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A-10 THE NEWMEXICAN Tuesday, July 14, 2015

M ention the word “Zozobra” to downtown businessowners and they might run and hide.

The reputation of the event —and those whoattended—was not the type that spurred restaurants andbars to set out the welcome mat as many business even closeearly the night of the big burn.

And who could blame them after a horde of intoxicatedZozobra watchers streamed into the Plaza in 1997, resulting ina fatal gang-related shooting.

Zozobra organizer Ray Sandoval of the Kiwanis Club isseeking to restore the image of the Zozobra event and seesany celebration that draws 40,000 patronsdowntown as a big plus for those who sellfood, drink, hotel rooms and merchandise.But he admits there needs to be morecooperation and education, which hehopes will come out of the July 21 meetingwith business owners.

Last year, the Zozobra burning drew arecord attendance of over 40,000, and thenew Friday night slot had few problemsand no major arrests. “There was a verygood crowd who dispersed into the cityto spend money and there was nothing todo,” Sandoval said.

This year, Zozobra is being held on theFriday of Labor Day weekend,Sept. 4. One more business-friendly change is that the eventwill advertise an exact time of 9:30 p.m., instead of just saying“dusk.”

The holiday weekend allows for a slightly later start — anda precise time gives visitors more time to eat at area restau-rants or enjoy a late happy hour.

“Zozobra finally has a burn time,” Sandoval said. “Comedowntown, have dinner and then walk to Fort Marcy. There isno anxiety.”

He said some businesses have already embraced the changeand will host Zozobra burn parties where diners can enjoy aNorthern NewMexico meal and then watch a high-definitionfeed of the burn.

The events can be a way for many from out of town toenjoy the cultural and historical event without having to fightthe crowds at Fort Marcy — or for those unable to make thetrek due to age or handicap.

The Heritage Hotels & Resorts chain in Santa Fe and Torti-lla Flats are interested in that option, Sandoval said.

He is also partnering with hotels and offering a specialZozobra package that will include a watch area on the fieldwith reserved seating. The weekend mariachi concert at FortMarcy on Sept. 5 could also be included, Sandoval said.

The Kiwanis also will be posting information about whichbusinesses will be open or closed after the event in a newafterthegloom.com listing. C.G. Higgins on Lincoln Avenuehas already committed to staying open until midnight for after-the-burn coffee and pastries.

And it’s not just downtown, where hotel capacity in thesummer is often at 90 percent. Sandoval said that the biggestboost in occupancy from Zozobra last year was for hotelsalong Cerrillos Road.

Zozobra itself is also starting to run more like a business.The ticketing for Zozobra now has the technology to deter-

mine the point of purchase. Sandoval said the tracking for2014 showed 10,000 ticket-buyers traveled more than 50 milesto see the burn, and there were attendees from 4,000 citiesaround the globe.

With help from a drone that flew over the crowd 10 min-utes before the burn, organizers estimated the attendance at40,391. The number of tickets sold was actually less, however,as children under age 10 are free and more than 1,000 ticketsare given away. The number of tickets sold came in at 32,538.

The cost of Zozobra was $280,000, and that includes tents,lights, portable toilets, and the largest expenses: security($60,000) and fireworks ($20,000).

Sandoval said they are working on reducing expenses,which means more money can be given to area students inneed of college scholarships.

As of July 6, Sandoval said they have sold 3,500 tickets, themost for this time of the year. “That’s a record for us,” he said.“Nobody thinks of Zozobra in July.”

Nobody, that is, except for Sandoval.

Contact Bruce Krasnow at brucek@sfnewmexican.com.

ZoZobrA business feedbAck sessionThe Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe is hosting an informational feedbacksession for businesses: “Zozobra 2015: Better Business Partners”at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21, in the Santa Fe Community Conven-tion Center.

In briefInterchange, NodePark near completion

The first privately fundedinterchange in Northern NewMexico — the Jaguar Drive/N.M.599 interchange—is expected to becompleted by the end of August.Recently, girders were installed onthe overpass, bringing the projectcloser to completion.

Village Plaza at Tierra Contenta,a planned retail/commercial devel-opment on the east side ofN.M. 599, is ready for building.Lots are developed and ready forbusinesses — including a grocerystore, gas station, fast-food restau-rants and hotels. Village Plaza hasover 250,000 square feet to houseretail/office/commercial entities toserve the expanding south side ofSanta Fe.

SWAN Park — SouthwestArea Node Park — a multi-usepark is nearing completion and isexpected to open in September. Itwill be accessed through JaguarDrive and the new Jaguar Drive/N.M. 599 interchange.

The project will provide the newgrand entrance into the Santa FeMunicipal Airport as well as thenew Santa Fe Commercial Center.

It will also provide shortercommutes for those on Santa Fe’ssouth side, as well as ease of accessto local businesses, parks, andhomes. The interchange extendsJaguar Drive from Cerrillos Road

through to N.M. 599 and the SantaFe Airport.

SFCC helps womengo back to work

Northern NewMexican womenage 50 and over looking to in theworkforce can get support to meetthat goal at Santa Fe CommunityCollege.

TheAARP Foundation hasawarded SFCC a sub-grant to imple-ment the “Back toWork 50+:Wom-en’s Economic Stability Initiative.”

The program provides partici-pants access to scholarships, jobcoaching, academic training andcareer retooling so they can land agood job — all free. The next two-hour information session is10 a.m. Aug. 7, in the Jemez Roomsat SFCC, 6401 Richards Ave.

LANL raises $365Kfor N.M. students

Los Alamos National Labora-tory employees pledged a record$356,550 to the 2015 Los AlamosEmployees’ Scholarship Funddrive. The drive encourages labemployees, retirees and subcon-tract personnel to donate to a fundthat awards college scholarships toNorthern NewMexico students.

“This scholarship program pro-vides an opportunity for employ-ees, contractors and retirees toplay a valuable role in helping ourregion’s high school and collegeacademic stars attain their highereducation goals,” said Steve Gir-

rens, Los Alamos’ associate direc-tor for engineering sciences, thisyear’s scholarship chairman.

Coupled with $250,000 inmatching funds from Los AlamosNational Security, LLC, whichmanages and operates the labora-tory, the total amount contributedin this year’s campaign is nearly$607,000.

Scholarships are awarded onthe basis of grade-point average,test scores, diversity, financialneed, academic rigor, leadershipand community involvement.

The Los AlamosNationalLaboratory Foundationmanagesthe scholarship program for thelaboratory.

Credit union joinswith hotel

Nusenda Credit Union andHeritage Hotels & Resorts haveannounced a partnership thatwill provide participants witha complimentary night stayat Heritage Hotels & Resortsproperties throughout NewMexico when opening a check-ing account or closing on a homeequity loan or mortgage withNusenda.

Participating propertiesinclude four resorts in SantaFe, including Eldorado Hotel &Spa, Hotel Chimayó de Santa Fe,the Hotel St. Francis, and TheLodge at Santa Fe. Other prop-erties include two Albuquerqueproperties, The Hotel Albuquer-que and Nativo Lodge, and the

Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces.For more information about

Nusenda Credit Union, visit www.nusenda.org.

For more information aboutHeritage Hotels & Resorts, visitwww.hhandr.com.

The New Mexican

From a commercial office park in SantaFe, Daniel Kane can chase his dreamaround the globe of building ultrahigh-speed laser-measurement machines.

The 30 separate parts and components aregathered frommanufacturers worldwide,and then put together by skilled assemblersat MesaPhotonics. The lasers can take eightweeks to build, calibrate and program withcustomized software Kane designed andwrites.

The technology was first explored whenKane, the co-founder and CEO of Mesa, wasin graduate school at the University of Illinois.It was refined during a stint at Los AlamosNational Laboratory as a post-doctorate fellow.Kane is the co-inventor of a laser measuringtechnique known as Frequency-Resolved Opti-cal Gating and holds a dozen patents in areasas spectroscopy and pulse measurement.

The first sale of a measuring machine was toKane’s doctorate adviser in 2008.

Mesa, a company with nine employees and2,700 square feet of office space on PachecoStreet, would not have been possible beforethe reach of the Internet. No one just walks inthe storefront to purchase a $20,000 measur-ing device, which is largely used in specializedtechnology and research.

But there are universities and research firmsspread across the globe to support MesaPho-tonics, which sells 15 to 20 of the machinesa year, though it is preparing to scale up forincreasing demand.

“Everything doesn’t have to be an iPhone,”Kane said. “That’s the amazing thing with thishuge economy, you can support a companywith niche manufacturing.”

MesaPhotonics is an example of how NewMexico, a state with small and family-ownedbusinesses, has still been able to grow itsexports.

New numbers released last week by theU.S. Department of Commerce showed a bigjump in export activity from NewMexico.Much of that was in the Las Cruces area,which led the United States in the percent ofexport growth in a metropolitan area.

The bulk of that comes from investmentin the cross-border industrial zone that waslaunched in 2004 and has grown with addi-tional railroad and highway connections underGov. Susana Martinez.

But 139 metro areas across the UnitedStates are recording record high exports andFarmington and Santa Fe are on the list alongwith Las Cruces for showing the biggest leapsnationwide in 2014.

In NewMexico, the biggest products sentabroad include transportation equipment, pro-cessed food, machinery, fabricated metal andcomputer parts, art and jewelry.

For MesaPhotonics, some 70 percent of itslaser machines are sold outside the UnitedStates, which came to about $250,000 inexports last year from Santa Fe County.

“The growth in exports show that sellinginternationally has become a much more via-ble option for small businesses and entrepre-neurs,” said Robert Queen, director of the NewMexico U.S. Export Assistance Center, whoworks with NewMexico exporters. “In manycases, the Internet, ease of transportation andarray of available export services has reducedthe distance between exporter and importer toa click on a desktop.”

Exports from all 50 states totaled $1.6 trillion in2014with Texas leading theway at $289 billion.NewMexico had total exports of $3.78 billion,and ranked about 40th betweenNewHampshireandVermont. Hawaii had the lowest value ofexports in the 50 states, $1.4 billion.

Though Santa Fe is seeing a boost inexports, the metro area in 2014 was still belowits peak year in 2012.

And the largest metro in the state, Albuquer-que, also showed a decline two years ago— to$1.6 billion in 2014 — down from $1.8 billion in2012.

Kane said he expects his business to also scaleup in the coming years as global demand forultrafast lasers increases. He has already signeda lease to expand into an adjacent office, addingsome 1,300 square feet formanufacturing.

Queen said the other Santa Fe export itemscomprise much of what is already sold here totourists, including Native American art, jew-elry and other handcrafted pieces. The mar-kets themselves are not measured, just whatgets shipped by patrons while they are stillhere or after patrons return home.

“Santa Fe is the leader in foreign tourism.They stay in hotels, they eat in nice restaurantsand the go home and get on the Internet andthey continue to buy,” Queen said.

Contact Bruce Krasnow at brucek@sfnewmexican.com.

exports by the numbersThe dollar value of Santa Fe County exports2008: $22.6 million2009: $14.4 million2010: $15.9 million2011: $19.1 million2012: $41.2 million2013: $18.7 million2014: $ 37.8 millionExports by metro area, NewMexico 2013Albuquerque: $1.4 billionLas Cruces: $433 millionFarmington: $35 millionSanta Fe: $19 millionTop 5 U.S. counties for 2014 export growthLas Cruces: 210 percentFarmington: 140 percentHonolulu: 138 percentManhattan, Kan.: 108 percentSanta Fe: 102 percentTop 5 export markets for NewMexicoMexico: $1.5 billionIsrael: $812 millionItaly: $264 millionCanada: $219 millionChina: $106 million

Zozobra organizerhopes changeswill help Santa Febusinesses toembrace event

LOCAL BUSINESS For more local business news,read the Business Matters blogat www.santafenewmexican.com

BruceKrasnow

Business Matters

Santa Fe tech company shows why city ranks nationally for 2014By Bruce KrasnowThe New Mexican

Small businesses drive export growth

Daniel Kane, Ph.D, CEO and founder of MesaPhotonics of Santa Fe, is shown Friday with theFROG Scan, an ultrafast pulse measurement system. CLydE MuELLEr/THE NEW MEXICAN

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