During the regularly scheduled NSBA Member First Friday Fellowship held online on April 3rd, the National Scenic Byway Association (NSBA) recognized the 2026 National Byway Award winners. The Village of Cuba nomination for the Jemez Mountain Trail received one of two Honorable Mentions for their work to host and promote the Jemez Mountain Trail Sale annual event along the Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway every October.
The Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway was established in 1998 and encompasses a 163-mile loop through the Jemez Mountains between notable attractions such as Los Alamos, Bandelier National Monument, Valles Caldera National Preserve, Jemez Springs, Jemez Pueblo, Fenton Lake, Santa Fe National Forest, Village of Cuba, Cabezon Peak, and Village of San Ysidro.
The National Byway Awards is a national recognition program co-sponsored by American Road Magazine for NSBA members to share their success stories and best practices of maintaining connections to the cultures and landscapes of the national scenic byway routes. The Village of Cuba nominated the Jemez Mountain Trail for the Visitor Experience Award – “Experiential or authentic activities or events, re-enactments, created new attractions or destinations for visitors to have a comprehensive experience about the byway and its story.”
The Jemez Mountain Trail Sale is a long-standing tradition that originated in the Jemez Valley along NM-4 from San Ysidro to La Cueva. In 2023, local volunteers on the Cuba side of the byway at US-550 and NM-126 joined in promoting the 20th Annual event and encouraged the community to set up sales along the full byway. For the past three years, the sale has grown exponentially in Cuba and quickly become a new tradition with people traveling in to sell and shop on Main Street from outside the area. With these recent efforts, the Jemez Mountain Trail Sale has connected all of our byway communities and brought a new sense of shared identity. Together, we are able to attract many more visitors to the area on all sides of the Jemez Mountains to enjoy our unique cultures and landscapes.
