Editorial Reposted from the Las Cruces Sun-News
Originally posted 01/05/2015 01:19:12 PM MST
Movers and Shakers: Russ Smith brings new life to downtown Las Cruces
LAS CRUCES >> He’s a community arts advocate and leader, a musician, an artist, and a vendor at the Las Cruces Farmers & Crafts Market.
Russ Smith also makes a killer green chile hamburger. And he’s helped bring new life and flavor to downtown Las Cruces.
As chairman and board member of Project MainStreet, he’s been a guiding force behind downtown activities, including themed events that have included everything from movie screenings at La Placita to salsa dance lessons and an ice cream social (after an outdoor showing of “The Music Man”).
He helped coordinate and plan the 2014 New Year’s Eve Chile Drop, publicizing the event and creating an artist’s rendering of the scene, featuring a 15-foot lighted chile suspended from a 90-foot crane. He also serves on a planning committee for Salsa Fest.
“He is bringing a great amount of energy and excitement and is always looking for solutions. For Russ, the answer is always , ‘Yes,’ and he has a huge commitment to the community,” Andy Hume, coordinator of downtown development, said.
As an active vendor and marketing committee member of the Las Cruces Farmers & Craft Market, Smith brainstorms and supports special activities and new programs, including night markets and periodic food truck “roundup” events.
His own food service business, Happy Dog, is a familiar sight and the source of tantalizing aromas, as he grills hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken sandwiches on market days.
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“One idea that is standing pretty tall is an upscale nighttime food service event when food trucks could come together and really go white glove. My feeling is that if we can put the food out there at events, they will come,” said Smith, who is brimming with concepts he’d like to see implemented.
“We’re bringing together groups that have all the wherewithal and all the energy to really roll up their sleeves and make things happen. I look forward to replicating again and matching the kinds of things we’ve done in 2014 and going beyond that. There’s no shortage of fresh ideas here,” Smith said.
For his eclectic efforts, he was honored with the Doña Ana Arts Council 2014 Community Arts Award.
In his acceptance speech, Smith said that growing up in a small town in Oregon gave him “an appreciation of community and a Huckleberry Finn lifestyle.”
He said he felt that same sense of small town community when he and his wife Mercy and son Mac moved to Las Cruces in 2005. (His son Jason lives in Texas.)
“Roseburg [Ore.] was smaller, about 25,000 people, and of course we’re in the sun zone here, but in my mind, the emotion is still the same here as in that small town. There’s a very great kind of community here, a sense of being able to associate with the community and make something of living that’s precious to me. I went to Oregon State and majored in business, hotel and restaurant management and that’s what I’ve done most of my life. I worked in real estate management when we first moved to Las Cruces, but that was pulling me to move and my wife wanted to stay here and so did I.”
Serving the community is fun, said Smith, who has found ways to incorporate his diverse talents and skills in planning events. He’s helped put together musical groups for several events, sometimes joining in himself. He regularly plays drums in the Mesilla Valley Swing Band.
He’s like to see more themed activities and nighttime markets in 2015 and feels the sky’s the limit for potential downtown activities.
“I am all atwitter —and you can quote me on this — waiting for the downtown civic plaza thing to get done. It’s going to be a mainstay, bringing to the community things not even imagined yet,” Smith said.
Russ Smith, 62
Project MainStreet chairman, owner of Happy Dog, event committees for Salsa Fest, Las Cruces Farmers & Crafts Market.
Downtown activities he’d like to see include upscale food truck roundup, more themed activities, nighttime markets, continued annual New Year’s Eve Chile Drop events, and imaginative events for the new Las Cruces downtown civic plaza.