Over the years, outdoor festivals have established themselves as a popular addition to the calendar of special events during summer and fall in Red River.
Live music and entertainment have been a feature of Art & Wine, Hot Chili Days-Cool Mountain Nights, Oktoberfest and the Car Show, while the Aspencade has seen live entertainment for over four decades.
In 1989, a benefit for the Red River Historical Society at the Red River Ski Area featured a reunion of Rick Fowler, Wayne Kidd and Ray Wylie Hubbard, who enchanted crowds during the late 60s as the folk group Three Faces West at the Outpost coffee house.
The early 1990s saw Red River host Michael Martin Murphey’s Westfest – a modern tribute to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show of the 1880s – which featured music, arts and crafts of the American West, old and new!
Summer/Fall of 2021 will see a resumption of live musical presentations in the great outdoors after 2020 brought a pause to the festival tradition in the valley.
The 8th annual Dulcimer Festival is on the Red River Community House calendar for August 6-8. Like the first festival in August 2013, this year will feature dulcimer workshops, concerts, singing, and jamming.
The 46th annual Bluegrass and Traditional Music Festival presented by the Southwest Traditional & Bluegrass Music Association (Southwest Pickers) is set in Brandenburg Park for August, 13-15. Set to perform are the Shawn Lane and Family Band, Augusta Road, the Blue Canyon Boys, Higher Ground Bluegrass, Hard Road Trio, Mystic Lizard, Fritz Davis & Friends and the Tarsal Tappers Band. There will also be workshops and bluegrass jams for acoustic fans.
Red River’s 8750’ Music & BBQ Festival is scheduled for August 20-23, replacing Larry Joe Taylor’s Hot Chili Days, Cool Mountain Nights. Venues include Bitter Creek Ranch, Brandenburg Park, The Tip (RRSA), the Motherlode and Lost Love Saloon. Featured will be 2016 Grammy nominee Hayes Carll (photo above), Tony Kamel, Jed Zimmerman, Mark Edgar Stuart and Will Sexton, Amy LaVere, Max Stalling, hONEyhoUSe, Jason Boland and the Stragglers, Josh Weathers and Dave Beck’s Tejano Weekend.
The Lone Star BBQ Society, Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI) and New Mexico State Green Chile Championship cook-offs are scheduled for Friday and Saturday. (Subject to change.)
Max Gomez will host the Red River Folk Festival on September 23-26, coinciding with Aspencade. Headliners will be Junior Brown, Terry Allen and Mary Gauthier and, of course, the host, Max Gomez.