Scaring up some fun Lincoln’s the place to go for a different kind of Día de los Muertos observation
El Día de los Mu er to sis along-standing tradition with many cultures in the Americas, particularly those of a Mexican background. So Lincoln would seem like an odd place to celebrate the custom, but Nov. 2 will mark its sixth annual event.
Lincoln’s Día de Muertos is particularly poignant, said Dr. Cynthia Orozco, a history professor at Eastern New Mexico University at Ruidoso.
“Lincoln is associated with the Wild West,” she said. “But in fact, Lincoln is a major Hispano community in southern New Mexico as early as the 1840s. It didn’t become a place with a lot of European Americans until after Fort Stanton was founded in 1855.”
Orozco, who teaches Lincoln County history and also is the author of “No Mexicans, Women or Dogs Allowed: The Rise of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement,” is a big part of the Lincoln celebration as she gives an annual presentation while demonstrating how to build an ofrenda or altar to honor a deceased loved one.
Orozco’s ofrenda is a tribute to Juan Patrón, who is one of the overlooked participants in the famous Lincoln County Wars that thrust the town and Billy the Kid into the national lore.
“He’s an Hispanic hero of the Lincoln County War,” Orozco said. “He was originally from Santa Fe and along with his father and two sisters moved to the area and he became a businessperson.”
An educated man, Patrón also became the town’s first teacher, was a county commissioner and he also was a speaker of the house for the Territorial Legislature. He also was the one who invited John Tunstall to Lincoln, thereby setting spark to the tinder of the Lincoln County War after opening his competing business enterprise.
“He was a major figure of the Lincoln County Wars,” Orozco said of Patrón. “But he was underemphasized, ignored, neglected. So I honor him every year.”
Orozco’s presentation will be in the historic San Juan Church, for which Patrón was a major fundraiser.
“I’ve had excellent attendance,” Orozco said of her past presentations. “I’ve had full houses in the past. It’s educational and entertaining at the same time. Día de Muertos is about the honoring the dead, but it’s also an opportunity for us to recognize history and historical characters. Mostly people don’t like to pay attention to history but this is a fun, light way to do it and a cultural way to do it.”
Event organizer Annmarie LaMay said the event is a fun day to recognize the culture.
“The main focus is music,” LaMay said. “We have an eight-piece mariachi band, Los Galleros, that comes up from Lubbock. Lincoln is a nice long town and they just stroll the streets and play in front of different businesses.”
A more orchestral mariachi band, Mariachi Unido from Carlsbad, brings from 10 to 18 band members, and it will split its time playing in front of the Dolan House and the Wortley Hotel for several hours.
Arts and crafts vendors will be spread throughout the town, while free face painting and other activities will help visitors get into the spirit.
About 40% of the town’s buildings are owned by the state, with seven of them open for the public during the festivities.
The old courthouse is among the must-see sites. It is where Billy the Kid famously escaped after his arrest, killing two deputies in the process.
The historic site is the most popular of any in the state, attracting more than 45,000 visitors annually. El Día de los Muertos has become so popular that rooms in the town’s hotel and bed-andbreakfast are booked well in advance, although there is additional lodging in nearby Capitan, LaMay said.