The final talk in the New Mexico Route 66 Centennial Speaker Series is on Saturday, November 28, at 11 a.m. at East Mountain Public Library, 487 NM-333. It is the eleventh of the free monthly lectures the series scheduled in Tijeras starting in January. The anniversary ends after that. The habit does not. The East Mountain Historical Society has already scheduled the next talk for January 23, 2027, in the same room at the same hour.
Tijeras spread the centennial across eleven months. Most of its Route 66 year happened on a short run of the old highway's numbered addresses, in a recurring pattern, and that pattern is the part continuing into next year.
Eleven Saturdays, One Library, Mostly Someone Else's Road
The East Mountain Historical Society presented the speaker series as free monthly public lectures at the library from January through November 2026. Here's the full lineup:
- January 24: Roger Zimmerman, "Rerouting Route 66 through New Mexico"
- February 28: Joseph Sabatini, "North Fourth Street – Albuquerque's Original Route 66"
- March 21: Suzanne Stauffer, "Fred Harvey Indian Detours"
- April 25: Aimee Tang, "Chinese Merchants of Albuquerque's Route 66"
- May 23: David Montoya, "Land & Acequias along Los Ranchos' Route 66"
- June 27: Donatella Davanzo, "Route 66 Connected," a photo-ethnographic look at the road in New Mexico today
- July 25: Lynne Franchini Peckinpaugh, "The Italians' Pathway to Prosperity on Albuquerque's Route 66"
- August 22: Jennifer Bohnhoff, "The Civil War on Route 66"
- September 26: Gary Herron, "Motels on Route 66/Central Avenue in Albuquerque"
- October 24: Hazel Lathrop, "Tijeras Canyon – Five Miles of Road and Hundreds of Stories"
- November 28: Jacqueline Murray Loring, "The KiMo Theatre: Fact and Folklore"
Look at what that list covers. Five of the eleven talks were about Albuquerque's stretch of the road: North Fourth Street, Chinese merchants, Italian families, Central Avenue motels and the KiMo. One was about Los Ranchos. Only October's talk was about Tijeras Canyon. Over the year, a library on old Route 66 at the east edge of the canyon hosted the story of the whole road through the region.
Lathrop's October talk was built around the canyon from Tijeras at the east end to Carnuel at the west, focusing on the people who lived and worked there between 1900 and 1950. That was the home-ground talk. The series closes with the KiMo, the Route 66 theater that has hosted ballet, drama, poetry readings and local indie film screenings for ninety years.
The Rest of the Year Ran Through the Same Few Addresses
Outside the library, the village's 2026 calendar mostly stayed on or right off the same corridor. These are the addresses that came up again and again this year:
- East Mountain Public Library, 487 NM-333. Home of the monthly speaker series.
- Manzanita, 488 NM-333. The community venue Rock Canyon Cider created across the road, which nm.news previewed in August 2025 as a place for house-made cider, local wine, beer, mixed drinks and space for other businesses. A local band calendar listed a Schumann & Kinabrew show there on October 3.
- Los Vecinos Community Center, 478 NM-333. It hosted Bernalillo County's East Mountain Celebration on September 27, with live music, local vendors and a car show.
- Veterans Memorial/Luis Garcia Park, 2 Tijeras Ave. The village's outdoor stage this year.
- Tijeras Village Hall, 12 Camino Municipal. The site of the historical society's November meeting.
The village's outdoor events kept repeating the same pieces. Rock Canyon Cider ran the beer garden and the Aguas Deliciosas food truck served food at the July 11 summer night in the park, nm.news reported. For the August 22 Route 66 Centennial celebration at 10 Tijeras Ave., East Mountain News announced a free car show, vendors, a food truck, live music and a beer garden, again hosted by Rock Canyon Cider. The village's newsletter scheduled the October 23 Trunk or Treat at the Senior Center to roll into an evening in the park with music by Misdemeanor, a Rock Canyon Cider beer garden and Aguas Deliciosas once more.
So the big centennial party ran on the same setup as an ordinary summer Saturday in the park. That's why the end of the anniversary doesn't change much here.
November, Date by Date
Three dates are left on the 2026 calendar, plus Election Day. The Village of Tijeras October newsletter lists early voting Monday through Saturday through October 31, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Election Day on Tuesday, November 3, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday, November 7, 2 to 3:30 p.m., Tijeras Village Hall. The East Mountain Historical Society's annual member meeting includes an update on the Stone House, a panel of longtime East Mountain residents, a silent auction and the release of the society's 2027 calendar. The calendar features historical photos and stories from East Mountain history.
Tuesday, November 10, 10 a.m., Veterans Memorial/Luis Garcia Park. The village's Veterans Day Memorial Celebration includes a presentation honoring veterans, followed by refreshments and cake at the Senior Center.
Saturday, November 28, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., East Mountain Public Library. Loring's KiMo talk closes the centennial series. It's free and open to the public.
The Stone House Is the Slower Project Behind the Meeting
The Stone House update on November 7 concerns a project that will take far longer than any anniversary year. The Campo/Sanchez Stone House is a late-1880s building on North Highway 14 in San Antonio, about 20 minutes east of Albuquerque. Over the years it has been a store and saloon, a dance hall and a post office, and descendants donated it to the historical society in 2023, East Mountain News reported in June.
The 2026 plan would turn the building into a Turquoise Trail welcome center, an education hub for the Tijeras Creek Cultural Corridor and a permanent home for the society's archive. According to the society's Q2 2026 newsletter, the master plan was presented June 20 as a $2.9 million project in three phases, each dependent on funding, and fundraising is still underway. The phases are structural stabilization, rehabilitation of the existing house, and a new 720-square-foot addition with site work.
The organization that filled the library every fourth Saturday this year is the same one raising money for a building on NM-14. The talks were its public-facing work this year, and the Stone House is its long-term project. Both are on the agenda in one room on November 7.
January 23 Is Already on the Calendar
The historical society announced the 2027 series this way.
"You asked for more monthly history talks, so we are happy to announce that we will continue on the 4th Saturday of the month from January to October 2027!"
The first 2027 talk, on Saturday, January 23, at 11 a.m., stays on Route 66. Roland Penttila will speak about Little Beaver Town, an Albuquerque entrepreneur's live-action Wild West attraction built around the "Little Beaver" comic, which was hugely popular in the 1950s. Penttila came to New Mexico in 1998 as a civil engineer on a highway project, and he has led free historical walking tours of downtown Albuquerque for four years.
That makes the fourth Saturday of every month from January through October 2027 a standing date at 487 NM-333.
Between the Last Talk and the First One
The eight weeks between November 28 and January 23 are quieter on NM-333, and a few nearby details change with the season.
Bernalillo County's Carlito Springs Open Space, at 82 Carlito Springs Road, moves from its April-through-October hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to winter hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. from November through March. The county's page also mentions a 2026 rainwater-harvesting system with planted basins and a walking path.
Farther up the mountain, the Cibola National Forest's Sandia Crest update says vehicles on NM-536 turn around at the 10K Trailhead, with Crest access closed through fall 2027. The Forest Service lists Tree Springs, Doc Long and Cienega Canyon among the east-side alternatives.
The historical society is also taking its calendar on the road. It plans a booth at the Lantern Ridge holiday craft market at 12540 N Highway 14 in Sandia Park on Saturday, December 12, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with local food, arts and crafts.
Tijeras's history lives at a handful of addresses on old Route 66, and the owners of homes along that corridor know their stretch of road as well as any speaker at the library. If you're thinking about what your East Mountains property is worth as one year turns into the next, The LUX Real Estate Group can give you a current, data-driven read on your home's place in the Tijeras market. Request Your Free Home Valuation.
