This weekend we were driving through Madrid on what is called the Turquoise Trail to get to Santa Fe for errands. Madrid is this tiny artsy, hippie town with zany local characters and lots of old dogs sleeping in the middle of the road. One writer called Madrid a place "where old carnies go to die."

Anyway, Madrid (pronounced MAD-rid) had completely changed. First of all the port-a-potties and local characters and dogs were missing. Then there were these banners saying "Madrid Chile Festival" all over. I was surprised as I had never heard of such a festival. An antique gas pump magically appeared in front of one of the galleries and someone had put a gazebo and (gasp) grass and tables and chairs near the general store. We couldn't figure out what on earth was going on - there were no signs of an actual festival. Then we saw about 30 identical RVs parked at the school near a huge tent and about 10 semi-trucks parked at the ballfield .

On our way back through Madrid we finally figured out they must be shooting a movie. Sure enough - we checked the "Madrid Chile Festival" banners and they said Madrid County. There is no such place. I got home and did an online search and they're shooting a Disney movie called Wild Hogs with John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen. The movie brings 75 jobs to the area which is probably about 1/4 the population of Madrid.

Here are some photos of sleepy Madrid before it became famous.