My First Poppies Fest! 2012

Well March 31, 2012 was a crazy day.  The 2012 Poppies Fest on Castner Range was held at the Museum of Archaeology, chaired by yours truly.  The poppies themselves were in fantastic bloom and survived the harsh winds and cold front the week before.  Castner Range was in all of its glory that day with poppies blooming, unique craft vendors, educational exhibitors, children's activities, nature tours, nature talks, live music, yumtastic food and a vibe of protecting our mountains!  Thousands of El Pasoans, the Mayor, Congressman Reyes and lots of media came out to support the event and the mission of preservation. 

The Museum of Archaeology lies in the heart of Castner Range along the Transmountain Corridor, which is a road that travels through the Franklin Mountains in El Paso.  The road is the only road up and over the mountains and gives a traveler a beautiful view of the landscape while easily linking the East and West sides of El Paso.  The Transmountain corridor is in a heated battle between people who want to make the road wider and build, build, build, versus people who would like the area to remain in its natural state.  I am sure you know which side I am on.  The foothills provide much needed habitat for the unique and extremely high biodiversity that lies in the Chihuahuan desert.   Although, I am all for the improvement and building of El Paso, but there is plenty of underutilized space within city limits for growth.  There are many run down buildings, empty spaces within the city that could be revitalized and keep the growth centralized.  Centralized growth would allow for ease of public transportation or (an absurdity) walking from place to place.  Let's leave Transmountain wild and build our city at our city.  Keep it simple.

If you were not able to attend the event but would still like to support Poppies Fest and the preservation of the Franklin Mountains, "like" the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition!  They are working hard to preserve the natural beauty of our mountains and have recently collaborated with the Sierra Club to take on the "builders".   The best way to keep up with what is going on with the conservation issues surrounding the Franklin Mountains is to follow a friend's blog at elpasonaturally.blogspot.com, where you can find just how to make your voice heard!

As you can imagine I was running around most of the day, but I was able to snap a few pictures of the event. 

Setting up their educational exhibitor stations.

Tigua Drumming and Dancing - and of course people enjoying.

The friendship circle dance led by the Tiguas.

LOVE this pic.  Just warms your heart.  Boy scouts were in charge of making sure people correctly placed their trash and recyclables!

Heather and Takota (EPZ Golden Eagle) made a showing!

Ceiba and Friends performing. 

Nature Tours every hour!  Wish I went on one!

Even David made it out.  Checking out a tipi.

Border Patrol volunteers on hand ALL DAY!  They were awesome!

This day took an army to put together.  I am so thankful for the committee volunteering their time to make Poppies Fest a priority.  Lots of appreciation goes out to all of the volunteers (over 100 people), all collaborating organizations, sponsors, media that helped promote the event for FREE and everyone that attended!

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to be the event chair.  I am excited to work out some kinks for next year!  (PS: I know our biggest kink is the shuttle situation.  Many ideas have been tossed around and you can bet next year will be better!). 


Poppies! ... do you know why they are called poppies?  Because when they go to seed, their seeds "pop" off of them!