Help Us Keep Zozobra Free for Kids
and affordable for every New Mexico family • The 103rd Burning of Zozobra • Friday, September 3, 2027
Picture the moment. Tens of thousands of people fall quiet under the Santa Fe sky. A little girl on her father’s shoulders grips a fistful of his hair as a fifty-foot giant groans above her. Then the whole field finds its voice, “Burn him! Burn him!”, the Fire Spirit dances out of the dark, and a year of a city’s sorrow goes up in flames.
For more than a hundred years, that moment has belonged to everyone, not just the families who can afford it. Your sponsorship is how it stays that way.
Watch Zozobra Come to Life
What It Takes to Burn Gloom
Keeping Zozobra open to every family is a choice we make every single year, and it is not a cheap one.
5,000 tickets at $30 each go to New Mexico families who could not otherwise be there.
Every child 10 and under gets into General Admission free, and we intend to keep it that way.
We absorb every credit card and processing fee ourselves, so a $30 ticket costs $30.
Police officers, a professional security firm, metal detectors and bag screening at every gate, and medical teams on site all night.
Free shuttles, a free ADA shuttle, a free Bike Valet, and we pay the Rail Runner to hold the train after the show.
Four free sessions the week before the burn. 46,331 visits in 2026, and no one paid to get in.
We don’t begrudge a dollar of it. It is who we are. But every dollar we give away is a dollar we have to raise.
How You Help Us Hold the Line
We will not start charging for children 10 and under. We will not raise the price of a ticket. That leaves two ways to make up the difference: sponsorships, and the premium viewing seats guests choose to buy.
Every sponsorship offsets the lower-priced tickets, the free admissions and the 5,000 tickets we give to the community. And once all of Zozobra’s bills are paid, every dollar left over goes to children who need it most. Your gift works twice.
No Amount Is Too Big or Too Small
Everything helps. A $500 gift and a $45,000 sponsorship do the same good work: each one keeps a family’s ticket affordable and a child’s admission free.
Whatever your budget, tell us what fits and we’ll work out a sponsorship with you. Every dollar counts.
Printing, signage, catering, equipment and more. Every cost we don’t have to pay leaves more for kids.
Have a wild idea? We’ll build a package around your business, your team and your customers.
If your business has products that can lessen our costs, that helps just as much as a check. It simply leaves more net proceeds to help our disadvantaged children once all of Zozobra’s bills are paid.
A Note from the Event Chairman
Friends,
Every year someone asks why we don’t just raise the price of a ticket. My answer never changes. The family that can’t afford a night out is exactly the family that needs to watch gloom burn.
So we made promises, and we mean to keep them. Children 10 and under get in free. General admission stays at $30, with no fees. And 5,000 New Mexico families who couldn’t otherwise come will be standing on that field with the rest of us.
Keeping those promises costs more every year, from security to shuttles to the fees we absorb. The only way we keep them is with partners who believe what we believe: that this tradition belongs to all of Santa Fe.
Whatever you can give, a check, a product, a service or an idea, I promise it will matter. Call me. Let’s find a way together.
¡Viva el Viejo!
Raymond G. Sandoval, Esq.
Zozobra Event Chairman
BurnHim@BurnZozobra.com • 855-ZOZOBRA (855-969-6272)
Where Your Money Goes
Zozobra is produced entirely by volunteers of the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe, 689 of them in 2026, with no paid staff. After the event’s bills are paid, net proceeds go to the Santa Fe Downtown Kiwanis Foundation, which grants them to nonprofits serving the region’s children. In 2025 alone, the Foundation granted $100,000 to organizations that together serve more than 24,000 children. Recent recipients include:
- College and Career Plaza
- Communities In Schools of New Mexico
- Gerard’s House
- Girls Inc. of Santa Fe
- National Dance Institute of New Mexico
- Many Mothers
- Santa Fe Children’s Museum
- Solace Sexual Assault Services
- St. Elizabeth Shelter
- Teatro Paraguas
- The Sky Center / New Mexico Suicide Intervention Project
- Adaptive Sports Program
- Bienvenidos
- La Familia Medical Center
- Rio Arriba Imagination Library
Who You’ll Reach
2026 was the strongest year of public participation Zozobra has ever recorded, and it is, above all, a hometown crowd.
Up 4% over 2025.
Four out of every five people on the field.
Our largest ever, with the KOAT broadcast and livestream.
Up 26%, and free to everyone.
The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs designated the 102nd Burning of Zozobra an official NM Spirit event for the nation’s 250th anniversary.
2027 Sponsorship Levels
Every level includes a tax-deductible donation letter, your logo on the Zozobra website, and a public “Thank You” from the stage.
Help Zozobra Celebrate His 103rd Year!
Kiwanis sends our Zozobra-sized thanks!
As we prepare for the 103rd Burning of Zozobra, we are reaching out with a respectful request. We are committed to making this year’s burn as spectacular and meaningful as ever, and we are kindly asking you to consider a donation. The net proceeds from Zozobra are crucial in supporting nonprofit programs for children in our community. Your gift helps give Zozobra the start to his next hundred years that he deserves, and at the same time helps us keep providing support and services to the kids who need them most.
Our mission to direct the net proceeds of every Zozobra to children’s programs leaves us with limited resources for the other community projects we hope to take on. Your support makes the 103rd Burning of Zozobra a truly remarkable celebration for our whole community. Thank you for your continued support and your thoughtful consideration.
All donations are tax-deductible. Your generous donation makes you part of this amazing moment!
Please donate below, or send your donation by mail to:
Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe / Zozobra Service Account
1401 Santa Cruz Drive
Santa Fe, NM 87505
Please help our cherished tradition burn ever brighter with your financial support!
