The colorful and lively atmosphere at La Posta de Mesilla Restaurant gets even more festive as the beloved Mexican restaurant celebrates its 85th anniversary.

The restaurant, on a corner of Mesilla Plaza, will offer several events and ways to thank its customers starting the weekend of Sept. 14-15. The restaurant is inside a historic adobe 18th-century stagecoach station that once served as a stop on the Butterfield Stage line in Mesilla, New Mexico.

Among the highlights are the Mesilla Parade and Fiesta. La Posta staff will be riding in a horse-drawn stagecoach at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. Mayor Russell Hernandez will present a proclamation in honor of the restaurant’s milestone at noon at the Mesilla Plaza.

The 85th Birthday Celebration Gala will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16, at the restaurant. Reservations are required; however, customers will enjoy a special buffet with margaritas and tequila tasting for $19.39 plus tax per person. Of course, mariachis will help mark the occasion.

Owner Tom Hutchinson, who runs the restaurant with his wife Jearean Camunez Hutchison, said her great-aunt Katy Griggs started it. Griggs introduced tropical birds and fish tanks to the lobby.

“She got a sweetheart deal from her uncle George. She acquired the property on the far north end (of the building) for one dollar, love and affection,” he said, sitting inside one of many dining rooms. Each dining area is delightful, some with cottonwood vigas and latillas, and walls displaying art from Spain, Mexico, or South America collected by Jearean.

“We acquired the business in 1996, but we didn’t get the same deal,” he said with a grin. “It’s been 28 years now. We are just humble stewards of something Katie Griggs created in 1939. She started with a much smaller operation — a few tables on the north end of this compound with rumor has it, no running water and dirt floors and mom and grandma cooking in the back.”

Hutchison, who was in the Navy, said the reason for the move back to Mesilla was a personal one. His wife wanted to be close to family as they raised three young kids, ages 3 to 7. Now grown, two of them — Christopher and Elena — are still involved in the restaurant and help run it. The middle child, Brett, grew up in the business but now lives in Phoenix, working in another industry.

For Hutchison, it was a unique challenge to take over something iconic and continue to meet the public’s expectations. The original owner had passed some years before, and it was important for Hutchison to win the confidence of new and old customers while also enhancing customer service and the quality of food.

0