August 30 – In 1974, the relatively strong Bill Loshbough, then 34, volunteered his mind and muscle for 16 hours to ensure the 50th anniversary edition of Zozobra ran smoothly.
This year, an 84-year-old Loshbough will toil from 5 a.m. until well after dark as head of risk management for the Santa Fe blowout event. He got involved in 1966 — nearly 60 years ago — when he moved to Santa Fe after several years involved with the Kiwanis Club of Silver City, where he attended Western New Mexico University.
Despite all the pomp and circumstance surrounding Zozobra’s 100th anniversary this year, it’s not the first milestone for the event. While few people remember the 25th anniversary well, Loshbough and state historian Rob Martinez saw the 50th and 75th anniversaries from very different perspectives and recently shared their memories with Pasatiempo. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.
How was Zozobra different, say, 50 years ago?
Loshbough: In the ’60s, it was kind of a family tailgate event. As the city grew, the number of people grew. Last year, it was estimated that we had about 65,000 people. I think it’s just the temperament of people today, hopefully they enjoy the show, get rid of all their fears and things like that and do it in a peaceful way.
Martinez: I was about 10 years old, around 1974. My sister Debbie used to sing at the Plaza for Fiestas in the early 70s. We stayed at La Fonda because it was very affordable back then. We were a working-class family from Albuquerque, and there were mariachis and Pueblo dancers and all kinds of festivities. It was a lot cheaper to be in Santa Fe.
Loshbough: There wasn’t as much formality or hype as there was at the 100th. I remember an impromptu singing of “Happy Birthday” at the 50th. We always have to deal with the weather, and at the 75th we had some pretty strong winds, a very challenging fireworks show because of the wind.
What was it again about 25 years ago?
Martinez: I think if you jump forward 25 years, it was much more commercial, more expensive. It’s much more expensive to stay at La Fonda now, and I also remember, I can’t remember exactly when, but there was a time when the Zozobra burning got so crowded. I mean, I remember when there were like 80,000 people in Fort Marcy Park.
Speaking of weather conditions, what does it take each year to meet these challenges?
Loshbough: We’ve always had a contingency plan, because the weather is something we can’t control. Our biggest concern with the weather is not so much the rain, but the wind. And there have been years where we’ve had to kind of lock down [the Zozobra marionette’s clothing] because of the wind until the burn time. Wind is always a factor. Sometimes it has caused us to delay the start of the show. In Santa Fe we have weather fronts that move through pretty quickly, so we have to work with that.
We’ve never had just a downpour that would have an impact. Mostly we’ve had soft showers, light showers coming through. As a long-time observer, I sometimes think that’s the best thing because it allows us to burn slowly — as opposed to, like, 2019, when we had high winds and it burned quite quickly. It’s not waterproof. It doesn’t have a raincoat.
Apart from the size of the audience, what was different about previous Zozobra commemorations?
Martinez: I think people had a different decorum, if you go back to the 30s and 40s. Even in the 70s, there were more T-shirts than you would have seen in the 30s and 40s. I saw pictures of people back then dressed up. I think by the time you get to the 60s and 70s, things are a little more relaxed. You have people wearing jeans. That starts in the 50s, although people in rural communities, like northern New Mexico, always wore jeans out of necessity, because they were working. My family is from Mora and my grandfather wore jeans, but he dressed up for Catholic mass and special family events. It’s pretty amazing to look at old pictures and see how our ancestors expressed themselves in their time, just like people are going to look at us 100 years from now. So be careful with your fashion choices.
Loshbough: The change has been upgrades to the stadium, security improvements, things like that throughout the city. We’ve had a lot more development in that area. At that time, we didn’t have any of the housing complexes on the hill, so it was still all open space all the way between Fort Marcy and basically the Governor’s Mansion.
Interstates didn’t exist at the time of the 25th and 50th anniversaries. How was travel different?
Martinez: I’m a little young to remember, but my parents remember when the interstates weren’t built in Albuquerque yet, and you had a state highway to Denver. It was paved, but it wasn’t the wide freeways we have now. It was probably a two-lane road. I remember my dad telling me that in Mora, where he was from, all the roads were dirt.
What does a Zozobra day look like for you?
Loshbough: I’m at the event starting around 5am the day of the fire. We usually go home around 11am. Of course, we’re always delayed by traffic. You don’t get home quickly anyway. It seems like the weather has gotten a lot warmer. We really have to be vigilant about dehydration, encourage rest breaks for our volunteers, and dress appropriately.
So it is a very long day, but we also have many other days with activities and rehearsals, so quite a lot of time has to be invested by all the volunteers to make it a success.
To learn about a century of history and traditions surrounding Zozobra, visit burnzozobra.com/history. The New Mexico History Museum offers an in-depth exploration of Old Man Gloom’s history in a new exhibit, Zozobra: The Fire That Never Goes Out, running through September 2025 (nmhistorymuseum.org).
