New Mexico entrepreneur Noelle Gemmer is co-owner of Manzano Mountain Retreat in Torreon. Her family created the year-round retreat from a former summer camp and apple orchard. Today, it operates as a destination for weddings, camps, corporate retreats, and community gatherings.
Gemmer grew up in Gallup and studied in Albuquerque, where she met her husband, Guy. She started at Sandia National Laboratories as a college intern and spent 10 years in business operations before leaving to join Guy’s real estate family enterprise. “I loved working at Sandia,” she says. “It really needed to be something so different and so unique for me to pull away.”
The couple with Guy’s parents, brother, and aunt purchased Manzano Mountain Retreat, where several of them now live.
The team had a vision for the property. “We really built the weddings and corporate retreats, making it more of a year-round effort,” Gemmer says. A family brainstorming session led to a blueprint. “We sat down with sticker paper and markers and asked what brought our diverse backgrounds together,” she says. “Hospitality became the answer, and the retreat showed up for sale right as we are dreaming.”
Gemmer says weddings became a “natural thing” because of the pond and the space at the property, but the property still includes robust summer programs. “Camps probably account for 30 to 50% of what we do,” Gemmer says. “Corporate retreats sit at around 5% and we want to grow that.” An annual fall Apple Festival has gained momentum as the family “really does it up bigger” each year, she says.
In addition, Rotary runs a two-week leadership program for “rising seniors.”
Guests can now book cabins on the website or through major platforms. “People can come stay overnight and go to the festival,” Gemmer says. “We offer onsite dining for overnight guests, and we plan special events where locals can come eat as well.” Her father-in-law, a trained chef, leads the kitchen. “He manages three meals a day for up to 200 during camp season,” she says. “His apple-cider donuts are amazing.”
The site also features animals and other amenities. “I kept adding the farm animals,” Gemmer says. “We have miniature Highland cows, peacocks, chickens, horses, donkeys, and sheep.” A ropes course, pool, gym, and sports facilities anchor camps that serve schools and specialty programs. “We host camps for kids with cancer, for kids with diabetes, for youth in foster care, and a grief center,” she says.
The ropes course became a favorite for adult teams as well, according to Gemmer. “People love it once they try,” she says. “We keep saying we want people to relearn that we can do hard things, and do it scared.”
While finding staff is a challenge, the retreat grows local talent. “We hold our staff to a really high customer-service standard and they deliver,” Gemmer says. “We also partner with Torrance County on paid summer internships for high schoolers—many come back for the Apple Festival.”
Community integration matters, according to Gemmer. “We live here, our neighbors work with us, and visitors pop in for apples, cider, and the animals,” she says. “We want to better New Mexico through the experiences we create.”
Family ownership is rewarding, Gemmer says. “The level of intimacy is something I never expected—living on site with my in-laws,” she says. “We love each other, we share the same goal, and we call each other 30 times a day because the work requires constant communication.”
Managing the retreat has other challenges. Costs and pricing pressure pose daily tests because people are “super price sensitive right now,” Gemmer says. “Food is expensive and so is maintaining a 140-acre property–we can’t race to the bottom on price, so we focus on communicating value.”
State regulations compound the challenge. “Some policies … can become a killer for small businesses,” she says. “I want more recognition of what policies do to hiring, wages, and the jobs people say they want to support.”
Gemmer’s advice to other would-be founders is to “consider the cost, then go do it.” “Do the hard things, the scary things that push you past your limit,” she says. The advantage, according to Gremmer is “you grow so much, even if it fails.”
