When mining activity in Red River City fizzled out around 1905, the town wasn’t a ghost town yet, but it was well on the way to ghost town status like Elizabethtown and LaBelle. It had, however, begun to attract visitors who were interested in cool summers in the mountains and fishing in pristine trout waters. Turning to hospitality, the locals created a new economy for continued survival.
It was to be a summer-only tourist town, as winter temps and deep snow made September through April less than hospitable. It took the vision and determination of Oklahoma entrepreneur Stokes E. Bolton to build a ski area to attract people to town in winter and fill up the rooms of his motel, which sat conveniently at the foot of the main ski run!
The Red River Ski Area added four months of visitors for the business community. While summer, fall and winter seasons are great now, offseasons are still a challenge.
If you attended the November Working Ranch Cowboys Association (WRCA) World Championship Ranch Rodeo in Amarillo or the National Finals Rodeo in December at Las Vegas, NV, you might have stopped at The Jewelry Lady booth and bought some fine jewelry and great clothing from Red River’s Paulette Kiker.
Owner of the Jewelry Lady located in Frye’s Old Town, Paulette understands the seasonal nature of the town. When season ends, there’s time to relax, visit friends and relatives and time for repairs and a change-over of inventory.
Paulette has learned in the past 30+ years she has lived in Red River how to use the off-season for maintaining cash flow by attending rodeos and shows, with an occasional house show in Midland TX and the Dallas area.
A former Chamber of Commerce Director, she and husband Randall Kiker purchased Frye’s from Gary and Lovilla Bowser in April 2007, and acquired the Jewelry Lady from Meri Love in June of that year.
“I purchased about 60% of Meri’s inventory,” says Paulette, “She showed me the ropes, where to go to purchase and where to find the good artists. I wanted the name. The Jewelry Lady name has been here for twenty-two years!” Frye’s Old Town sells trinkets, toys, clothing and souvenirs, a mainstay of the store since the 1960s. The shop is also the home of
Pendleton clothing, and has acquired Double D Ranchwear, Tasha Polizzi and Johnny Was.
With Red River’s seasonal economy, Paulette says the off-season shows came about in those first years because “we were broke” and the shows proved to be a great way to make payroll. The Jewelry Lady is basically open year round and is only closed for a few days to give Paulette and her staff a chance to “come up for air.”