Los Huracanes celebrating anniversary - and a star

In a week when a hurricane has been dominating the news, I've been spending time learning about some hurricanes in our own back yard.

Eight of them, if you're counting.

The ones I am talking about are members of the renowned Norteño band, Los Huracanes del Norte, which is headquartered in a striking Spanish colonial-style compound on US 70 seven miles northeast of Portales.

Jose Guadalupe Garcia, who goes by Lupillo or Lupe, graciously spent an afternoon recently telling me more about the band his family started 50 years ago this fall in California.

 There were two main reasons that precipitated this visit.

One was that I've wanted to learn more about this family and Los Huracanes for a long time.

The second was that besides celebrating their golden anniversary this year, Los Huracanes del Norte received the honor of a lifetime last month: Their very own star on Hollywood's iconic Walk of Fame.

That would be a plenty big deal for anyone, but when it happens to a family with a story as interesting as the one that has been lived by the Garcias, it becomes even more meaningful.

You see, the Garcias' American story began more than 300 miles north of Hollywood and almost 60 years ago when Lupe's parents, Francisco Garcia and Cenobia Ruvalcaba, emigrated from Mexico to the San Jose area with their daughter and three sons, in search of a better life

It's a story of a family who worked in the fields by day, and three sons who spent their evenings exploring a love of music with their uncle.

It's a story of how those music-loving guys formed a band and started following dreams of their own.

It's a story of how that band first happened into eastern New Mexico on their way to becoming one of the most successful Norteño bands of all time.

It's also a story of how the members of that growing band remained devoted to each other and never stopped prioritizing something that was very important to them all: family.

And it's a story that is much too long to tell in a column, so I'll be telling it in Sunday's Eastern New Mexico News.

Come along and be swept up by Los Huracanes del Norte. It's a storm you don't want to miss.

Betty Williamson is hoping for a Category 5 story. Reach her at:

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