Mentor Al and the Marfa Lights Festival

After my long trip to West Texas, I was happy to sleep in and have a relaxing day waking up under the Texas sun for the first time. I figured since it was my first full day, and I still hadn’t fully explored my unit, I would take the day to do some cleaning and fully settle into my new home. That was until I heard a knock coming from the back door. I wondered who this person was and how this person had access to my backyard. While I was in thought, they knocked again. I went over to open the door, “Hey, I’m Alfredo. I live in the camper over there (Pointing to the right). I just wanted to stop by and welcome you to Texas! If you want to stop by, I will be over there.” Turns out Alfredo (Al) would be my mentor and become one of my closest friends here in Texas.

I remembered my supervisor mentioning Al on my way to my unit the night I flew in; however, I didn’t imagine I would meet him so soon. I grabbed my keys before heading out to meet him over at his camper. As it turns out, there is a doorway that leads from my backyard to the camper lot, which fits 3 campers at a time. When I got there, he offered to take me on a drive around town so I could become familiar with it, to which I agreed, and we headed off. As we drove around, he would tell me about the history of different areas of the town. He told me of the history of segregation that existed in Fort Davis and how, over time, it has changed.

Al is a historian and rare book collector/dealer who knows lots of Mexican and American history. Everywhere we went, any topic of discussion we had, he was always able to teach me something new. If there was ever anything he didn’t know, he would read up on it, and by the next day, he would be able to talk with you about it and connect it with other points in history. In fact, the stack of books I received as reading materials was given to me by him. To have him around was like having a walking encyclopedia, and I appreciated the amount of insight and wealth of knowledge he was able to share with me. I learned a lot from him and from the books I read regarding the history of Mexican American segregation and how it is all connected to the Blackwell School. After a couple of weekends at the Blackwell School, I was able to really get a handle on interpreting our site and tie in the history of Mexican Americans in the West. With this knowledge, I was able to represent the Blackwell School at the Marfa Lights Festival!

The Marfa Lights Festival is a celebration held every year in the town of Marfa, Texas. The celebration is in honor of an incredible phenomenon that occurs just on the outskirts of town, looking at the horizon towards the mountains. According to the VisitMarfa website, the official viewing area is 9 miles east of town on U.S.90 heading towards Alpine. There, you will find an official Texas state plaque that gives a brief history of the lights. Today, many skeptics claim the lights to be just a distant vehicle’s headlights. However, the phenomenon predates the first vehicle ever made. According to the plaque found at the official sight, the first official recorded account of the lights was by a rancher in 1883. However, there are reports that the native Americans in the area had been aware of the lights for centuries. The Marfa Lights festival is held annually between August 29th and August 31st to celebrate this phenomenon and bring the community together. During this year’s (2025) Marfa Lights Festival, I was able to represent the Blackwell School and the National Park Service with both Al and Ranger Robert (Rob) of Fort Davis National Historic Site. At first, all three of us were at the table; however, around 11 am, Al left to open and be present at the Blackwell school, taking the government car with him. Rob and I got plenty of people stopping by at our table, and we were able to direct them to Blackwell school once they had a chance.

At first, the weather was pleasant; it was warm but had a nice breeze. Around 2 pm, Rob and I started to notice some possible rain clouds heading our way. We kept an eye on them just in case to let Al know to come pick us up early. At 3 pm, the clouds were dark and inching closer and closer, so Rob and I started to pack things up to avoid them getting wet. We called Al and told him about the incoming storm, so he could start closing the school and come pick us up as soon as possible. Al explained that there were still visitors, but that he would be over as soon as he could. Once 4 pm hit, so did the storm, and very quickly it grew from just a bit of rain to strong winds that were blowing tents away. Rob and I held down our tent as a family ran to us and helped us hold it down and got under it to avoid the rain, as well. Due to the strong winds, however, we all got soaked even under the tent. We waited for what felt like an hour (35 minutes) in the rain until finally Al arrived with the car, we lowered the tent, and had to cross a seemingly flooding street corner to reach the vehicle. Once inside, we asked Al where he was, which he explained was originally parked where we had first left the car in the morning, and that he had texted Rob. We never got the message because the rain wet our phones to the point where we couldn’t even open them. Al explains that after a while, he realized we probably couldn’t make it to the spot, and that was when he arrived closer to the tent. After this crazy storm, we drove to the local Dairy Queen for some lunch since we had not eaten lunch earlier at the festival. Ironically, once we arrived at Dairy Queen, the storm had subsided.

Although the storm hit us hard, tabling at the Marfa Lights festival was still a great experience, and I was able to meet some amazing people! Including some who were alumni of Blackwell, and they were able to give me some great insight into how the town was back in the day. I also had the opportunity to meet the last Blackwell Alliance president prior to it becoming an NPS National Historic Site.