The Hatch Chile Festival is an annual event celebrated in Hatch Village, Do?a Ana County. The festival is held during the weekend Labor Day in New Mexico, which is the first Saturday and Sunday of September.

The renowned Hatch Village was established in 1875 and was named after an Indian fighter Edward Hatch. Prior to this, the community was a rail flag station and adobe post office for the Santa Fe railroad Company. After the 1921 flood, the town started to rebuild the destroyed adobe buildings and established the community in agricultural farming. Located at within the fertile soil of Rio Grande Valley, the village has distinctive success for growing of agricultural crops, specifically, chile. The farmers have grown high quality chile that is recognized in the farming industry. The term Hatch Chile is not a variety of a pepper. It is used to brand the peppers harvested from the Hatch village which include different variants such as green chile and red chile. Today, the village is known as the ?Chile Capital of the World.?

The festival features a morning parade of Hatch Chile floats, musical bands, men riding in horses, local fire trucks and law enforcement vehicles without non-stop blinking and blaring of sirens. There are different activities like chile eating contests, chile festival auction, and a pageant competition for Hatch Chile Queen. The popular chile shop The Chile Express covers its roof with red chile, a perfect photo opportunity for tourists. The vicinity of the festival has an aroma of roasted green chile which chile vendors roast all day long.