Farmington's Glade Run Hosts Off-Road Scramble, Theatre Events This Weekend

The Glade Runners Motorcycle Club staged the Chokecherry Scramble II across Glade Run Recreation Area's 25 miles of high-desert terrain March 28 and 29, drawing competitors and spectators to one of the Four Corners region's most storied off-road venues as part of the New Mexico Race Collective's 2026 Desert Championship Race Series.

Racing ran from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 28, with the two-day event anchored at the area's main access point off Piñon Hills Boulevard and Glade Road in northwest Farmington. The New Mexico Race Collective, a volunteer-run organization formed in late 2022 to sustain desert racing in New Mexico, governs the series under American Motorcyclist Association rules, including a 2026 addition capping race time at three hours per class. The collective brings together dirt bike clubs and promoters running hare scrambles, hare-and-hound races, enduros, and grand prix events across the state.

Glade Run's roughly 19,000 Bureau of Land Management acres sit between State Highways 170, 574, and 516, with multiple dirt-road entry points accessible from Farmington. The southern 3,800-acre open OHV zone, where competitive events are held under BLM permit, mixes sandy arroyos, slick rock, and rolling foothills at 5,669 feet. Food vendors and activities for children were on site, and the Scramble's second edition continued momentum for a race series that reintroduced organized competition to Glade Run after a gap of more than 40 years.

The weekend's cultural offerings drew a different audience across town. The San Juan College Artists Series presented the Julia Keefe Quartet at 7 p.m. Sunday inside the 314-seat Connie Gotsch Theatre at San Juan College. Keefe leads an ensemble of Native and Indigenous jazz musicians, and the concert served as one of the Artists Series' marquee spring performances. Frozen: The Broadway Musical rounded out the weekend's family programming at Piedra Vista High School.

The range of events reinforced Farmington's standing as the Four Corners hub for both outdoor recreation and performing arts, pulling motorsport competitors, support crews, and audiences for theater and jazz into the local hospitality and retail economy across the same 48-hour stretch.