Since 1924, nearly everyone in Santa Fe has taken part in the annual celebration of the burning of Zozobra “Old Man Gloom” at Ft. Marcy Park during the annual Fiesta de Santa Fe. Created by the artist Will Shuster, Zozobra “Old Man Gloom” has kicked off the Santa Fe Fiesta with the burning of his marionette effigy to the merriment of fiesta goers for the past 86 years. Under the supervision of the Kiwanis Club the giant puppet has grown to be 49.11 feet. In 2007 the Guinness Book of Records certified Zozobra as being the largest marionette in the world. Each year thousands of people enter Ft. Marcy Park to watch Zozobra burn in the hope that their sorrows will flee in the ashes of Zozobra and they can partake in the merriment of the fiesta.
In 1921, five young artists joined forces and became known for their work as artists of modernist art. Jozef Bakos (1891–1977), Walter Murk (1895–1942), Willard Nash (1898 –1942), William Schuster (the creator of Zozobra) (1893–1969), and Fremont Ellis (1887–1985) introduced modernistic art in the Southwest. When they held their first exhibit at the Museum of Art in Santa Fe, the town had 7,000 people.
