Marfa, TX

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The city of Marfa was founded in the 1880s as a railroad stop. In 2010, according to Wikipedia, its population was 1,981. As you walk its streets, you realize this is a tourist destination, with many art lovers and campers visiting to check out the city’s many galleries, attempt to see Marfa’s famous lights, or to spend a night inside a tee-pee at the eclectic Cosmico lodge.

Most impressive in the town square is the Courthouse building. One can walk up the steps to the dome and get a 360 view of Marfa and its surroundings. This is a small town but so many of its buildings were constructed at the end of the 1800s that the visit, even if short, is rich.

About half an hour northwest from Marfa, in the town of Valentine, there is a Prada monument in the middle of nothing. It’s a small boutique, shoes and purses included, that was inaugurated in 2005 at the side of the road surrounded by nothing but desert. It was placed there by artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset whose craft explores the relationship between art and design.

In Marfa I spent my New Years 2013. It seemed that the place to be was a club called Padres, which back in the day was a mortuary. Padres was charging $25 for a celebration with live music. However, it was sold out.

All over town there were fliers to a celebration hosted by the Thunderbird hotel, in a space that, according to a local man, used to be one of the best restaurants in town once upon a time. Andy Roman and the Roman brothers, from Pecos, TX, were the entertainment. There was a charge of $15 at the door and it was BYOB. Sounded perfect.

We had a great time. Huge buckets of free chips and pretzels were provided. The hall was decorated with balls of tumbleweed. The music was mixed although mostly Tejano. I danced to Tejano/Cumbia-ish music for the first time in my life realizing that you MUST continue moving in a circle around the perimeter of the floor for this dance, or the couple coming behind you will crash against you! It almost happened. We tried dancing away from the circle, getting out of it, but it was impossible. The dancers are trained to follow the couple before them, so wherever we moved, they were right behind us.

However little there is to do in Marfa, I fell in love with it. You must visit whenever you are in the area. It is just 20 minutes south of Fort Davis, about half hour away from Alpine. I came all the way over here, and I have my mug. J

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