Fired Up, up and up

The name of Tucumcari's annual Fired Up festival derives from its event-ending fireworks show or the annual fire-and-choreography performance by Odd-Lab.

But the "Up" part of the festival also could refer to several low-riders during the car hop contest Saturday afternoon in the VFW Post 2528 parking lot.

Hundreds of people gasped, cheered and applauded as they saw the front ends of low-rider vehicles bounce nearly eight feet into the air due to their souped-up hydraulics and suspensions.

The car hop was part of a revamped car show that drew 70 entries along a closed portion of Main Street near the Tucumcari Railroad Plaza festival area.

In addition to flashy low riders or classic cars, the show featured custom motorcycles, bicycles and even a baby stroller.

Attendees were awed by Joe Castillo's "Bloody Carlo" - a highly modified 1987 Chevrolet Monte Carlo - and Paul Garrison Jr.'s equally head-turning 1985 Cutlass Supreme.

Castillo's "Bloody Carlo" received a Fiery Favorite award from the festival and was named Best of Show in the car competition.

Steven Roybal of the Tucumcari chapter of the Rollez Only car club organized the car show.

"We'll definitely do it again next year," he said Sunday. "The board for Tucumcari MainStreet was really excited about it. Next year, there will be a lot more cars and hoppers here."

Connie Loveland, executive director of Tucumcari MainStreet that organizes the festival, said one vehicle entrant traveled more than 1,000 miles from Illinois to attend the festival.

"A lot of the car people seem excited about coming back next year," she said. "They're already talking about how to make it bigger and better."

Loveland said a Canadian tourist changed her plans from just one night in Tucumcari to three days so she could attend the festival.

Tucumcari MainStreet gave out several other awards to booths and vendors, including a Sparks of Happiness honor to Tucumcari resident Franchesca Valesquez for her face-painting booth and a Fired Up Flavor award to Big Guy Tacos of Mosquero.

Loveland said Monday she was missing two people-counters used by volunteers to determine the festival's crowd size, but noted one of them turned in had tallied more than 1,000.

She said she would get more accurate attendance numbers via cellphone data in a couple of weeks. Fired Up's record for attendance was 4,271 in 2019.

Loveland said the Mr. Corn booth ran out of food and had to make a run to the grocery store to pick up more supplies. The booth still had customer lines over 30 feet long by 7:30 p.m.

She said she also saw record crowds for the Prince Tocum and Princess Kari pageant, plus a record 61 vendors at the festival.

Well over 100 people packed into the Odeon Theatre on Saturday afternoon for the annual pageant.

A half-dozen young children dressed in Native American garb participated. Jackie Parker Duplantis peppered each contestant with questions before handing off the final decision to the judges.

Nathan Pacheco and Kenna May Pendley were named Prince Tocum and Princess Kari respectively.

Hundreds gathered to watch the Odd-Lab performance of fire, choreography and a bit of daredevil feats. Their performance elicited applause and cheers, especially when one performer used a fiery bullwhip and another who spun around and upside-down inside a fire-festooned hoop.

About the only thing that marred the event were wind gusts from an approaching thunderstorm about 6 p.m. that tore down several vendor tents, including Tucumcari MainStreet's. The storm also prompted local band Limited Edition to cut short its concert.

According to data from a National Weather Service station at Tucumcari Municipal Airport, at least two wind gusts measured at 39 mph were reported between 5:53 and 6:53 p.m. Winds were light most of the day before that time.

Loveland said she gave permission to vendors to pack up and leave after the storm. About half did so.

"The crowds were really good until that storm hit," she said. "I think it was pretty special that many vendors wanted to stay. The crowds came back, and a lot of people didn't leave at all."