On August 20, nine people from Questa took turns standing up in the Questa Public Library. Each had five minutes to pitch a business to a panel of five judges, followed by questions. The judges split $30,000 among them based on presentation scores, applications and budgets, and every contestant left with some funding.
Six weeks later, the Questa Farmers Market ended its 10th season with the Cambalache Harvest Festival at La Placita on Sunday, Oct. 4. As the Sunday market goes quiet for the year, several of those library-funded ventures are just getting started. Many of the free gatherings that fill a Questa weeknight this fall happen in the same few public rooms.
The Classroom Behind the Storefronts
The pitch contest is the last step of a longer program. The Questa Economic Development Fund runs it through the Questa Business Bridge. Participants first sit through an 11-session business education series, where they draft business plans and build professional relationships before they ever pitch. The Business Bridge is based at the Questa Public Library. It offers workspace, training, workshops, technology and business resources. When QEDF launched it in 2024, the offer included free workshops, one-on-one consulting, mentorship and office services.
QEDF Director Lynn Skall described this year's contest this way in Questa News:
"The Pitch Contest reflects what can happen when a community invests in the people who are building its future. These entrepreneurs are creating businesses, services, and opportunities that strengthen Questa from the ground up, and we are proud to support their work."
The grants are small, and the purchases are specific: a spiral dough mixer, lambing pens, a freeze dryer, replacement windows. That makes the money easy to trace. Each grant answers a simple question. What does this business need to serve more people in Questa?
Where Each Business Stands Right Now
Not every venture from the August contest has a door you can walk through. Here is what the reporting supports as of early October.
| Business | Owner | What it is | How to find it now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memaw's Bagels & More | Brenda Wills | Artisan bagels | First storefront planned to open Oct. 5 at 2349 Highway 522 |
| Sew Artful | Tatyana de Pavloff | Alterations | 2329 NM-522, next to Yoga Sala; Tuesdays 9:30 to 3:30, Wednesdays 12:30 to 6:30 |
| The Fizz Lab | Valerie Vigil | Mobile non-alcoholic drinks | Sets up around town and at community events |
| DD's Doggy Daycare | Adelita Mead | Dog day care | Taking day-care bookings in Cerro; grant funds a fenced dog run |
| Lacy's Lamb & Co. | Lauren Trujillo | Fresh local lamb | New venture selling lamb locally |
| Salon del Sol | Molly Stroh | Hair salon | Grant funds window replacement in a historic Questa building she bought |
| Cerro Arts Factory | Mark White | Art and retail orders | E-commerce site being funded |
| Grounded Being | Katy Swan | Freeze-dried organ-meat supplements | Launching; freeze dryer purchase funded |
The ninth contestant, Ruby Rae Allred, is funding the first self-published print run of the Pregnancy Oracle Deck. It is a 40-card deck with a companion guidebook that she wrote and illustrated.
The Highway 522 Strip Gets a Bakery Counter
Memaw's Bagels is the most visible result of the contest. Brenda Wills scored in the top four and received $5,800 for a commercial spiral dough mixer and a convection oven. With them she can make more bagels, keep them consistent and add to the menu.
Her first storefront is planned to open Monday, Oct. 5, in the Family Dollar and Questa Lumber complex at 2349 Highway 522. She plans to be open about four days a week. The shop has seven bagel flavors. Everything, cheddar and Hatch green chile are on the regular menu, and the others rotate. Exact days and hours weren't published before opening, so the Memaw's Facebook page is the place to check. The Questa Business Bridge feature on Wills includes a $5 discount on a half-dozen bagel bundle with an 8-ounce cream cheese for customers who mention it, good through Nov. 30, 2026.
Wills also told Questa News that people from other states have told her they planned trips to the area just to try her bagels. She also described the business as continuing what she was already doing, such as free Thanksgiving meals and volunteering at the Questa Food Pantry with her granddaughter.
Memaw's will be a short walk from Sew Artful at 2329 NM-522, where Tatyana de Pavloff takes appointments and walk-ins two days a week. Her grant covers a semi-industrial sewing machine and a professional-grade iron and steamer, so she can do better work in less time. A little farther along the highway, at 2627 NM-522, J&L Powersports started J&L Rentals this summer with two multi-passenger UTVs.
The Businesses That Come to You
Some of this year's winners don't have a fixed address. Valerie Vigil's Fizz Lab is a mobile drink trailer. It has been setting up near the grocery store, near Rael's Coffee and at community events. Her grant pays for a generator, a small freezer, a commercial blender and other supplies to equip the trailer for more sales.
Adelita Mead's DD's Doggy Daycare already has day-care reviews from earlier in 2026 and is booking into October in Cerro. Her grant goes to kennels, dog beds and a fenced dog run. Lauren Trujillo's Lacy's Lamb & Co. sells fresh lamb locally. She is spending her award on lambing pens, electric fencing and livestock monitoring cameras. Molly Stroh is putting her grant into her building rather than her equipment. The award will pay to replace damaged windows in the historic Questa building she bought for Salon del Sol.
Earlier contestants show what can happen later. Monique Parker of MS Parker LLC won $5,000 in the 2025 contest. A year later, Questa News reports that she is doing marketing work for Kit Carson Internet, Red River Oktoberfest, Vino in the Valley and Taos County's CEED program.
The Same Rooms, on Weeknights
The building that hosted the pitch contest is also where Questa's new weeknight event begins. The Questa Public Library starts a Community Game Night on Tuesday, Oct. 6. It runs on the first and third Tuesday of each month from 5 to 7 p.m. Here is the rest of the fall calendar, in order:
- Community Game Night, Questa Public Library, first and third Tuesdays, 5 to 7 p.m., starting Oct. 6.
- Amalia, Ventero & Costilla Community Memory Gathering, hosted by Voces de Nuestro País, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2 to 4 p.m., at Screamin' Bull Outfitters Lodge, #761 NM Highway 196 in Amalia, with Chris, Gloria and Louie Lucero.
- Ceramic Café, Questa Youth Center Art Room, Wednesdays 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., Oct. 21 through Dec. 16, free and open to all ages, with Thanksgiving week off.
- Disturbance Day: Questa, Saturday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Wild Rivers Visitors Center near Cerro. It includes landscape artwork by Scott Sutton, exhibits by "The Pigment Hunter," chalk art with Mark Lewis Wagner, and a youth exhibition by students from Alta Vista, Roots & Wings and Red River Valley Charter Schools.
- Red River Ski Area opening day, listed for Nov. 25, 2026.
The Nov. 7 program has the most packed into one afternoon. From noon to 1 p.m., researcher Ellis Margolis and Manny Lopez lead "Shifting Mosaics," a talk about centuries of ecological and human influence on the Rio Grande del Norte. Friends of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument provides a free lunch during the same hour. From 2 to 4 p.m., Voces de Nuestro País holds "Fire Stories" with Claire Coté, marking 30 years since the Hondo Fire, and invites people to bring their own stories.
The Ceramic Café comes back after a strong summer for the arts in Questa. The 2026 Questa Art Tour, held Aug. 8 and 9, drew more than 600 art-viewing guests. Organizers also added more local businesses to the tour map and the venue list this year.
Money Going Into the Buildings Themselves
The library is getting outside money too. Friends of the Questa Public Library raised $6,000 to landscape the entrance, and the LOR Foundation added $10,000. The goal is to fix an approach the project describes as muddy and unsafe. The Village and QEDF also secured $25,000 from LOR for water-wise landscaping at the Highway 522 and Highway 38 gateway. The plans include features based on Questa's mining and farming history, and that work is still upcoming.
The biggest project is aimed at the kind of businesses the pitch contest produces. In August, the Village reported a $1.5 million grant to expand the former Taos Bakes building to 14,000 square feet. The commercial space was expected to be listed for lease soon.
Antonio Martinez grew up with northern New Mexico and keeps track of what's being built along Highway 522, from the Memaw's counter to the Taos Bakes expansion. If you'd like to talk about how these changes affect a Questa or Arroyo Hondo property you own or are considering, Sweet Escape Realty is glad to help. Schedule a free consultation.
