O'Neill and um and and I'm I'm told also Jamie's terrific we also have Ashanti Ashanti is was just recently

she's really an up-and-comer and is is on the charts that and everybody one of the things I found out and doing all these bookings is these charts are very very important where they are with their songs and with their music and Ashanti is is I think going to be also a big draw for us we also we have the we have eight rodeos this year cut that number down we last year we had Tim we've cut it down to eight this year and we've got some terrific performers following the the concerts following the rodeos we've got we've got three doors down which is a fairly new group but very very well known I saw them on Letterman about oh maybe I guess six weeks or so ago we also have the we have the the dubie brothers I'm going to I'm going to look down on the list so I don't miss too many names to remember and we got we have the the the dubie brothers and uh Jodi Macina Jodi Macina and again I understand that that very these are going to be big names

the people are going to that they're going to want to come and see and in fact we already know that because as I did before yesterday our tickets sales were up about 10% over last year so we're excited about that we hope that we hope that that stays we have rascal flats we've got Aaron Tipton we've got Ricky van Shelton and we've got Steve Holy and Gary Allen and we have credence clearwater revisited which is more kind of my era yeah mine too I saw you skipped over Cirque des Amis circuses it's sort of like Cirque des Soleils yeah it's exactly what it's like and I was going to I'm going to mention that what we decided this year try something a little bit new and on on three days two of which are normally dark which you know nothing would be normally going on we decided to try something a little bit new so we have booked in an act called Cirque

des Amis and we've seen the the promotional videos on it the footage and I think they're going to be just terrific it it is a show similar to Cirque des Soleil and in their promotional stuff they it says that that approximately 50% of the of their performers are former performers with with Cirque des Soleil so it's not a circus it's it's a Cirque and and I think that that you probably are aware and hopefully most of the viewers are aware it's lots of trepis lots of acrobatics and and they're coming down on the chiffon and all that stuff so we're very excited about that it's a bit of a gamble for us but we we we really want to see if it's going to work and we're doing it three nights as I say and that's going to be let's see was it Monday I think it's Monday Tuesday Wednesday I should have that right here and but anyway it'll be well advertised people will be well advertised I applaud you're moving toward the Cirque des Amis not that I know

this group into particular but circuses are so entrancing and not so much you know they're moving away from the elephants and that but but there's even a circus and Santa Fe that charges 50 cents for kids and there's acrobatics and still walking and and people just love that I think it's a really a good bet and a very interesting way to expand so we hope we hope this is going to I look forward to working with myself they're out of they're out of Montreal oh well that absolutely the best so we're excited about that yeah yeah I must tell you that my daughter took a circus workshop this summer and she learned to swing on the trapeze I mean we're ongoing oh my lord and to walk on stilts and the juggle and all this and people are just thrilled with this and the way they're doing it for all of us those it was who are afraid of heights and not going to get up there it's just thrilling to watch well next year she can be a headliner well we'll see we'll see so um and when we talked about the rodeo my first rodeo here Fern Sawyer troop the colors she tore in she's a very famous cowgirl ran through a rodeo woman yeah I'm just

telling our viewers in case they don't remember Fern Sawyer the only cowgirl and the cowboy hall of fame of it she would troop the colors just riding like the wind with the flag it was just thrilling to see so I know that you've got some championship rodeos people coming and it should be quite an event how many nights do you have eight nights of rodeo eight nights of rodeo right okay and then and then the last night what the last afternoon actually which is a tradition is we have the the bullwriters the bullwriting bullwriting is a sport laryn that is just it's just so incredibly popular it's kind of interesting because in some in some areas rodeo attendance is down just a bit but but boy the bullwriting is up and in last February in fact we had the the the professional circuit that the the should know that anybody the professional bullwriters PBR that's what it is PBR yeah and they were they were they were here and and sold out tingly two nights both nights

and it was just there it's a great show and so on on Sunday night the Sunday afternoon the closing of the fair we will have we will have a bullwriting we did that every year how great great now what days the parade everyone looks forward to the parade is the sixth the sixth of September which is Saturday starting at about nine o'clock and and it starts at the fair goes down central I think goes down to you bank I think and and it's a couple of miles and it's it's going to be a great parade and in our our our grand marshal this year is one of the most talented and one of the most charming men that I have ever met Wilson Hurley who is the the artist and and one of the things that mr. Hurley did for us this year is we have our very first we have our first poster first state fair poster and and Wilson Hurley allowed us to use this fabulous image of his

which is called distant rain and which will after that will be in the in the in Needle Matucci's gallery along with with a lot of Wilson Hurley's other works of his and and I wish I had the brought the poster and it is it is beautiful it's just been it it it came out just perfectly and both he and his wife are two of the most delightful people that I've ever had the privilege of meeting and again great artist great talent and the grand marshal of our parade this year and you might start a tradition of doing that it's like the Santa Fe Opera always used different paintings by Georgia O'Keefe year after year to promote their their summer program you might continue that with the fair well we're going to do that we're going to do this is we hope this is this is the first annual yeah I don't know that we can prevail on mr. on mr. Hurley to to do one for us every year but that might not be a bad idea but we're we're looking very forward to that we

think that that's going to be do very well for us and it's it's a fundraiser for the fair and and as you and I have talked about before the fair is is is one of the the few agencies in state government that that is what we call an enterprise fund and what that means is that we've got to pay our own way and we get no we get no money from from the legislature for any any operational money we do get we do get some money for capital improvements but also we we have we have the ability to bond and so sometimes we we do bonds but again the bonds have to be paid back we have to pay them back and so if the fair does not operate at least at a break even when I say the fair I mean expo I mean the whole the whole complex then then there is no expo and there is no fair and we have a we have our budget is about 14 and a half million dollars and so that means that we need to be able to take in at least 15

another another one of our great tenants is the Downs at Albuquerque they've been they've been terrific and of course they have the the the live racing and then they also have simulcast racing and then they have the the casino where they have the the slot machines and and another one of our tenants permanent tenants are the scorpions the Mexico scorpions hockey team and their terrific great people to work with very exciting those games are very very exciting and so all of those contribute all of those those great people contribute to making our fair self-sufficient and making our expo self-sufficient could you just educate me in this respect are there any other self-sufficient entities attached to state government like this are you the only one no there are others one I know I'm I'm very intimately familiar with because the New Mexico magazine which is of course part of the Department of Tourism so when I was when

I was Secretary of Tourism I was very privileged to have that that great publication in in in in our Department and so they're they're an enterprise fund also they they have to make money I think also surprisingly the the general services department is is is also an enterprise agency and and that might be kind of an interesting subject for another interview that's sure we might because the vastness of that budget oh my lord yes I think we'll do that but there aren't there aren't there aren't very many there aren't very many and and of course with ours we because the biggest amount of money that we get obviously is during our our 17-day fair as we always say the annual event we always in New Mexico you know you pray for rain all the time except during the 17 days of the fair you pray for it at night but not during the day because things like that

can really have an effect in the fact last year last year there were I think four or five days when they were pretty heavy rains and so so that has a direct impact on on our attendance and that's important to us oh one I aspect of your self-sufficiency after September 11th there was need for increased security did the state help underwrite that or did you all have to dig deep in your pockets and increase the security for the state fair we've done there is more security now than than there was prior to that we also have we have a great group of people which which includes the the Avakirky Police Department the the the Namesco State Police the all of the the various agencies that the the fire that all of our wonderful firefighters and there are so many different agencies that I'm always reluctant to start mentioning and then I get myself into trouble but but right now we we meet once a week as as we get closer to the

fair and to deal with all of the there was a meeting today and there were probably there's probably about 30 35 people all of whom are our focus on on a security and safety and the health and safety of all of our of of all of the folks that come to the fair so security is a big is it's it's a very big issue for us big issue and it's an important issue well let's do the dates again it's a 66th state fair expo in New Mexico give us the dates 66 years on route 66 and it's starting on Friday September the 5th and it runs through Sunday September the 21st go I can hardly wait I will be there I want to thank our guests today Mike Sirletti who is a general manager for expo New Mexico thank you for being with us thank you and I'd like to thank you our viewers for being with us on report from Santa Fe report from Santa Fe is made possible

in part by a grant from the members of the National Education Association of New Mexico an organization of professionals who believe that investing in public education is an investment in our state's economic future