Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team February 21st, 2015
Who knew being Mayor of Rio Rancho, NM was such a multi-discipline endeavor… On Saturday Mayor Gregg Hull performed in the Duke City Dance Off competition as part of the 11th Annual Day of Dance. The event was sponsored by Lovelace Women’s Hospital at the Albuquerque Embassy Suites Hotel. With his partner, Charity Tafoya, a professional at the Arthur Murray studio in Rio Rancho, Mayor Hull performed a progressive two-step to the tune of Boot Scootin’ Bogie. How did he do? Judge for yourself…
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team December 5th, 2014
The City of Rio Rancho has two libraries, the Loma Colorado Main Library and the Esther Bone Memorial Library. Both facilities way exceed the average community library as far as facilities, programs and materials available to check out. The Rio Rancho community continues to invest in upgrades and updates to its two libraries, and thousands of patrons are reaping the rewards every month.
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team September 12th, 2014
The annual “Pooch Plunge” is held each year in the outdoor pool at Haynes Park in Rio Rancho, NM. After the Summer swimming season is over, but before they close down the pool, the City’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department lets dog owners bring their pets to an event which is basically an aquatic dog park. The retrievers and spaniels loved it, repeatedly chasing floating tennis balls and frisbees. Even non typical water-friendly breeds like St. Bernards seemed to love it. A local pet food specialty store, Pet Food Gone Wild, organized a pet fair outside the pool area with dog related services and suppliers.
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team October 11th, 2013
The Pumpkin Patch run to benefit the Galloping Grace Youth Ranch in Rio Rancho is like no other. You can buy a decent pumpkin at any grocery store, but when you step inside this wonderland of pumpkins you get a couple hours of child and family friendly entertainment to boot! In fact they call it a Harvest Festival! There are games, farm animals, tractor races, a corn pit (No, we had never seen one before either…), hay bale art, the mud pie cafe (one of our favorites) and so much more! If you haven’t already bought your pumpkins, or even if you have, visit this great event right behind the Santa Ana Star Center. They will be open daily through Halloween from 9am – 6:30 pm, weather permitting.
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team October 11th, 2013
Oktoberfest (or Oktoberfestival) has been a long-standing tradition in Rio Rancho. For the last three years it has been picked up and revitalized by a new organizer, who has been able to generate more volunteer participation, more vendor participation, and who has attracted a world class Petanque competition to the event. Teams from 20 countries came to Rio Rancho to compete and to spend money locally at hotels and restaurants. The “Miss Oktoberfest” competition welcomed a half dozen young Fräuleins in hand made costumes to the beer garden as well.
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team August 6th, 2013
This Spring an adult female coyote made a den under our shed in a rural part of Rio Rancho. Between the shed and the culverts under our driveways, we counted 8-9 pups living around our home. At 4 weeks old, the pups were cute as could be, and could run like heck between hiding places. It had been a very dry Spring, and the mom chewed up our irrigation distribution lines in the front and back yards, trying to find water. We repaired all the lines, and buried those that we could to shield them from further chewing.
A couple months later, we have noticed several of the pups, now 3 months old, frequenting the area. One morning one of them was hunting for food just outside our back yard wall. It certainly saw us watching it, but it was unconcerned, coming within 20 ft of our position several times. It stayed in the area for quite a while, allowing us to get quite a bit of footage. It’s all hand held, so it’s a little shaky in places. For more information on living with coyotes, go to Facebook.com and search Coexist with Coyotes in Corrales. Enjoy the film!
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team July 22nd, 2013
Each year the City of Rio Rancho goes all out to produce a 1st class fireworks show for the 4th of July. The location has changed from year to year as housing development has spread… You wouldn’t want them to launch high explosives right over your home, would you? Anyway, this year the prime public viewing location was at Rio Rancho High School – both on the field and from the stands. In addition to the folks brave enough to sit on metal stadium bleachers as a thunderstorm threatened, there were hundreds more in the hills surrounding the facility watching from their parked cars and trucks, or from home balconies and rooftops for miles. The lightning flashes were sometimes just as spectacular as the fireworks, and happened to be pretty much in the same direction of view from the stadium. We’ve preserved about 3/4 of the entire show here, so it’ll be just like you were there… Enjoy!
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team June 11th, 2013
The Music in the Park series put on by the Rio Rancho Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department runs late Spring through the Summer at the Rotary Club Barbecue Pavilion at Haynes Park.
The activity is free, and people are encouraged to bring chairs, blankets and snacks. Sorry, they don’t allow anything harder than lemonade to drink. Most nights an ice cream truck shows up to offer cold treats. The video above features the Mudd Brothers Band.
Performances start at 6:30pm and end around 8. The rest of the 2013 season offerings are below:
June 16: Twisted Mojo
June 23: Point Blank
June 30: Bosque Blues
July 7: Saint Wolf
July 14: Rio Rancho Community Jazz Band
July 21: Rio Rancho Community Concert Band
July 28: Interplay
Aug. 4: The Hit Squad
Aug. 11: The Otherside
Aug. 18: Code 29
Aug. 25: Rio Rancho Community Jazz Band
August 29: Rio Rancho Symphonic Band (Symphonic Music)
*Musical acts subject to change
Haynes Park is located at 2006 Grande Blvd., which is across the street from Intel on N.M. 528/Pat D’Arco Highway.
For additional information, please call the city of Rio Rancho’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department at (505) 891-5015.
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team December 18th, 2012
It’s Christmas time in Rio Rancho. In recent years it’s also been a challenging time for many of our residents because of the economy. Some people are working two or more jobs to make ends meet. Others are still looking for work. As we’ve visited different neighborhoods in Rio Rancho, we’ve noticed that fewer households have decorated the outside of their homes for the holidays. Streets where every other home used to put up lights or displays now have maybe 1 in 10. Our point in mentioning this fact is not to focus on a negative aspect of our times, but to celebrate those families who could and did take the time, effort, and expense to light up the night where they live. In this video we will share with you 20 some Rio Rancho homes where the owners went above and beyond a simple string of lights. It makes no difference whether the home is large or small, it’s the heart that went into the decorating that matters. There are many more homes that probably deserve to be shown, but we hope you enjoy these. Happy holidays from the Mark and Sheila Real Estate Team.
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team July 17th, 2012
The Sandoval Regional Medical Center (SRMC) held a grand opening and ribbon cutting celebration for the public the weekend of July 8 and 9, 2012. On Saturday, a dozen dignitaries spoke to the assembled crowd including Senator Jeff Bingaman, facility President and CEO Kevin Rogols, other hospital administrators, county officials, and representatives of local pueblos. Tom Swisstack, the Mayor of Rio Rancho also spoke, but what was interesting was the number of speakers who lauded the Mayor for his leadership about ten years ago (when he was a State Representative) which resulted in the new facility eventually being built in Rio Rancho.
The new hospital comprises about 200,000 square feet, with 72 beds for inpatient care, 48 beds for medical and surgical care, a 12 bed ICU, 12 beds for senior behavioral health and a 13 bed emergency room. The hospital is part of University of New Mexico Hospital, and will be the only teaching hospital in the county. The equipment is state of the art, including a surgical robot, imaging equipment capable of producing very fine detail, talking beds (which speak a couple dozen languages) and so much more.
When the project was begun, Sandoval County was the largest county in the western United States without a hospital. Presbyterian Rust Medical Center opened just a few months earlier a few miles south (and also in Rio Rancho), so now there are two hospitals where not long ago there were none.
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team May 24th, 2012
4 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms, 3465 Square Ft
Do you have a big household? Then this may be the house for you! This custom home sits on a half acre lot that backs up to Chamisa Hills Golf Course. The owners have invested in this home, so you will not need to. You will love the long granite counters in the huge kitchen, the stainless steel appliances, the pellet stove in the spacious family room and the tiled wet bar. New windows and sliding doors were recently installed, significantly upgrading the homes energy efficiency and beauty.
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team October 20th, 2011
Rio Rancho New Mexico’s first full service hospital is open! Presbyterian Rust Medical Center is holding a huge grand opening party for the community Saturday October 22nd, but they have already performed over 20 surgeries, have one patient recovering in their new 68 bed patient tower, and the city’s first hospital born baby was delivered there on Wednesday. We were fortunate enough to attend a special pre-opening event co-hosted by the Rio Rancho Regional Chamber of Commerce and received the grand tour. The building is stupendous, with lots of natural light throughout, large comfortable patient rooms with a convertible couch/bed for family stay overs, and enough high tech to make NASA jealous.
Emergency room services were formerly handled at a Presbyterian office at High Resort Blvd and Hwy 528, but they have now been transferred to the new hospital. There’s even a helipad on the grounds. Services to be offered at the new facility include:
Written by Mark T Fiedler - The Mark and Sheila Team October 4th, 2011
The 14th Annual Maize Maze is open 7 days a week now through the end of October at the Rio Grande Community Farm on Manzano, East of the river. The maze is cut into 7 acres of tall corn. This year’s design is a dinosaur. The activity supports the annual budget of the community farm. October 14th and 15th visitors are invited to explore the maze by moonlight. When the maze finishes, the fields will be knocked down to provide food for migrating birds. The video below is from the 2010 maze. For more information, visit http://www.riograndefarm.org .
