Marfa Lights Festival contest winners, and many thanks

By KAKI AUFDENGARTEN-SCOTT

Marfa Chamber of Commerce

executive director

MARFA – This year’s Marfa Lights Festival was a great success, and I have many winners to acknowledge and many people to thank.

This year we brought back the MarFOTO contest. Overall, there were more than 50 photos submitted. We had the opportunity to hang all of them up in the Greasewood Gallery of the Hotel Paisano during the Marfa Lights Festival for everyone to see. When experienced all together, the photos paint a beautiful story about our community. Thank you to everyone who submitted photos. Vicki and Don, thank you both for your help with the gallery.

The winners of the 2012 MarFOTO Contest are Delilah Freund in the Youth Division, Don Culbertson in the Adult Division, and Fred Martinez won the People’s Choice.

The official Marfa Lights Festival T-shirts and koozies were designed by Contest Winner Veronica Rubio. Thanks are in order to everyone who submitted t-shirt ideas.

We chose three favorites from the floats that entered the Festival Parade: Hudspeth County Sherriff, Marfa Country Clinic, and Chinati Foundation drove the winning floats. Thank you to all of the participants, especially the Texas Challenge Academy’s Color Guard and Grand & Marshal MHS Mascot, Bullet. A HUGE and special thank you to Sid for all her hard work organizing the Friday afternoon parade – it was a wonderful show thanks to her! I also want to thank Bunny for running the Saturday morning parade.

Thank you to all of the racers who came out early Saturday morning to compete in the 5K race. The race results are as follows:

Women’s 21 and younger:

1. Tatum Galliete, 23:14

2. Taylor Galliete, 23:32

3. Clara Keen, 36:17

Men’s 21 and younger:

1. Juan Vasquez, 20:56  (3rd place overall)

2. Jorden Foster, 22:39

3. Jesus Calles, 23:12

Women’s 22 to 40:

1. Melissa Mc Donnell, 24:53

2. Estefana, Galindo, 26:08

3. Julie Belovich, 27:21

Men’s 22-40:

1. Michael McDonnell, 19:58 (1st place overall)

2. Peter Stanley, 20:07 (2nd place overall)

3. Juan Lujan, 23:35

Women’s 41 and older:

1. Stephany Evans, 23:31

2. Buck Johnston, 24:02

3. Betsy McKinney, 28:48

Men’s 41 and older:

1. Tom Michael, 21:22

2. Fob Granado, 22:58

3. Camp Bosworth, 23:15

Congratulations to all of the winners. Thank you to the cadets from Texas Challenge Academy for racing and helping to organize and to Ellery and Debbie Aufdengarten and Buck Johnston for helping to make it happen. I could not have done it without you!

The Marshmallow Eating Contest was another triumph. Congratulations to Antonio for eating 32 marshmallows- he is your 2012 Marfa Lights Festival Marshmallow Eating Champion. Thank you to the eaters, and the counters for making this contest so much fun!

Thank you Estella Cortez for putting together the annual Doggy show. Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to the judges and the prize donors for making the event a treat for everyone in attendance.

We had a couple of new contests this year and I would like to acknowledge the participants.  Congratulations to Allison Scott for her winning pecan pie, and thank you to Judge Paul Hunt for making the difficult decision regarding the blue ribbon winner.  In addition to the Pie Baking Contest, we had the first ever Marfa Lights Soap Box Derby. This year’s first place trophy went to Ernest and Kevin of Los Diablos Racing Team from Alpine, and second place went to Amos Duff in a racer built by Joey Benton. Thank you Daniel Browning for the inspirado, to Joey, Michael, David, Peter and everyone else who helped put the track together, and to all of the builders and racers for being a part of such a monumental first year!

On to the “Thank Yous.” I want to start by saying thank you to the sponsors:  Marfa Tourist Information and Convention Center, Marfa Gliders, Big Bend Coffee Roaster, Marfa Mondays, The Big Bend Sentinel, Marfa Public Radio, AEP, Duncan Disposal, L&F Distribution and Alpine Auto Rental. Without your generosity this event would not be possible.

The entertainment was incredible this year. All around, from start to finish the music and dance performances were wonderful. I want to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication putting together arrangements that everyone in attendance enjoyed.  Thank you all for traveling and setting up, giving it your all, then breaking it down and hauling it back- and all with smiles on your faces. You were TERRIFIC!  Special thanks to Don Rominsky and his crew for doing such a great job keeping us on schedule and sounding great – you are heroes.

The vendors at the Marfa Lights Festival come from near and far to meet the demands of the crowd assembled on the Courthouse lawn every summer. I want to take a moment to thank them for all the work that they do to set up and maintain through three really hot, and very busy days to bring the festival to life with food, crafts, and plenty to see and do. Thank you all for being a part of the event.

Thank you to the City of Marfa and to Presidio County for allowing the Chamber the use of the Courthouse and down town Marfa for the Festival and to John Conners at TxDot for helping to close the streets. I also want to thank Presidio County Sheriff’s Department, Marfa EMS and Marfa Volunteer Fire Department for staying on call to keep the peace this weekend.

Everyone who sold beer or an official MLF t-shirt, or picked up trash this weekend did so out of the goodness of their hearts. It takes a lot of hard work to pull off an event like the Marfa Lights Festival. This event is powered by volunteers, volunteers who are worth their weight in gold. I want to make special mention of the group of Marfa National Bank employees that toiled all weekend long, the Texas Challenge Academy cadets and sponsors that came all the way from Sheffield to help with the dirty work, and the Chamber Members including and especially Joe- you know all that you’ve done- and that “thank you” doesn’t begin to express my gratitude. Thank you to all of the volunteers. The Marfa Lights Festival would not run without you!

Thank you to everyone for coming out, and we’ll see you again next year at the 27th Annual Marfa Lights Festival!