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Los Lunas, New Mexico: A small town with dazzling growth!

	Los Lunas truly combines the advantages of small town and rural living with tremendous economic growth and all the conveniences of a big city. Los Lunas, is located in Valencia County, which has the seccond fastest growth rate in New Mexico, averaging 2,000 new residents annually.
The village of Los Lunas, with a population of about 12,000 residents, is located just 20 minutes south of Albuquerque, and offers its residents spectacular views and 300+ days a year of sunshine to enjoy the great outdoors.
	Bestriding the Rio Grande River, Los Lunas offers plenty of that commodity most precious in a desert area: water! Nestled among the cottonwoods of the river "bosque", or woods, Los Lunas boasts excellent, irrigated farmland for crops or livestock. Much of the farm land around Los Lunas is zoned with minimum lot sizes of two to ten acres, to help preserve the rural lifestyle that residents so value, and horses are an integral part of the Los Lunas lifestyle for many residents, who frequently enjoy riding along the ditchbanks or the riverside, or competing in some of the many local horse shows and rodeos. Private plane aficionados are drawn to the area because they can own homes in the desireable Airpark area & keep a private plane in their own hangar right at home!
New businesses are drawn to this thriving town, which has added many new subdivisions in recent years, and expanded its utilities to accommodate the expected future growth. There is an especially strong new appeal for active seniors in Jubilee Los Lunas, a 375-acre gated community that is slated to become the biggest "active adult" community in NM.
	Los Lunas offers plenty of amenities, including modern schools, library, fine restaurants, excellent shopping, and new motels and a brand-new, multi-screen theatre complex, and the area has a rich and vibrant history and cultural heritage dating back over 300 years, to the time when Domingo de Luna and don Pedro Otero came to what would become Los Lunas on a land grant from the King of Spain. As these families grew, they built sizable fortunes and became both prominent and politically powerful. Intermarriages between the families in the late 1800's united these two families into what became known as the Luna-Otero Dynasty. In 1880, the Santa Fe Railroad agreed to build a new home to the family's specifications, in return for a right-of-way through the Luna property, and this stunning home became the now famous "Luna Mansion," which now enjoys a renaissance as an local restaurant. The Name "Los Lunas" in Spanish simply means "where the Lunas live." Faith has always been a major aspect of life in Los Lunas, as in New Mexico in general, which is evidenced by such things as the large number of often historically significant churches as well as the vast numbers of the faithful who make long pilgrimages on foot to climb to the top of Tome hill on Good Friday every year.