Meow Wolf opened “The House of Eternal Return” with a roar and a bang last week.

We had a “small” (hoo hah) friends and family ‘soft opening’ on Wednesday. On Thursday was the Grand VIP Gala. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the doors opened to the public for the first time. Amanda Palmer, Jason Webley, and the Handsome Family played. Wonders were unveiled, caves and treehouses and haunted mansions and space gates explored, refrigerators opened…

The reviews, I am thrilled to say, were uniformly raves. Here’s a few:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/21/t-magazine/mystery-house-santa-fe-george-rr-martin.html?_r=0

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/art/museum_shows/forever-home-meow-wolf-opens-house-of-eternal-return/article_4f72acf1-b0be-52d4-ad87-d8c48192ca78.html

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/meow-wolf-s-long-anticipated-exhibit-debuts-it-s-awesome/article_5110812e-cc53-54cb-b216-b2cf61c3ea91.html

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/meow-wolf-s-long-anticipated-exhibit-debuts-it-s-awesome/article_5110812e-cc53-54cb-b216-b2cf61c3ea91.html

I am told that 5500 hundred people visited the House on its opening weekend. Most of them went away smiling… especially the kids, who loved the place… but there’s plenty there for adults to enjoy as well.

Our hope is that Meow Wolf and the House of Eternal Return will be one of Santa Fe’s premiere attractions for many, many years to come. Come visit when you’re in town. I promise you, you’ve never seen anything quite like it.

Things are getting exciting here in Santa Fe.

Fourteen months in the making, the House of Eternal Return opens this week!!

The big VIP Gala will launch things, on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.

And on the weekend of March 18/19, the doors will open to the public for the first time.

(Right now, I imagine, hundreds of artists are madly crawling over the place, finishing every little last detail).

Tickets are still available, if you’re going to be in the neighborhood.

https://meowwolf.com/

Come join us! You’ve never seen anything like it.

Meow Wolf’s opening weekend approaches. The gala will be on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, and the doors will open to the public for the first time on March 18 and 19.

And now the word is spreading beyond the borders of the Land of Enchantment.

The LA TIMES came to visit a few weeks ago. Here’s their story:

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-c1-meow-wolf-20160223-story.html

Go to the Meow Wolf website at https://meowwolf.com/ to reserve tickets and have a look at their calendar of upcoming events.

My friends at Meow Wolf have officially set a date for the opening of their amazing innovative interactive art-and-adventure exhibit, the House of Eternal Return.

Mark it down on your calendars, ladies and gents and children of all ages. The House will kick things off with a spectacular VIP GALA on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. The following weekend, March 18-20, Meow Wolf will officially open to the public. All down on Rufina Circle, inside the former Silva Lanes.

There are going to be all sorts of astonishing extras, and we expect sellout crowd for that first opening weekend. So if you want to join the fun, reserve your tickets now: https://meowwolf.com/product-category/exhibition-tickets/

The House of Eternal Return, long adrift is time and space, is spinning back towards earth and its eventual landing on the south side of Santa Fe… courtesy of the madmen and madwomen of Meow Wolf, the City Different’s wildest artist’s collective.

Remember Silva Lanes? That derelict bowling alley I bought last winter? If not, go back to January and February on this very Not A Blog and read the old posts. Or just Google “Silva Lanes” and my name, and you’ll find plenty of press coverage.

Anyway… work has been proceeding down on the south side ever since. My own construction crew has gutted the remains of the old structure, torn up the parking lot, and has been working day and night to bring everything up to code. Meanwhile, Meow Wolf’s artists have been across the street, making magic… and now they’ve moved in and started the installations. The two construction crews are working side by side.

Here’s some recent press coverage of the project, from the pages of the SANTA FE NEW JIXIOCAN and the ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/business/meow-wolf-banks-on-returns-with-ambitious-new-exhibit/article_77ca13b6-b0fa-52a5-8a00-b04dd3857241.html

http://www.abqjournal.com/611525/biz/meow-wolfs-latest-futuristic-project-bends-time-and-space.html

Last week I had a tour of the former Silva Lanes. Some amazing stuff is going on in there. The House of Eternal Return should be interactive art like you’ve never seen it. Kids are going to love this, I think. (A few lucky ones already do).

Here’s some more fun pictures from an email that Meow Wolf CEO Vince Kadlubek sent out last week to investors.

Besides the house itself (think of it as a giant TARDIS in a Victorian mansion), there’s also going to be secret passages, a cave system, a haunted forest, a performance space, a video arcade, a gift shop, a children’s learning center (for art, no longer taught in New Mexico schools), a gallery, artists’ workshops… oh, and a giant robot and steel spider in the parking lot (just visiting, those last two). (And yes, the neon bowling pin remains).

The hope is everything will be ready for a grand opening in JANUARY. Watch this space for further details.

Of course, all this costs money. To raise some more of that, Meow Wolf is offering one thousand (1000) limited edition boxed set Lifetime Pass Memberships. They come with an actual box, which looks very cool. But I will let them tell you about that themselves:

https://meowwolf.com/2015/09/the-meow-wolf-lifetime-pass-limited-edition/

The House of Eternal Return is going to be like nothing you’ve ever seen before, and we hope it will be a permanent part of the scene here in Santa Fe for decades to come, and a “must see” for every tourist visiting the City Different.

One thing for sure… it will be much more exciting than bowling.