Media Contact: Tom Harvey, (512) 389-4533, tom.harvey@tpwd.state.tx.us
Hueco Tanks State Historic Site’s 14th Annual Interpretive Fair Oct. 18-19
EL PASO, Texas—Hueco Tanks State Historic Site is hosting its 14th Annual Interpretive Fair Weekend October 18 and 19. See history and culture come alive at one of El Paso's most unique natural areas! Attractions of the two-day event will include Native American dancing and drumming, a Buffalo Soldier encampment, Folklorico dancers, pictograph and birding tours, climbing demonstrations, environmental and cultural information booths, and an evening campfire storytelling program. Food, music, art, gifts and books will be for sale. The event will be held Saturday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and admission is free.
Hueco Tanks State Historic Site is located 32 miles northeast of El Paso in El Paso County. This 860.3-acre park is named for the large natural rock basins or "huecos" that have furnished a supply of trapped rain water to dwellers and travelers in this arid region of west Texas for millennia. A unique legacy of lively and fantastic rock paintings greets the visitor at the "tanks." From Archaic hunters and foragers of thousands of years ago to relatively recent Mescalero Apaches, Native Americans have drawn strange mythological designs and human and animal figures on the rocks of the area. The site's notable pictographs also include more than 200 face designs or "masks" left by the prehistoric Jornada Mogollon culture. Hueco Tanks was the site of the last Indian battle in the county. Apaches, Kiowas, and earlier Indian groups camped here and left behind pictographs telling of their adventures. These tanks served as watering places for the Butterfield Overland Mail Route.
Other park activities include picnicking, camping, hiking, rock climbing, birding, nature study, viewing of prehistoric and historic pictographs, stargazing, slide shows, and guided tours. The park can be reached by traveling 32 miles northeast of El Paso on US Highway 62/180, then turning north on Ranch Road 2775.
Call 915-857-1135 for more information.
On theWeb:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/hueco_tanks/
