The scent of roasted green chile wafted down Bishops Lodge Road as tourists and locals alike poured into Fort Marcy park Friday for a taste of New Mexico food, brews and signature spice.
The Land of Enchantment’s wandering official state aroma drew in many of the guests waiting in a long line at local company Bueno Foods’ booth, according to regional sales manager Veronica Zavala, as employees roasted fresh Hatch-certified chile, then placed it in quesadillas. The booth’s visitors hailed from all over the country, and for many it was their inaugural introduction to green chile, Zavala said.
“It’s great being the ones to tell them, ‘It has a little bit of a kick, but you’re going to get that great taste in there,’ ” she said. “It’s awesome.”
Bueno Foods was one of dozens of culinary vendors set up in Fort Marcy park for the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta’s fourth annual Chile Friday, a relatively recent addition to the festival’s 34-year history. Live music and a meandering mariachi band filled the air as attendees snagged mini desserts and sipped from little cups of beer or margaritas from the two margarita bars on hand.
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Glenn Smerage tastes a margarita sample at the Wine and Chile Fiesta at Fort Marcy Park in Santa Fe on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.
Chile Friday also hosted a handful of nonculinary vendors, including a large booth selling official Wine & Chile Fiesta merchandise, like red and green chile-shaped Christmas tree ornaments. A cooking demonstration tent invited guests to watch local and visiting chefs at work.
Overall, the multiday, multievent festival brings together 80 wineries, 65 restaurants and 4,500 guests — but Chile Friday offers a slightly quieter experience.
Santa Fe residents Suzy Preston and Wynn Holht said they had been to the festival’s other ventures, like Saturday’s grand tasting, but it was their first time at Chile Friday. Preston said she enjoyed Chile Friday because “it’s what Wine & Chile used to be” in terms of the amount of guests and tourists.
“All the locals are here, so it’s fun,” Preston said.
Holht added Friday’s event felt more accessible than the grand tasting is now.
“Sure, there aren’t as many people who are pouring and not as many restaurants, but it just has much more of a community feel,” she said.
According to the festival’s research, a quarter of its attendees are from Santa Fe, another quarter are from New Mexico outside the city and the remaining half hail from out of state, The New Mexican reported earlier this week.
Lynn and Tom Kulzak, visiting from Redondo Beach, Calif., said they traveled to Santa Fe for the first time specifically to attend the Wine & Chile Fiesta — something they’d been wanting to do for quite a while. Tom Kulzak dressed the part in a button-down shirt covered in red chiles that he bought, he said, just for the occasion.
Though there’s chile in Southern California, Tom Kulzak said, New Mexican chile tastes completely different.
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Magdalena Nero pours a sample of Zozobra during the Wine & Chile Fiesta at Fort Marcy park.
“Which is good, because we need to get away from that,” he added.
Lynn Kulzak described the event as “fabulous.”
La Fonda on the Plaza Executive Chef Lane Warner, standing at La Plazuela’s booth, said people travel from far and wide to attend the festival — but the events are also an opportunity for camaraderie among chefs.
“We don’t get to do it often,” said Warner, who has been participating in the Wine & Chile Fiesta since its inception. “We don’t get to see each other often in this business. So when we all get together on the weekend like this — today and tomorrow — you get to walk around and see all your chef buddies. It’s pretty cool.”
Nearby, at Plaza Café’s booth, employees passed out another beloved New Mexican food: the biscochito. But the guest favorite dish was the pumpkin posole, according to Aidee Contreras, the general manager of the restaurant’s downtown location.
“Everybody’s loving it,” Contreras said, adding that the event provides people with the opportunity to try a little bit of everything from the various culinary vendors.
A recent study cited the Wine & Chile Fiesta as having an $8 million economic impact in recent years, The New Mexican previously reported.
Jessica and Joe Thurman, the wife-husband duo that owns Santa Fe Popcorn Co., attended Chile Friday as first-time vendors. They made new flavors of popcorn specifically for the event: Christmas — red and green chile — and salted caramel agave.
“We’ve been entrepreneurs for a while, and I think Santa Fe is super special,” Jessica Thurman said. “So being able to really kind of blend our love for food and also local tradition has been super special for us.”