ANTHONY, Texas and N.M. — Mary Ann Brown is looking forward to celebrating her 19th birthday this year with a champagne toast. Chances are, she won't have to worry about I.D. checks, though she is still eight years away from her official 21st birthday.
Brown was born in 1932...on Feb. 29. She's a Leap Year Day baby with a vision and a mission to make her little community of Anthony, which straddles the borders of New Mexico and Texas, into the "Leap Year Capital of the World."
She's made great strides as founder of the Worldwide Leap Year Festival and a charter member of the Worldwide Leap Year Birthday Club.
Since the first impromptu fiesta in 1988, she's managed to field festivities that have attracted "29ers" or "Leapers," as Leap Year babies call themselves, from throughout the world, along with national media attention, celebrities, and thousands of Leap Year fans.
"We say that we've had 10,000 people at the festival, but you should remember that includes the people who live here and come out to watch the parade," said Brown, who works hard to give them something interesting to watch.
This year, it will be parade marshal Josephine Concho Abeita, 25 (in 29er years), of Albuquerque.
"Josephine was born on Feb. 29, 1908, four years before New Mexico became a state, in the village of Seama. She's a Laguna Indian and the mother of eight sons and one daughter. We're very excited to announce that assuming she continues in her normal state of good health, she'll be leading the parade," reports Brown.
The biggest 29er bash to date was a millennium celebration. In 2000, famed 1960s artist Peter Max created a festival logo and T-shirt for the event and there was a concert featuring Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash fame.
"Graham's wife, Susan, is a 29er. They brought the whole family from Hawaii, over 30 people, and Graham and Susan led the parade. Susan wore a mermaid costume she got from Bette Midler and Graham was a fisherman," Brown said.
It was a spectacular event compared to the first fiesta.
"On Feb. 1, 1988, I proposed that the Anthony Chamber of Commerce host a festival centered around Leap Year Day to bring recognition and needed funds to the community," Brown said.
With less than a month to plan the celebration, she enlisted family members, including her husband, now deceased.
"That first year, it was just a little party in my husband's shop, Joe Bob Brown's Anthony Auto Parts. But I'm a former journalist, and I used to be writer and publisher of a weekly newspaper called Mesilla Valley Perspectives, so I did my best to get the word out. We had nine people there with Leap Year birthdays, and a member of AP (Associated Press) was there and it just kept growing. We had 107 Leapers attend in 2004 and Leapers attend from every state in the union and have come from as far as Germany and Switzerland," Brown said, ranging from newborns to a 92-year-old celebrating his 23rd birthday.
"In 1992 a gentleman registered his 104-year-old Mother, Luz Bejarano, who celebrated her 26th birthday that year, but Josephine Abeita will be the first person over 100 to actually attend. Membership in the Worldwide Leap Year Birthday Club has grown from zero in 1988 to over 400. The members hail from almost every state in the Union and also from Germany, England, Norway, Mexico and Canada. ABC's Good Morning America and the CBS Morning Show did broadcasts and there have been stories in newspapers and magazines all over the world," said Brown, who is investigating possibilities of promoting the festival on a February Martha Stewart TV show dedicated to Leap Year celebrations and Leapers.
Art Franco, Anthony's mayor and this year's festival chair, said the Leap Year party has become a source of community pride and has literally put Anthony on the map for many.
"It started out as kind of a small deal and now it's turned into a community festival that the whole community in both Texas and New Mexico gets involved in. Some people tell me they didn't know where we were until they came to this festival. We get a lot of Leap Year birthday people and other people and it's a good time for the whole community," Franco said.
This year's festivities, running from Feb. 28 through March 1, will include a carnival, a golf tournament, "a get acquainted session for Leapers from everywhere," and a trip to Sunland Park Casino.
The big day will begin with a Feb. 29 breakfast for Leapers.
"Following breakfast, birthday folks can spend some time preparing signs boasting their age in Leap Years, to use in the parade. Since Leap Year Day falls on Friday this year the parade will be held after school, about 3 p.m. We encourage all Leap Year babies and Leap Year anniversary couples to join the parade. A variety of vehicles will be provided for those who do not have their own or, if you prefer to walk, the parade route is about a 1.5 mile trek. The day will be completed with a birthday dinner, cake and entertainment. The weekend of March 1 and 2 will also be filled with fun events as part of the celebration including hot air balloon liftoffs and rides, a carnival and a chuckwagon breakfast, followed by various events and activities at the park including games, a chile cookoff, and maybe a huacha tournament (similar to horseshoes), entertainment, and other competitions," Brown said.
For information and schedule details visit www.leapyearcapital.com
If you go
• What: 6th Worldwide Leap Year Festival
• When: Feb. 28-March 2
• Where: Anthony, NM and Texas
Highlights: Parade, golf tournament, carnival, hot air balloons, trip to Sunland Park, Birthday breakfast and dinner, entertainment, competitions and other special events
• How much: Many events free
• Info: www.leapyearcapital.com, (915) 886-2540
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com