Valentine's in Valentine

The annual Big Bend Brewing Co. Valentine's in Valentine early-bird tickets are now available for sale. Click on the link to purchase. bit.ly/1zguYnJ

Pretty Famous in Marfa

Recognize this skull? Maybe it reminds you of the Eagles' album covers? You'd be right because it's the same artist. Valentine native Boyd Elder paints these skulls and you can see them right now at the Wrong Store in Marfa.

A Museum for Travelers and a Cycling Event for Everyone!

Today we're featuring the photography of Dan Baeza showcasing the Clark Hotel Museum in Van Horn.  The museum tells the story of early travel in Far West Texas and the history of Van Horn and Culberson County, which is steeped in cross-country travel and hospitality to travelers.

Read more about the Clark Hotel Museum, and the "Front to back, back to front" story here. 

#30DaysofBiking

We want to give everyone EARLY notice of a great cycling event in our Texas Mountain Trail region, a fundraiser for the Food Pantry of Jeff Davis County.  Mark your calendars and start planning to take part in the October 4th, Wheels and Heels for Meals event!  Participants will be raising support for the Food Pantry as part of their involvement in the event...which is definitely a WIN/WIN/WIN!!

From the calendar entry on our Texas Mountain Trail regional events calendar: 

Wheels/Heels for Meals is a charity bike ride from the Food Pantry of Jeff Davis County to Valentine and back. Other shorter rides are also available. There are 2 pit stops along the way and lunch is served in Valentine. This year, a walk has been added. The entry may walk 2 to 8 miles. At the end of the day, there is the traditional cook out at Dolce Far Niente. - See more at: http://texasmountaintrail.com/events/fort-davis-wheelsheels-meals#sthash.yLHMoPnx.dpuf

Wheels/Heels for Meals is a charity bike ride from the Food Pantry of Jeff Davis County to Valentine and back. Other shorter rides are also available. There are 2 pit stops along the way and lunch is served in Valentine. This year, a walk has been added. The entry may walk 2 to 8 miles. At the end of the day, there is the traditional cook out at Dolce Far Niente. - See more at: http://texasmountaintrail.com/events/fort-davis-wheelsheels-meals#sthash.yLHMoPnx.dpuf

"Wheels/Heels for Meals is a charity bike ride from the Food Pantry of Jeff Davis County to Valentine and back. Other shorter rides are also available. There are 2 pit stops along the way and lunch is served in Valentine. This year, a walk has been added. The entry may walk 2 to 8 miles. At the end of the day, there is the traditional cook out at Dolce Far Niente."

Sound like fun?  Put this one on your calendar and stay tuned for more information throughout the year!

Save Prada Marfa?

The Prada Marfa sculpture just north of Valentine is now under scrutiny by the Texas Department of Transportation, which has ruled it is not art, but advertising and is illegal.  After eight years, this artwork could be torn down.

Today, we offer some remembrances, some news and some background to help you make up your own mind.

Our Texas Mountain Trail was established in 2005, and our Executive Director wrote this in her personal blog after seeing the newly erected structure along the side of the road:

"One of my favorite drives is down to Marfa, about an hour from Van Horn. Because I'm still new to the long isolated distances and always prepared for any contingency in the desert, I ready myself like an astronaut going into space. My Subaru roof antenna is plugged into the office cell phone, on my lap and in vibrate/ring mode. Check. My personal cell phone, also on the lap in vibrate/ring mode. Emergency water and powerbar on the floor on the passenger side. Check. Two more gallons of emergency water is behind my seat (we're in the desert, for crying out loud!) CDs on the seat beside me. Check. Personal emergency kit (with foil blanket, candle, and fish hook?) in the glove box. Check. Then the usual auto checks--gas, oil, etc. Check. Check. Check.
Once I settle in, I'm ready to enjoy the ride.

By late summer, I started to recognize the landmarks, and I noticed a curious structure being built on the side of the road. Odd. Too small for a house or store. Too large for a bus shelter, and too far from anything to house kids waiting for the school bus. Yet, there it was, being patiently built by a small crew of men, just a few miles north of Valentine, population 247. A boxy-looking thing, way out in the middle of the desert nowhere.

In early October, I took that road home to Van Horn. The first clue was the portable lighted sign by the only gas station in Valentine. "Welcome Prada Marfa," it said. Huh.

Then I sped by, way too fast to get anything but a hint of what it was. Stop the car, back up. What?!? A Prada store?

There, perfectly and beautifully positioned in the desert, is a sealed time capsule, a non-functional full-sized reproduction of an urban boutique Prada store stocked with the fall 2005 line of shoes and purses. It makes me happy just to look at it. It will decay in time, and the ruin will become part of the landscape."

An update on the controversy and the news from KFO News in El Paso, via the Alpine Daily Planet:

MARFA — Italian handbags and shoes line a store front window along a U.S. highway in the middle of a West Texas desert, but the store has never made a sale.
Of course, it’s not a store at all.
After eight years, the Prada Marfa sculpture outside of Valentine, Texas, has come under the scrutiny of the Texas Department of Transportation.
The iconic art sculpture serves as a pop-up art installation and is entirely sealed off to the public, but a recent controversy involving TxDOT and a famous bunny may close the shop that never even opened.
A spokesperson for TxDOT told the Associated Press that the artwork is an illegal roadside advertisement.
This only happened after Playboy erected its neon bunny logo a few miles down the highway from the Italian fashion house sculpture.
State officials gave Playboy until October to take down the 40-foot structure, which some in Marfa tell KFOX14 didn’t sit well with some locals.
“There been a lot of controversy about that because it’s a Playboy bunny. I think if it were anything else they wouldn’t have a problem with it. All the young people in town love it; it looks really cool when it’s lit up,” said lifelong Marfa resident Andrea Estrada.
TxDOT officials said neither Prada Marfa nor the famous bunny have permits or license to “advertise” on the side of a U.S. highway.
Now questions remain about what will happen to Prada Marfa.

“Oh I don’t know. Prada’s been there for so long. Do you think TxDOT would go after that?” asked Marfa resident Brenda Garcia. It’s hard to say what will happen to the famous artwork. If those high heels could talk, they’d tell of the thousands of photos snapped in front and famous visitors, like Beyonce and everyday visitors like Kelly Robinson from Austin.
“It’s just like what I imagined,” said Robinson as she looked upon the small building.
While state officials may try to paint Prada Marfa with the same brush as the Playboy image, the local art commissioners behind the project say it’s black and white because Prada Marfa simply isn’t an advertisement at all.
“It’s eight years down the road to find out that it’s being misinterpreted as an advertisement, and to have any threat of being taken down is you know, upsetting,” said Melissa McDonnell Lujan, deputy director of Ballroom Marfa.
Ballroom Marfa is one of the commissioners behind the project; Lujan said the state has yet to contact them about the issue.
“Prada didn’t pay for any of the sculpture. It’s completely funded through the non-profits,” said Lujan.
“We don’t want to see Prada Marfa taken down. We want it to stay. It’s not corporately funded. It’s not to promote Prada Marfa,” said Lujan.

- See more at: http://alpinedailyplanet.typepad.com/alpine-daily-planet/2013/09/artists-release-statement-community-reacts-to-prada-marfa-controversy.html#sthash.RZJv3RB7.dpuf

MARFA — Italian handbags and shoes line a store front window along a U.S. highway in the middle of a West Texas desert, but the store has never made a sale.
Of course, it’s not a store at all.

After eight years, the Prada Marfa sculpture outside of Valentine, Texas, has come under the scrutiny of the Texas Department of Transportation.

The iconic art sculpture serves as a pop-up art installation and is entirely sealed off to the public, but a recent controversy involving TxDOT and a famous bunny may close the shop that never even opened.

A spokesperson for TxDOT told the Associated Press that the artwork is an illegal roadside advertisement.

This only happened after Playboy erected its neon bunny logo a few miles down the highway from the Italian fashion house sculpture.

State officials gave Playboy until October to take down the 40-foot structure, which some in Marfa tell KFOX14 didn’t sit well with some locals.

“There been a lot of controversy about that because it’s a Playboy bunny. I think if it were anything else they wouldn’t have a problem with it. All the young people in town love it; it looks really cool when it’s lit up,” said lifelong Marfa resident Andrea Estrada.

TxDOT officials said neither Prada Marfa nor the famous bunny have permits or license to “advertise” on the side of a U.S. highway.

Now questions remain about what will happen to Prada Marfa.

“Oh I don’t know. Prada’s been there for so long. Do you think TxDOT would go after that?” asked Marfa resident Brenda Garcia.

We're not sure who added the bike signs or when they
popped up along the side of the road near Prada Marfa, but
they were fun to spot!

It’s hard to say what will happen to the famous artwork. If those high heels could talk, they’d tell of the thousands of photos snapped in front and famous visitors, like Beyonce and everyday visitors like Kelly Robinson from Austin.

“It’s just like what I imagined,” said Robinson as she looked upon the small building.

While state officials may try to paint Prada Marfa with the same brush as the Playboy image, the local art commissioners behind the project say it’s black and white because Prada Marfa simply isn’t an advertisement at all.

“It’s eight years down the road to find out that it’s being misinterpreted as an advertisement, and to have any threat of being taken down is you know, upsetting,” said Melissa McDonnell Lujan, deputy director of Ballroom Marfa.

Ballroom Marfa is one of the commissioners behind the project; Lujan said the state has yet to contact them about the issue.

“Prada didn’t pay for any of the sculpture. It’s completely funded through the non-profits,” said Lujan.

“We don’t want to see Prada Marfa taken down. We want it to stay. It’s not corporately funded. It’s not to promote Prada Marfa,” said Lujan.

At times, folks have left their business
cards along the
structure at Prada Marfa

MARFA — Italian handbags and shoes line a store front window along a U.S. highway in the middle of a West Texas desert, but the store has never made a sale.
Of course, it’s not a store at all.
After eight years, the Prada Marfa sculpture outside of Valentine, Texas, has come under the scrutiny of the Texas Department of Transportation.
The iconic art sculpture serves as a pop-up art installation and is entirely sealed off to the public, but a recent controversy involving TxDOT and a famous bunny may close the shop that never even opened.
A spokesperson for TxDOT told the Associated Press that the artwork is an illegal roadside advertisement.
This only happened after Playboy erected its neon bunny logo a few miles down the highway from the Italian fashion house sculpture.
State officials gave Playboy until October to take down the 40-foot structure, which some in Marfa tell KFOX14 didn’t sit well with some locals.
“There been a lot of controversy about that because it’s a Playboy bunny. I think if it were anything else they wouldn’t have a problem with it. All the young people in town love it; it looks really cool when it’s lit up,” said lifelong Marfa resident Andrea Estrada.
TxDOT officials said neither Prada Marfa nor the famous bunny have permits or license to “advertise” on the side of a U.S. highway.
Now questions remain about what will happen to Prada Marfa.

“Oh I don’t know. Prada’s been there for so long. Do you think TxDOT would go after that?” asked Marfa resident Brenda Garcia. It’s hard to say what will happen to the famous artwork. If those high heels could talk, they’d tell of the thousands of photos snapped in front and famous visitors, like Beyonce and everyday visitors like Kelly Robinson from Austin.
“It’s just like what I imagined,” said Robinson as she looked upon the small building.
While state officials may try to paint Prada Marfa with the same brush as the Playboy image, the local art commissioners behind the project say it’s black and white because Prada Marfa simply isn’t an advertisement at all.
“It’s eight years down the road to find out that it’s being misinterpreted as an advertisement, and to have any threat of being taken down is you know, upsetting,” said Melissa McDonnell Lujan, deputy director of Ballroom Marfa.
Ballroom Marfa is one of the commissioners behind the project; Lujan said the state has yet to contact them about the issue.
“Prada didn’t pay for any of the sculpture. It’s completely funded through the non-profits,” said Lujan.
“We don’t want to see Prada Marfa taken down. We want it to stay. It’s not corporately funded. It’s not to promote Prada Marfa,” said Lujan.

- See more at: http://alpinedailyplanet.typepad.com/alpine-daily-planet/2013/09/artists-release-statement-community-reacts-to-prada-marfa-controversy.html#sthash.RZJv3RB7.dpuf

And a statement from Ballroom Marfa and the artists, with more excellent background here:

"Prada Marfa: An Explainer
What is Prada Marfa?

Prada Marfa is a site-specific, permanent land art project by artists Elmgreen & Dragset constructed in 2005. Modeled after a Prada boutique, the inaccessible interior of the structure includes luxury goods from Prada’s fall collection from that year. The door does not open, ensuring that the sculpture will never function as a place of commerce. Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa co-produced the project.

Prada Marfa is an artwork initiated by ourselves and realized in a collaboration with the not-for-profit cultural organizations Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa in 2005. It was not a work commissioned by the fashion brand Prada nor had the fashion brand any involvement in the creation of this work. They kindly gave us the permission to use their logo after we asked them, due to the founder Muccia Prada’s personal interest in contemporary art, and she donated shoes and bags, which have never been renewed but stay the same – as a historic display – inside the sculpture. The right definition of advertisement must be based on criteria more accurate than just including any sign which contains a logo. It is advertisement only when a company either commissions someone to make such a sign, pays for its execution or makes a sign themselves in order to promote the company’s products. And this is not the case here since Prada Marfa never had any commercial link to the fashion brand Prada, unlike the Playboy bunny which went up this summer initiated by Playboy itself.
Prada Marfa is firmly positioned within a contemporary understanding of site specific art, but also draws strongly on pop art and land art – two art forms which were conceived and thrived especially in the USA from the 1960′s and onwards. Many artists, from Andy Warhol with his famous Campbell soup cans to Andreas Gursky with his grand photographic documentation of retail spaces have appropriated and dealt with the visual language of commercial brands. In an increasingly commercialized world, we see the independent artistic treatment of all visual signs and signifiers as crucial to a better and wider understanding of our day-to-day surroundings, including the influence of corporations.

It comes as a big surprise for us that the Texas Department of Transportation now after eight years may declare this well-known artwork to be illegal and we think it would be a shame for the local community if it disappeared after being there for so long since the work clearly is one of the strong points for the cultural tourism, which is such an important financial factor in this region. However, we are very happy to experience the fantastic support from both art professionals internationally, locals and others, who have even created a Facebook page named “Save Prada Marfa” that after just a short while has received almost 4000 likes and daily receives plenty of new posts, stories and images from people who once visited this site. "
– Elmgreen & Dragset

---

For more information on the controversy, read this excellent blog post by Ballroom Marfa.  Consider supporting Ballroom Marfa with a membership gift, here.  To see the "Save Prada Marfa" facebook page, click here.

Wheels for Meals!

The folks at Wheels for Meals and the Jeff Davis Food Pantry pointed us to a neat interview with this (great) bike ride's founder, Margaret O'Connell, and we wanted to share some excerpts with you.  This is a GREAT ride, for a GREAT cause on some of the most scenic roads you'll find anywhere!  (Read the entire interview posted on wheelbrothers.com site last year, here!)  Please note:  This year's ride is October 5!

What was the motivation behind starting the tour and who benefits from it?
I have personally participated in many charity bike rides and saw the power they have to not only raise money, but to raise awareness. When I moved to Fort Davis, I quickly realized the the Pantry was perhaps the single most crucial nonprofit in JDCty, because without the supplemental food it provides, children would not do well in school, families would suffer. Nearly 20% of the JDC population receives supplemental and school lunch foods from the Pantry.
How have they been able to utilize the funds in the past?
Funds raised through the WfM event make up almost 1/2 of the Pantry’s annual budget, paying for tons of foods and paying for operations of the building facilities to ensure our doors stay open.

Logistically, can you give us an idea how many volunteers, finances, and planning it takes to put on this event?
We have over 40 volunteers providing support at two pit stops and lunch stop, driving SAG vehicles, and information at the registration. The Riders’ $50 registration fee covers the costs of the t-shirts, pit stop snacks and drinks. We have nearly 30 sponsors this year donating dollars and in-kind goods to support the ride. Most of the sponsors donatipons and ALL of the riders’ fund raising monies go directly to services. Even all the the food and beverages at the post-ride cookout are donated by sponsors and our board members.
What was the most rewarding experience throughout the years hosting this event?
Hearing the positive comments from our riders and volunteers about the quality of the ride: the beauty of the scenery, the enthusiasm of the volunteers, the quality of the pit stops and qauntity of snacks, the good and rewarding feelings the riders and volunteers have about their constributions to helping the Pantry’s consumers.

Want to learn more?  Want to ride?  Click here to learn more specifics about the ride.  Click here to learn more about the Food Pantry! 

Wheels for Meals Princess Tour!

Click on the poster for an easier read!

One of our region's great cycling events is the Jeff Davis County Food Pantry's Wheels for Meals ride every October.  This is a fundraising ride for the good work of the Food Pantry,  and now there is a new, fun option for "easy" riders, their Princess Tour!  

Only 12 riders will be accepted into the Princess Tour, and they'll receive the ROYAL TREATMENT!

• Private van ride to the top of the mountain for an 18 mile DOWNHILL ride!
• Chocolate croissants, orange juice and espresso on the van!
• Princess worthy surprises!

All riders are required to register and raise at minimum of $250 in pledges for the Food
Pantry.  Where does the money go?  Read below from their website:

click on the poster for easier reading

"Since 1998, the Food Pantry of Jeff Davis County has been offering supplemental food to about 20% of the families in the county. Our distribution is twice a month in Fort Davis and Valentine.  These families have a total income below poverty line.  The food is purchased through USDA and Feeding America.  The Food Pantry also works with the West Texas Food Bank and local grocery stores to provide a variety of healthy meals. 

Each year, The Food Pantry distributes more than 40 tons of food to more than 155 households. The average number of people in each household is 2.6 with an income of $13,866.099 a year which is far below the US poverty guideline. 

The Food Pantry also supports a school lunch program for the students in Fort Davis since there is no program at the school."

To sign up as a rider, click HERE for the registration form!  Click HERE for more information!

Save the Date! Wheels for Meals!

Click on the image for a closer view!  Cyclists, you'll want to take part in this supported benefit ride for the Food Pantry of Jeff Davis County. Visit the Food Pantry's website for more information:  www.foodpantry-jdc.org

If you're planning to take part (and we hope you do!), consider staying at one of our Texas Mountain Trail cycle-friendly hotels.  A full list is here:  www.texasmountaintrail.com/bike