December 30, 2022
Chris and Alpine Visitors Center’s Heather Yadon talk about Alpine happenings for 2023 that we are all looking forward to. Have your calendar ready for this one!
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Transcript for “Alpine 2023 Events Preview”:
Intro
Welcome to the heart of the Big Bend. It’s time to kick back, put your feet up, grab your favorite beverage or snack as we discussed, declare, proclaim, publicize and articulate about the wonders, magic, beauty, music and happenings here in the area known as the Big Bend of Texas.
Chris Ruggia
Hello welcome and thank you for joining us again for heart of the Big Bend. This is a podcast and radio show coming to you every other week about visiting the beautiful Big Bend of Texas. Specifically, we will cover what’s happening in Alpine, an incredibly friendly, small town nestled in a desert mountain valley at the heart of the Big Bend region. With easy day trips from Alpine, you can take in everything this amazing region has to offer.
I’m Chris Ruggia, Director of Tourism for the City of Alpine, and today I’m joined again by Heather Yadon of Alpine Visitor Center.
Heather Yadon
Hello, welcome. Good afternoon, everyone.
Chris R
It’s just the two of us this time. We’re kind of reprising what we did last year, a little preview of what we’re looking forward to in 2023.
Heather Y
Yeah, there’s no way we can have all the event organizers here, so we’re going to go over a little bit of everything.
Chris R
Yeah. We’ll tell you all the dates that we have, definitely pull out your calendar and and start marking some dates. If one of these goes past you, find the podcast. It’ll be there. You can always rewind and find all the dates you’re looking for, and –
Heather Y
And it will be on our website we’ll have it all on visitalpinetx.com under events. Especially as things get closer, we update it constantly with the new schedules because a lot of these festivals put out a date and then as the events get closer we have more details about what’s happening, when specific bands are playing and performances and things like that. So yeah, you can always find that at visitalpinetx.com.
Chris R
Exactly. Before we get into events, one big thing that we’re looking forward to is a brand new building at Museum of the Big Bend getting completed. If you see the thing now, it’s a big green shape behind the old Museum of the Big Bend.
Heather Y
It’s going to look very different. It’s a super modern building that they’re adding on to the museum and the museum is, by far, a jewel in this area, the Museum of the Big Bend was voted one of the top 10 Western museums in the country for the second year in a row. It won best small Museum in the state for our Travel Awards.
So it is a state-of-the-art facility that definitely is the first place I send everyone to when they come to The Visitor Center, you know, it’s a great place to start and get an overview of the area. They know way more than I do. So go there and talk to them. The the new building is going to allow them to house different pieces of work they haven’t been able to before because the old building is, it’s old. It’s an historic building and it’s not got all the climate control and things that they need for specific art and stuff.
Chris R
Yeah, they are going to have a gallery that specifically for Tom Lee who’s a painter. He’s mostly associated with El Paso and there’s a there’s a whole section of the El Paso Art Museum that’s usually devoted to his work. And so there’s a series of paintings actually about the cattle industry that will be on its on a long-term loan. There’s a gallery specifically for those paintings.
Heather Y
He’s the one that did the painting from the El Paso post office. Isn’t that his piece?
Chris R
Correct.
Heather Y
It’s amazing.
Chris R
That’s in the Odessa Art Museum. The Ellen Noel in Odessa. So that’s pretty cool. They’ll also have a brand new temporary exhibit gallery that right now is down the little hallway from the permanent exhibit. That space will be in the new building and then they’re going to be doing some sort of restoration or enhancement work to the historic building. They’re raising money right now to match each National Endowment for the Humanities Grant to help for the historic building. So if anybody’s interested in helping with that, you can go to MuseumoftheBigBend.com and make a donation and help match that federal money. So that’s something that’s pretty cool.
I’m also excited about the possibility of a new guitar shop, a guitar store which is actually –
Heather Y
That wouldn’t be because you play the…
Chris R
What? No…it’s going to hopefully be on Sixth Street where the old Legal Aid office was. They moved across the street and that space is open.
Heather Y
It’s right around a bunch of galleries and our alley art is a great spot for…
Chris R
Yeah. And the fellow who’s going to open it’s going to be called Far West Guitars. He’s going to be working with Michael Stevens in some capacity. Michael Stevens being a world-renowned guitar builder. His website says. Not to not to tease Michael, but one of the world’s finest builders of electrical stringed instruments. So he’s really a treasure and he’ll be working with that. I think maybe some of his collection will be there, so it’s going to be kind of a combination museum and store.
Heather Y
This goes back to being important in Alpine because we do have a lot of musicians. We’re a music friendly community. And that is something that is needed here. Especially when we have traveling musicians come in and they need parts and strings and all that, I don’t know enough about that, but you do. I think that’s great.
Chris R
So yeah, fingers crossed everything goes well. My fingers are crossed for all of these next couple of things we’ll mention.
The Granada Theater reopening, which we talked about on our last episode, but I’m looking forward to when they get their feet under them a little more and the old Saddle Club will…
Heather Y
Which is the neighbor.
Chris R
Yeah, right next door to the Granada Theater will hopefully this year start again to have food service. They have a beverage license under way, so we’re looking forward to that.
I’m also hopeful. Here’s a big fingers crossed that the Hotel Ritchey might reopen.
Heather Y
The Hotel Ritchey, right now, is our oldest wooden building in town. It’s number two on the historic tour, which you can get online or you can pick up at the Visitor Center. It’s under a massive restoration right now that has really been cool to watch, because they’re building adobe bricks actually onsite to restore that building. It is Adobe and wood. I said it’s the oldest wooden structure, but it’s both. The building is. The goal is for that to be some kind of music bar venue again. Correct?
Chris R
The last I heard, that was the plan. The new owners were looking to lease and that they had a couple of people interested. That’s again, fingers crossed for 2023.
And then we’ll move into the events and we’ll see how far we get here.
But one of the earliest one I know of, this is an annual event, but on February 2nd at the Holland Hotel, Bill Hearn, who originally was, is a folk musician with his wife Bonnie in the Austin scene, back in the 60s. They were really active in Kerrville as the Folk Festival started.
For the first couple decades of the Kerrville Folk Festival, they were performing there and they have quite a reputation kind of in that folk country scene in Central Texas and in New Mexico where I believe he lives now.
Heather Y
And they’re coming here to…
Chris R
Play at the Holland Hotel. He is the uncle of Eden Hinshaw who is part of the Swifts, who’s an Alpine band that I happen to play with. But here’s the wrinkle – I’m going to be out of town on February 2nd and so opening up for Bill Hearn will be a supergroup, a local super group. Because it takes two Doodlin’ Hog Wallops to replace me, it turns out. Neil Trammell and John Ray of the Doodlin’ Hog Wallops are gonna join the other Swifts. If you’re local and want to see this mixture of local bands, come by to see that opening act.
And if you’re visiting, you can see this little microcosm of the local music scene.
Heather Y
I will say, get in your Doctor Ray while you can because John Ray is leaving us.
Chris R
So that’s the sad preview part of 2023.
Heather Y
Right. A banjo player and plays the steel guitar and he’s a great musician and doctor, so get your chance to see him.
Chris R
Exactly. Then later in February, moving to our annual events, we have the Lone Star Cowboy Poetry Gathering.
Heather Y
Where Michael Stevens does a very huge workshop. We just talked about the guitar maker, but he does great banjo guitar workshop during that, but the Cowboy Poetry Gathering is one of our first is our first big event of the year brings in hundreds of people for the weekend. There’s daytime workshops at Sul Ross all throughout the day that you can attend to see different cowboy poets, musicians, do their craft. Then at night, there is the big nightly performances also at Sul Ross. And that’s how many years 35, plus?
Chris R
Yeah, something like that.
Heather Y
It’s old and I should have done that before I asked you.
Chris R
Changed leadership a couple of years ago. I think 2019 was their first year with the new group. But it was unbroken, they did not let a whole year go by without a festival.
Heather Y
They did not. So we look forward to that for sure.
Chris R
Yeah, most of those events are free but there’s like an afternoon ticketed show in an evening ticketed show.
Heather Y
Well, and we happen to be home of one of the best-known cowboy poets in the country, which is Joel Nelson. He actually just –
Chris R
He’s our Grammy winner!
Heather Y
And he just graduated from the police academy last week. At like, 77, graduated from the police academy, so he’s a cool dude. He is, of course, going to be featured this year, at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering as well.
Chris R
Also in the spring, we don’t have dates yet or titles but the Sul Ross theater department will have their spring annual show. I was talking to their technical director who does the set designs and he told me which play it was and now, I don’t have it written down. So anyway, we don’t have those titles released yet but they should they’ll be on the website as soon as we get them. You look out for that, those shows, the Theater Department of the University will have shows. They have a big spring show and, and then a smaller workshops.
Yeah, there’s like one large, one small.
Heather Y
Also in the spring, they’ll put on the ghost tour. They’ll have a spring ghost tour where it is not your traditional ghost tour. It is actually a theatrical walking historic performance through the history of Alpine. So they’ll do that in the spring too.
Chris R
Look for those dates as well. Let’s see.
Then moving into April, we have April 14th through 16th – the Alpine Gem and Mineral show.
Heather Y
Yes, always the second weekend of April, huge Gem and Mineral Show here, they came back strong last year. Tons of people, tons of vendors, so definitely get that one on the calendar if you are into rocks and want to see…
Chris R
Or even jewelry, sculpture, artwork of any kind.
Heather Y
Yes, because that’s at the Alpine Civic Center, which is a huge building but they actually have even more vendors outside. It’s a great event and definitely one that you want to mark to come visit us.
Chris R
You bet. Then the following weekend, April 21st, and 22nd. We have our second annual Spirits of the West Wine and Beef Festival.
Heather Y
Right. That is a change of date for that about a little five weeks earlier than last year was Memorial Day weekend last year and it was warm and they’ve changed the date.
So if you went last year enjoyed it, saw it and thought, “Oh I want to go to next year,” it is going to be in April this year so make a note of that.
Chris R
I believe the plan is to have it on the courthouse – no? That was a plan that will see.
Heather Y
They’re working on it. They’re still thinking Sixth Street, downtown around the art and things like that.
Chris R
So glad you have your finger on the pulse. And then moving into May, probably starting the fourth on the Thursday, we have our Cinco de Mayo week. They usually start on the Thursday with an enchilada supper at Our Lady of Peace, Catholic Church and then Friday and Saturday there would be vendors and things. Live music and probably a parade Saturday?
Heather Y
Usually a parade, yes.
Chris R
Then probably the following weekend but we don’t have, we’re not sure of the date. We are expecting Old Crystal Bar to have their third annual motorcycle rally.
Heather Y
And that’s a beautiful time to be on a motorcycle in this part of the world. They do a lot of stuff at the evening events at the Crystal Bar. But during the day, they do all kinds of rides throughout the entire Big Bend region. We have a couple of loops that are super popular with bikers and and they’ll be doing those. The bike rally goes out through the entire Big Bend region and then it’s home based here in Alpine.
Chris R
Absolutely. Also in May, probably usually in late May, we have the Alpine Cowboys baseball season ,which starts with a 5K run usually. The Home Run 5K and then we will start to see some exhibition things but the the season usually kicks up end of May or early June.
Heather Y
Yep.
Chris R
And that is at beautiful historic Kokernot field. Another thing that I’m looking forward to this year is completing and getting installed a historical interpretive sign at Kokernot Field, I’m working on that. We got a grant from the Texas Mountain Trail region and so it’s kind of going to be a partnership between City of Alpine, Texas Mountain Trail region, Brewster county and the Alpine Independent School District. So hopefully by opening day will be able to have it done.
Heather Y
That field is another award winner for us. They won a Travel Award for Best Small Sports Venue in state. It is a gorgeous baseball field, 75 years old. Even if you can’t come during their season, you can go check it out anytime because it really is a very pretty field.
Chris R
And then you’ll have something to read.
Then in the summer, as well, we have our theater, the Big Bend Outdoor Theater performances. I know they have planned to do some renovations.
Heather Y
Yes, they got a bunch of grant money to work on that.
Chris R
I’m not quite sure how that will affect what they do this summer, but again we usually it’s weekends, June and July historically. They’ve had a couple of different shows, but this last year, was the first one where they had professional…
Heather Y
Performance troupes come in. That was really popular play. They did Charlie Brown. So we’ll have to see what they do this year.
Chris R
I expect their plan is to kind of build the theater, The Big Bend into almost like a Summer Stock, where you’ve got professionals actors coming in and working with the student groups.
Then July 4th, on the fourth.
Heather Y
Alpine’s is always on the fourth.
Chris R
Yeah exactly. There will be the Alpine Kiwanis Fourth of July parade, and the party at the park ending in the fireworks.
Then end of July, is probably our biggest, certainly, our biggest Music Festival. And that’s Viva Big Bend, that’s July 27th through the 30th.
Heather Y
What is that now, up to five days of music? Four solid days, but they start a little kick-off in Terlingua. You buy one wristband, gets you into any of the shows you want to go to. It is held at –
Chris R
Probably 11 different venues.
Heather Y
It’s held at all of our little venues that host music really throughout the year. So the shows are small, intimate shows, they’re not big, huge shows, so, definitely music lovers are going to really enjoy that. There’s also tons of free shows during the day. We will host a kids show at the Alpine Visitors Center with Mr. Will from Austin hopefully again, so that’s again, there’s the free shows all day and the nightly performances that are throughout Alpine, Fort Davis, and Marfa.
Chris R
Yeah, I think that’s probably the 13th annual, I’m expecting for Viva Big Bend. Moving into August, early August, I think the fourth and the fifth we’re going to have the second annual Fiesta 1888 where last year we had Ruben Ramos and little Joey La Familia. I do not know who the performances are from the organizers, what they’re telling me, they’re hoping to have people of similar stature. Look out for those announcements on the performers for Fiesta 1888, and the weekend after that is the Big Bend Ranch Rodeo.
Heather Y
Which is an annual Ranch Rodeo held here in Alpine. It’s a fundraiser for the Sul Ross Rodeo team, so that is real cowboys from real working ranches that come here and do things like cow milking and pretend branding, and they do sorting and roping, and they do bronc riding. That’s a really fun rodeo to see how cowboys actually really work in their everyday lives.
Chris R
Absolutely. Moving to end of summer. In mid-September, we have the Trappings of Texas exhibit and sale at the Museum of the Big Bend,
Heather Y
Which I imagine will be awesome with the new facility that will be fun to see.
Chris R
Yeah, that’s probably going to be the first big exhibit and event that they’ll have. Because I know they’re planning to work on the old building so their usual slate of exhibits events is delayed. So that might be our big unveiling in some way.
Heather Y
The Trappings is the largest fundraiser for the museum, the sale runs for what six weeks or so.
Chris R
Yeah, the biggest energy of the sale is opening weekend for sure. And that’s September 14th through 16th.
Heather Y
Yeah. If you’re interested in something, you wanted to go for it that weekend.
Chris R
Yeah because a lot of it sells that weekend. That is a really, it’s a show of cowboy gear and Western Art all of the artisans and artists have kind of that ranch background and it’s so it’s really only open to folks, who…
Heather Y
It was originally part of the Cowboy Poetry Gathering and they both grew too big and separated.
Chris R
So look out for that in September.
Moving into October that first weekend or the 6th and the 7th our Big Bend Bluegrass Festival comes in for its second year. Yeah, we’re really excited about that. The first one was great, and we know they’re going to build on it because she was really just getting her toes in the water, starting out.
Heather Y
I think that you’ll see bigger crowds this year, it’s going to be at the Civic Center again is my understanding and that venue worked because October weather and Alpine can be a little tricky.
Chris R
Yeah, it can be really great or really horrible.
Heather Y
They are going to be in the Civic Center again.
Chris R
That same weekend we have the Big Bend Octane Fest, which is centered around the stable performance cars. So if you’re into high performance automobiles and Bluegrass and it’s perfect. Year-round, you can stop in at the stable and you can see some Shelby Mustangs and other classic automobiles.
Heather Y
The guy who built the Shelby Mustang, it started like he was part of the Terlingua Chili Cook-off.
Chris R
And the logo of Terlingua Ranch, the Bad Rabbit, is the icon that’s on those cars. That’s a strong relationship to this area and to Terlingua specifically and Dave Durant at the the stable he he has some of those…
Heather Y
It’s like a museum. A car museum. Plus he does like car work too and displays his own and other people’s classic vehicles.
Chris R
Yeah. The Octane Fest is a gathering of folks who drive and love these vehicles. And so that’s something to look out for if you’re into that.
Then moving into November the 11th and 12th would be the center for Big Bend Studies’ annual conference.
Heather Y
And they had a huge conference last year, a lot of attendees. So they’re looking to do the same this year.
Chris R
The Center for Big Bend Studies, an archaeological institute, but the their conference has more history, folklore, those kind of presentations. It’s less of the pre-history.
Heather Y
It is best to pre-register for that to make sure that you have your spot, andyour room and everything like that. That information comes out from us and then way in advance, so that people can get registered for that.
Chris R
Our last, probably big, event of the year is going to be November 17th and 18th, and that is the 30th Annual Art Walk.
Heather Y
Yes. The longest-running art festival in the state of Texas. Another winner of our travel awards because it’s a lot of fun. It’s not just featuring… it’s so many different mediums of art, we have music and we have print and we have painters. In the past there’s been the butterflies…
Chris R
Art Car parades and yeah, we’ll see. The 25th was a big one.
Heather Y
We’ll see what they decide, what they’re going to do for the 30th.
Chris R
I think it’s going to be a big deal.
Heather Y
That will be a lot of fun for sure.
Chris R
Then December Is Christmas in Alpine. Usually the first weekend, the first Saturday there will be something. We don’t have any of the details yet.
Mountain Country Christmas is undoubtedly going to be the holiday gift bazaar at the Civic Center. That’s going to be that first weekend, first Friday, Saturday, possibly Sunday morning?
Heather Y
No, just Friday/Saturday.
Chris R
Most likely, then our Christmas stroll in the third year on that first Saturday, but this year, we then had the parade. Then we had a barn dance with Doug Moreland. If we’re lucky, we’ll have a full menu.
Heather Y
Everything. I’ve heard so far is the parade was a success, so I’ve probably set myself up to do it again next year. But yeah, we just we just had our Christmas parade and we ended with a lovely concert at the new pavilion at the Visitors Center from our community band and that was really nice. It was a good venue space for the band and the parade to end and Santa and everything.
Chris R
Okay, and so now that December 2023 is over, we’ll start our next preview episode right now, for 2024. *laughter*
Thanks everybody for bearing with us through this breakneck calendar of 2022. Once again, if you miss any of those dates, go back to the podcast feed. Listen again and mark up your calendar and come out to Alpine.
Heather Y
Some of those you are going to want to book in advance. When we said these are big ones, we’re not kidding. There will not be hotel rooms. Don’t come out and think you’re just gonna find something. We do have a lot of rooms now between our hotels and our Airbnbs. I mean everything, this Thanksgiving was completely full, everything this coming week is completely full with people traveling to the park. So even when we don’t have something major going on, you should always book.
Chris R
Yeah definitely book early for the event weekends.
You can get more information about Heart of the Big Bend at visitalpinetx.com/podcast or search for Heart of the Big Bend on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and most other podcast apps.
Thanks everybody for a great year and we’re looking forward to a great 2023.
And for all of you guys listening to us on KALP/KVLF radio in Alpine, we’ll see you in two Fridays.
Outro
You’ve been listening to the heart of the Big Bend. Hope you liked what you heard and that you’ll find the time to experience all that the Big Ben has to offer. See you soon, partner.