Unsung Heroes: The Keller Family

Three classic cars are arranged on the Bosque Farms Little League field with picture-perfect precision, like the drivers have done it once or twice or 23 times.

Since 1999, the Keller family — Mary Ann, Ron, Richard and Eddie — have hosted the Bosque Farms Car Show during the village’s annual community fair. Originally billed as the “Just For Fun” Car Show, the event started when Mary Ann was on the fair board.

“We wanted to do something fun and different for the fair, so I said, ‘What about a car show?’” Mary Ann remembers.

The event wasn’t a stretch for the couple, considering they had a classic car “in the family” before their first son was born. Through 2017, there was no entry fee for the show, with the family adsorbing any costs associated with the event.

For the 2018 show, the Kellers decided to change things up a bit — they asked for a $5 entry “donation,” and donated the proceeds of the show to the village of Bosque Farms.

Their generosity has earned the family the honor of being named one of this year’s Valencia County News-Bulletin Unsung Heroes.

“The entry fee really is a donation. We aren’t going to turn anyone away if they don’t have it,” Ron said.

Since then, they have donated more than $4,100 to the village to support the fire department, EMS and the police department’s K-9 unit.

Former Bosque Farms fire chief Spencer Wood said the Kellers are just another example of the great people who live in Bosque Farms.

“I can’t say enough about the Kellers, and all the people in the village,” Wood said. “They are a great family; they’re all involved. Good folks, very caring and giving.”

While Wood was fire chief, one of his official duties — along with the village’s mayor and police chief — was to award one of the cars at the show the chief’s choice.

“It just got bigger and bigger and it was harder and harder to pick a winner,” he said. “I’m not really a car guy, so I would go find a red one.”

The first year of the show, it drew about 10 to 12 cars and fit in the parking lot of the Bosque Farms Community Center, Mary Ann said. As it grew, it hit a steady 80 or so entries, but this year exploded.

“We had to cut off entries when we ran out of entry forms at 225,” she said.

A big part of the appeal about the Bosque Farm show is that it truly is “just for fun.”

“We wanted it to be fun and open to everyone,” Mary Ann said.

Over the years, when promoting the show, she and Ron have encouraged their family, friends and neighbors to bring out their vintage vehicles for the show, especially the ones they love and drive every day.

In addition to having the mayor, fire and police chiefs select their favorites, the cars are judged by the people who turn out to see them, not a formal panel of judges.

“It’s the people’s favorites, and the shiniest one doesn’t always win,” Mary Ann said.

And pretty much anything that drives is welcome to enter — motorcycles, campers, pickups, coupes and even tractors.

As the show has continued on — and could very likely be the longest continuously running car show in the state — Ron spent the months running up to it hunting down prizes for the winners, gathering gift cards and other goodies from businesses from Bosque Farms to Belen.

“A lot of businesses have supported us, year in and year out,” he said.

The show did transition into trophies eventually, but not your stock prizes. For several years, Eddie and Richard found car parts and custom built trophies. They now use two custom metal shops in Albuquerque that fabricate unique and coveted prizes.

“We are always grateful to the village for allowing us to use the field, through multiple mayors and councils. This is a labor of love. It’s a natural thing to do; we’re car people,” Ron said, ironically noting he’s the only family member who doesn’t currently own a classic car. “We’ve been a part of the community for a lot of years, and it gives us a great quality of life.”

Former village clerk/administrator Gayle Jones said the Kellers are an active and vital part of the community and their work on the car show has proven to be a great resource for the village.

This year, the family helped coordinate the first ever Cops and Rodders Car Show this past weekend, which  benefited the New Mexico Special Olympics, a cause near and dear to the Bosque Farms Police Department, which cosponsored the event.

“They are so upbeat. It’s like there’s not a sad bone in their body,” said Bosque Farms Police Chief Andrew Owen. “They are so community-oriented. They love to give back and are genuinely great people.”