1951
1/5/51 Ruidoso volunteer firemen held their annual open house in the new recreation room at the fire station. No tax or village money had been spent on the addition, which was funded by donations and fund raising efforts by the firemen themselves. Guests were served coffee and doughnuts and danced to music on a jukebox provided by Joe Reinhardt. “The boys say that the money from the (juke) box will pay for the ‘coffee’ at their meetings.”
1/19/51 The Ruidoso Woman’s Club dedicated their new home in the Skyland Clubhouse. During the ceremony Mrs. Ike (Lula) Wingfield lit a candle that will burn for an hour each year for fifty years. Four generations of Wingfield women were present–daughter Della Wingfield, granddaughter Evelyn Morrison and two-month-old great-granddaughter Mary Evelyn Estes, who was made a member of the Club and is to light the candle in 2001.
In other news, the Ruidoso Bar advertised Saturday night cockfights.
1976
1/19/76 Til Thompson of the American Motorcycle Association announced that the motorcycle convention that had been held in conjunction with Aspencade since 1971 was canceled for 1976. He said that attendance had reached more than 3,000 and that the event was too big for his staff to manage. Ruidoso Police Chief Paul Lukens pointed out that several thousand man hours had been devoted to the event, which had “an absolute minimum of problems and /or criminal activity.”
2001
1/26/01 A ribbon-cutting ceremony opened the new Comfort Inn at the western end of Ruidoso’s Midtown shopping district. “This is exciting,” Mayor Robert Donaldson said. “It’s a new downtown hotel in the walking district and will be good for shops and restaurants.”
1/24/01 The Woman’s Club of Ruidoso revived a 50-year-old tradition after Ruidoso News readers asked about the candle tradition mentioned in a “Fifty Years Ago” column in the newspaper. A search of the Clubhouse closets uncovered a large pink candle which the members lit during their meeting, just in case it was the memorial candle. The tradition began in 1951 and was still being observed in 1961, although there was no mention of it after 1971. The Woman’s Club was organized in 1932. The started the town’s first library, provided school playground equipment and organized the first PTA and Girl Scout troop.