Ranch Report: El Paso and the Water Carnival

A visit to a place I've been to many times before, and a new twist on an old tradition

When I was a child, my parents and grandparents would take us to El Paso, or basically Juarez, for shopping and dining. This was back in the 50s and 60s, when going to Mexico was fun and safe.

I recently made a trip back to El Paso for Diann to get cataract surgery. (We don’t have such a facility in Fort Stockton) The trip inspired quite a bit of nostalgia, in a good way.

It’s a 234 mile drive from the ranch to El Paso. My family always knew we were getting close when we came to this roadside park a few miles from the city limits.

My brother, Miles, with his Navy pea coat and the “purple mountains majesty” in the background, circa 1966.

Diann and I pulled over at the same park last Wednesday, but it looks a bit different now. The teepees are not as colorful.

To most of us, El Paso conjures up the Marty Robbins’ song. It was on the album, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs. My dad bought that LP when it first came out in 1959, and played it non-stop at our house in Biloxi, MS . (I think it reminded him of home.) I still have that album, but passed it down to my son Roland a few years ago!

Still on vinyl, and still played!

When we went with my family, we stayed at the Camino Real Hotel over in Juarez. It was considered a luxury hotel back in the early 60s, and none of us gave a thought to it being “dangerous.” While we were there we went shopping (lots of bargains!) attended a bull fight and ate in a wonderful restaurant my grandfather took us to, The Florida Cafe. It had waiters in black bow ties and black jackets. Very upscale for the day. Alas it is now gone, but I found this old postcard on the Interweb to give you an idea.

The bar was always a favorite stop for my grandfather, Roland. He would only consume one drink, but would always have my dad go with him. Mom, my grandmother, Miles and I sat at the table while the two men “wet their whistles.”

On this trip Diann had two cataract surgeries, one set for Thursday morning and the other Friday morning. Left eye on Thursday, right eye on Friday. Her optometrist in Fort Stockton sent us to this place in El Paso that served customers from New Mexico, Texas and old Mexico. It was a veritable cataract surgery factory!

A rather unimposing structure, but there were about 20 people in the waiting room when we walked in!

By now cataract surgery has been so perfected that it’s almost routine. I was surprised at how quickly Diann was in and out each morning. The BIG deal is the recovery. She will have to have me drive her everywhere, and she can’t bend over or lift anything for two weeks. They gave her a pair of those dark, wrap-around glasses for the daytime and some clear goggles to wear at night. Because she couldn’t eat each morning before surgery, she had me take her to Long John Silver’s immediately after she was done! Then we headed back home.

On the way back to the ranch, we stopped at another roadside park. The rocks on this one had been tagged quite a bit. Apparently you have to show true love by spray painting your partner’s name on a rock.

Got on back to the ranch, unpacked the car and headed into town for the 88th annual Water Carnival at Comanche Springs pool. I’m a stringer for NewsWest9, and on the drive home they texted me to ask if there was any way I could shoot some footage from that night because two of their news anchors were emceeing it. Grabbed my gear and headed into town.

As bizarre as it may sound, Fort Stockton, a town out in the Chihuahuan Desert, has hosted the Water Carnival for 88 years! It all started back in 1936 when the town wanted to do something to commemorate the Texas Centennial, so they held a celebration of Comanche Springs, which was once the third largest spring in Texas, until Clayton Williams, Sr. pumped it dry.

Program from the 1949 Water Carnival.

My family has a deep connection to the Water Carnival, because that first year it was held, in 1936, the very first year they crowned Miss Fort Stockton, my great aunt Sammie Lee Warnock was the winner!

The Water Carnival not only celebrated Comanche Springs, but unfortunately for many decades it was a part of the racism against Hispanics that existed out here. Up until the early 1970s, Mexican-American women were not permitted to compete in the Miss Fort Stockton pageant. That’s a bit weird in a town that is 80% Mexican-American.

Miss Fort Stockton contest, 1948, and not a Latina in the group.

But all of that has changed now.

Today nearly ALL of the contestants are Hispanic.

And the pageants now go all the way down to Tiny Tot, meaning that girls as young as four years old are competing.

Mom gets a shot of her little princess before the pageant.

I personally am a bit uncomfortable with this, because 1) I’ve watched an episode of Dance Moms, and 2) because only one little girl can win, the rest are branded as losers at age four. That may be a bit harsh, but “it’s my opinion, man.”

However, it doesn’t matter what I think. The families were there in force to cheer on their girls in every age category from Tiny Tot to Miss Teen, Sub Teen and Junior Miss on up to Miss Fort Stockton.

The previous Miss Fort Stockton was there to pass on her crown.

It’s all part of a phenomenon I’ve noticed where the Mexican-Americans out here are adopting previously Anglo-centric things, such as beauty pageants, cowboy clothing and pickup trucks. I have trouble understanding why some people are overly biased against Hispanics when they are almost more “Texan” now than many urban Anglos.

Boots go with a girl’s formal dress out here.

I got my footage shot, uploaded it to NewsWest 9’s Dropbox and headed back to the ranch. It had been a pretty draining three days, but we are safely home now, and looking to our next adventure.

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Adios for now.