August 27 – Ferby Vigil wore a 150-year-old concha belt that had once belonged to her mother, a telltale sign that Fiesta de Santa Fe was just around the corner.
A papier-mâché Zozobra hung from the ceiling of her living room, evidence that her household was already in the grip of Old Man Gloom’s 100th birthday celebrations.
“I don’t know why, but it’s the one place I never get tired of,” Vigil, 99, said of the annual burning. “I haven’t missed a year since I was a kid.”
For the Santa Fe resident, who is nearly as old as Old Man Gloom, setting the gloomy puppet alight has always been an exciting part of her hometown’s Fiesta celebrations. No two years have felt the same. Just before the milestone burning of the ogre on Friday, that heady feeling of excitement beckoned again.
She spoke about the different incarnations of Zozobra she remembers over the years — the time he wore suspenders and the year he had red hair, provoking the crowd in a big way. She wondered what he would wear when he appeared on a 50-foot pole in Fort Marcy Park before a sea of 65,000 revelers on Friday. What would he look like? How would they style his hair?
She “just has to” see the $300,000, custom-made balloon featuring Old Man Gloom, which is expected to debut Friday during the 100th anniversary celebration, said Vigil, who will celebrate her own 100th birthday in February.
She never thinks about her 100th birthday, she says, “because it seems so far away.”
Vigil had already gone to view the recently installed Zozobra statue at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, where she posed for a photo.
“At first we were afraid of him,” she said, recalling the Zozobra of her childhood.
When she was 6 and misbehaved, her parents had a warning ready: “Zozobra is coming.”
Vigil hasn’t lost her sense of humor.
“She’s a real firecracker,” said her daughter Patricia Bermudez, adding that her mother still enjoys going to Fiesta, where she listens to music and watches people dance in the Plaza.
Vigil remembers hanging out in the Plaza late into the night during Fiesta years ago. Back then, she would wear party clothes, the city would be filled with mariachi music, and the streets would be full of dancers she knew.
In the past, she said, she used to sew clothes for the party.
“People used to dress up more or less like her, but now you don’t see that as much. Only a handful of people dress up,” Bermundez added. “But back in the day, everyone dressed up for the occasion.”
Vigil worked for the New Mexico Public Education Department for many years and once owned a bar and lounge in Pecos with her husband. She now has three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
She said she encourages younger people to travel while they still can, as she finds there is little interest in doing so now.
“Except for a dance,” Vigil said. She will travel for a dance.
She recalled dancing at previous Fiesta celebrations. “Everyone who wanted to dance jumped in,” she said.
Vigil joked that she’s going to look for someone to dance with at Fiesta this year. “If Zozobra was there, I would dance with him,” she said.
