Las Cruces residents joined past-and-present city leaders downtown on Saturday to celebrate the opening of Plaza de Las Cruces next to the Bank of the West building.
Juanita Tellez-Barela has lived in Las Cruces for 22 years. In that time, she has seen downtown businesses come and go, but she has always enjoyed the farmer's market and other activities in the center of the city. She has been pleased with how quickly the city finished the plaza after announcing it last year.
“There for a while I was getting worried about it, it was looking a little rough, but everyone’s been pulling together, sprucing it up, bringing events here,” says Tellez-Barela.
Joanne Ray co-owns Main Street Bistro and Ale House, which faces the eastern side of the plaza. She says the plaza is “a dream come true,” because it will bring in new customers who want to escape the heat for a cold beer and meal. However, Ray says she hopes the plaza will still attract people in the winter.
“Anything that brings people downtown is good, but after the shine wears off on the splash pad and the plaza, when the weather gets cold and the water can’t run, what does that mean? Ray says, “We’re just hoping that it gives us the little bump that all of us need downtown to prosper.”
The new plaza lies near the center of Las Cruces City Councilor Kasandra Gandara’s district. She says many of her constituents were excited about the development, which can seat almost 1500 people for concerts and other events.
“We’ve already had marriage ceremonies occur here, and we had a dedication for 9/11 this last weekend. So yes, we really want it to be busy, but we also want the businesses to be busy,” says Gandara.
Gandara says the next step for her and her fellow lawmakers will be monitoring the number of activities taking place and working to bring more events to the downtown plaza.
Valerie Crowder is a volunteer contributor to KRWG News.