Socorro, NM

Month Year visit:  March 2023

Small Town Vibe blog article link: Socorro, NM: University town with two craft breweries (smalltownvibe.org) 

Observations:  Socorro is a university town (NM Tech) with a beautiful campus.  It has a traditional historic plaza with a renovated gazebo.  Several businesses (2 microbreweries, an ice cream shop, a bakery and a gift shop) are located around the plaza, but also quite a few deserted buildings.  During our Saturday afternoon visit, the gazebo seemed to be a hang-out for a couple of locals.  Other area buildings house various social services.   

It is interesting to note that the two craft breweries are located quite close to each other – are they in competition?  It may be too soon to tell.  But in our experience, places with multiple options for dinner/drinks/events complement each other and draw more people – and do not compete for the same group of people!  Given this is a college town, an energetic and community-centric downtown (or in this case, Plaza area) can be a real draw (see Mesilla for an example). 

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The local chamber of commerce seems to be inactive, although there is a city-sponsored tourist visitors center adjacent to the plaza area - funded by a city hotel tax.

The school and plaza are less than 2 miles apart. The proximity made us wonder if there have been efforts around a revitalization project in the Plaza that includes a tie to the University - which seems like it could be valuable from many perspectives.  I couldn't find any online evidence of programs (nonprofit, gov't, local, etc) that was taking on these challenges, but suspect they exist. I would love to talk with some local leaders to learn more.

Interview Research