By Melody Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
RATON — Calling all Billy the Kid enthusiasts! A traveling exhibit and wake exploring the life of Billy the Kid with reenactments, art, and more will be coming through Raton on Friday and Saturday August 8 and 9, and fans of the Kid and the legend won’t want to miss it.
Kicking off the event Friday evening will be singer, songwriter, and guitarist Carin Mari on stage at the Historic Shuler Theater on August 8 at 7:00 p.m. Her talents as a guitarist/singer/songwriter have won her numerous awards, including Entertainer and Songwriter of the year from the NACMA, eight Colorado Country Music Awards. Texaco Country Showdown Southwest Regional winner and runner up at the Ryman Auditorium finals. Carin is also the lead guitar player in, Michael Martin Murphey’s, Rio Grande Band. Her brand new album, “Home” is Carin’s ninth album and her fourth as a solo artist.
At 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 9, Trinidad’s Mainstreet Live will be reenacting a gunfight between Billy the Kid and his would-be captors on Raton’s historic First St. between Park and Cook Ave.
Following the reenactment, “mourners” will walk to the Raton Museum on Second Street for refreshments and to view the life-size bronze statue of Billy The Kid, in repose, as part of the art exhibit and wake. Paintings and other art by renowned artists Bob Boze Bell, Tom Ross, and Buckeye Blake will be on display. Ross and Blake will make presentations on their art work. Buckeye Blake was commissioned by the Ft Sumner Museum to do a statute of Billy the Kid and that statute will make the rounds through area towns, before its final resting place at the Billy The Kid Gravesite in Ft. Sumner, NM.
The film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid will be on the big screen in the Shuler Theater at 3:00 p.m. Saturday and bringing this event to a close at 7:00 pm Saturday evening on the Shuler Stage will be a show called “Lost In Time” as performed by Royal Wade Kimes. Known as the “Gentleman Outlaw”, Kimes is a Grammy Nominee and has won three Will Roger awards, Male Vocalist, Album of the Year, and Video of the Year. Kimes was named “Best Living Solo Musician” by True West Magazine, has had several Billboard hits of his own including his latest release “Walmart Special”. Kimes song “Night Birds” was performed as a duet with Garth Brooks, and Kimes has appeared on the Grand Old Opry and stages from California to New York. Kimes will be the grand finale of the weekend wake performing Saturday, August 9 at 7 pm, with General Admission tickets $20 and available at ShulerTheater.com
