Terlingua Moon
Vol. 37 No. 41
October 13, 2026
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On the web at: theterlinguamoon.blogspot.com
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"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly,
while bad people will find a way around the laws."
- Plato (427-347 B.C.)
JIM CARRICO CELEBRATION OF LIFE
Join family and friends to honor the life of Jim Carrico on Saturday, October 24, 2026. We will meet in the Terlingua Cemetery at 11:00 am followed by a celebration at Desert Sports. Bring your photographs, stories, limericks and puns. Food and beverages will be provided! If unable to attend, please send memories to share at creasetall@gmail.com. Help us honor the life of this extraordinary human being!
Brewster County Regular Commissioners Court Meeting on October 13, 2026
https://brewstercotx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1130/files
MILKY WAY TREATS ice cream will be open this weekend, Saturday thru Monday, 4-9pm. We’ll have our creamy, dreamy chocolate and vanilla soft serve, as well as pints of homemade ice cream! The Saturday morning bakery cart is back November 7, 10am! Gracias, Terlingua!
TERLINGUA MUSIC BASH - October 15 -18 2026! The excitement level out there for The Bash is super high this year, it's going to be a fabulous weekend of music and friendship with 60 musicians in 5 venues over 4 days. Admission is free. Cabin 10 Inc. 501(c)3 charitable organization makes the festival happen, it has deep roots in both The Hill Country and Terlingua and is about half "hometown" Chihuahuan Desert players and half "visiting" Hill Country players, many of these friendships go back decades. Come start new friendships, play your songs in after hours song circles and help fund a local scholarship for Ghostown... it's THE thing to do every 3rd weekend of October! The theme this year is Day of the Dead and the opening night musical showcase and Shrine Dedication is Thurs, Oct. 15th at La Kiva from 8:30 pm until midnight. A short Day of the Dead costume parade open to all starts near the cemetery at 3:00 pm on Sat. Oct. 17th. ending with a parade party with The Lavens at DB's at 4:00 pm. Full schedule at www.cabin10.org.
Update from Terlingua Music Bash We're close enough to get more accurate predications, very high likelihood of rain Thursday going overnight into Friday mid morning. If you're tent camping Thursday night be prepared for rain.
What this will most effect is our traditional Thursday open mic at The Whitmore's so we are moving that inside to nearby La Kiva Restaurant & Bar. All the times stay the same, we'll just have a roof over our heads. If this forecast holds it looks like the rain will pass after the front Friday in time for our first event at DB's at 4:00 then much decreased chance of rain for Friday night, then none for Saturday and Sunday. Moving the open mic to La Kiva means all events have roofs overhead. It will be windy and temps will be cool, come prepared! Via los Bash!
Parks to People Community Gathering November 11, 2026 | 4:30 PM at Far Flung Join us for an evening of community, connection, and healing, featuring a heartfelt discussion led by voices from our community, and a free BBQ at 5 PM At 6 PM, unwind with a sundown Kundalini breathwork and sound bath experience led by Kasie Lunson, Midland-based yoga and breathwork practitioner. Mats provided if needed.
FULL MOON POTLUCK — HALLOWEEN EDITION! Jackass Flats Improvement Association invites you to join us for a spooky evening under the full moon at The Cactus Farm!
October 26th
The Cactus Farm
Start eating at 7:00 PM
Music starts at 7:30 PM with Moses!
Costumes are encouraged!
Halloween-themed dishes are encouraged too! Bring your favorite spooky, creepy, or just plain delicious creation to share.
Come enjoy good food, good music, great company, and a little Halloween fun under that beautiful West Texas moon.
Bring a dish, bring a friend, wear a costume, and come hang out with your Jackass Flats community!
Everyone is welcome!
The Mark ("eYeBall") Kneeskern Memorial Art Scholarship for Terlingua High School
The Silent Auction that accompanies the Terlingua Music Bash, hosted by the 501(c)(3) Cabin 10, funds this scholarship and will take place this year on Saturday, October 17th at The Boathouse. There is a wide array of items on which to bid anywhere from a Gift Basket from Josh & Jamie Flack for Cigar Mountain House including 2 nights for up to 8 people and lots of goodies for the swimming pool; a Gold threaded quartz and lapis necklace and earrings set donated by Lisa Fancher; Massages (two 60 minute sessions) - one with Ceil Drucker and the other with Robèrt Sutherland; to all kinds of wonderful art from Sharon McLanahan; Sarah Dial Primrose, Ollie Morris, Molly Dumas and more. SO much more! The auction also includes a raffle. This year's Raffle Item is an Ovation CC28 guitar with built in tuner and a new set of D'Addario strings - generously donated by The Ramblewoods.
What promising young student from Terlingua High with a focus on the Fine Arts will you help send to university next year?
If you'd still like to donate an item to the auction, please send a text to Sha at 512/ 739-2212. It would be great to get your information in advance to have the bid sheets ready but you're welcome to bring the item to the Boathouse anytime between 1 and 4 on Saturday, the7th.Thank you to all who have donated thus far and to those who will be at the Bash and auction. 1
Save the Dates. Jackass Flats Improvement Association Dutch Oven Cookoff and Potluck
November 13 through the 15th
Bring a dish or enter your Dutch Oven
Team Roping, Wagon Rides, Horseshoes, Art Show, Flea Market, Stick horse contest and race, Women’s Skillet Toss
Games, Music, Prizes
Western Food, fun and camping for all ages.
51491 Hwy 118, 60 miles south of Alpine, Texas
Contact the Little Burro Country Store 432 271 2082 or Pam Gordon 765 252 8863
Chili Time! The 59th Annual Original Viva Terlingua International Championship Chili Cookoff, held in Terlingua, Texas, is happening soon! November 4-7!
Tickets available now at www.abowlofred.com
Compete-Explore-Celebrate
Food and cooking contests, 2 massive parks nearby, and 12 bands over 4 evenings!
Your ticket gets you a wristband to come and go all 4 days. It allows you to camp/RV onsite, no additional charges. There is no water or electricity on site so bring your own.
Rent an RV from Outdoorsy, there is a link on our website for a 10% discount. See you there! Tickets: www.abowlofred.com
Need Information about CASI Chili Appreciation Society international?
Go here: https://www.casichili.net/
Big Bend Public Library
Our Big Bend Mobile Library trailer is REOPENING!
Thursday October 15th we will be open 3pm-6pm at Canyon View Community Park(next to the school). We will be using this time to tidy up and get the trailer ready for another season of bookmobile fun, so feel free to stop by and lend a hand!
Saturday October 17th we will be open 10am-3pm at the Community Gardens in the ghosttown. We're very excited to be back, and hope to see you there!
Follow us @BigBendPublicLibrary on Facebook and Instagram for more updates!
DB’s is starting 7 days a week Today Oct.12th.
Plus we have Terlingua Music Bash venue for the 16-17, the bike rally burn out at 2:30 on 17th and the gospel brunch on Sunday the 18th at 9:00am for all the musicians that participated in the music bash.
Espresso ...y poco mas
Ghost Town favorite for locals and visitors to the area. Seven days a week for home cooked breakfasts, lunches and the best coffee in the area. Smoothies and iced drinks. Great seating with fantastic views, strong wifi, and newspapers. 432 371 3044 for to go orders.
Taqueria El Milagro
Ghost Town's authentic Mexican food and more. Serving Mexican recipes from street tacos to steaks and huge side dishes. Great food, great setting. BYOB and make a party.Open Wednesday through Sunday from 3 pm until 9 pm. 432 371-2060 for take out via our drive through window.
Paisano Post from Terlingua School
Book Fair Time is Around the Corner: Oct. 26th -30th at BBHS - During school hours. Parents’ nite Oct. 28th until 5:00. Congratulations to the XC athletes and Coach Hazlehurst and Coach A for finishing out their District season: JH: Killian 8th, Marcella 18th and HS: Asa 9th, Xiomara 16th, Hank 7th, Tatum 21st, Edwin 22nd, Usiel 24th, Jose 30th, and Andrew 31st. Regional Qualifiers: Asa and Hank will run at UT-Arlington on Oct. 27th. Elementary student winners of the Fire Prevention Poster Contest were announced during this past week’s school-wide assembly: 1st: Sergio, 2nd: Alex, and 3rd: Tobias. The Terlingua Fire & EMS crew along with Law Enforcement were honored with with provided by Student Council members, Advisor Ms. Valdez, Mr. Rodriguez, and Ms. Mague Garcia. Congratulations, Mr. Hazlehurst, on being selected for the Holdsworth Center’s teacher leadership professional development opportunity in Austin that’s sponsored by HEB. Basketball season will tip off later this month, schedule of games coming soon.
Big Bend Episcopal Mission & Otra Vez Thrift Shop
Sts. Mary & Joseph’s Chapel in Lajitas will not have service on Saturday, Oct. 17th, due to Father Mike being at the Diocese Meeting in ABQ, NM. Services will resume Oct. 24th.
Thrift Shop Times: Wednesdays 5:30pm-6:30pm & Saturdays 9am-Noon. Thank you for your clean donations and support. Please do not leave donations at the peril of the winds and rain.
Come see us at the Saturday Community Market, open from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
Located in the Ghost Town, down in the Community Garden, we're here every Saturday with happy vendors offering an array of locally produced goods and other items.
Local art, handcrafted textile goods, fresh eggs, sour dough bread, jelly, pickles, all natural lip balms and skin care products, all natural essential oil fragrances, beard oil and massage oils, handcrafted, creative jewelry, resin creations, practical and artistic items made of reclaimed steel and more -- you never know just what or who you'll find here.
Flea market items are also welcome. After all, reusing and up-cycling already existing items is smart and green. We ask a $10 donation to the Community Garden to set up, helping us to continue to improve this space and experience for all of us.
We welcome new vendors. To make it easy for new vendors to try our market and to show our appreciation to our regular vendors, we waive set-up fees on the first Saturday of the month, offering free set-up on that day.
For more information, text or call 432.213.1863 or pop in at the market for a chat. Prepared food vendors must display current food handling licence. (A quick, easy and affordable online course can provide that).
Please help keep our market space safe and comfortable for all, two-legged and four, by keeping all dogs leashed and under control. We look forward to seeing you there.
Terlingua Trash Pickup - weekly trash pickup for residential and business. Straightforward pricing: No long term contracts, No fuel fees, No environmental fees!
We do JUNK REMOVAL too: wood piles, bulk trash, tires, house clean outs, mattresses, appliances, and more! Details and pricing here: www.terlinguatrash.com. Have a great day! -Jimmy (432) 201 -5638
BBNP Custodial Worker (MVO) /seasonal
https://www.usajobs.gov/job/886360600
Larry Joseph Brewer, 78, of Terlingua, Texas, passed away on September 28, 2026, at Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas. Larry was born on April 6, 1948, in Hannibal, Missouri, to Lester and Inez B. Littleton. He proudly served his country in the United States Air Force from 1966 to 1970.
Those who knew Larry will remember a man who was hard to miss and even harder to forget. He was funny, loud, and always ready with a joke. Beneath his larger-than-life personality was a generous heart and a willingness to help others whenever he could. His home was always open to anybody and everybody, and he had a way of making people feel welcome. Larry loved the Big Bend country and made his home in Terlingua, a community that became an important part of his life. Over the years, he gave his time to young people coaching baseball. He also occasionally served as a substitute at the school in Terlingua. Larry deeply loved his wife, Marsha Sykes, who preceded him in death. He is survived by many dear friends who loved him and will miss him greatly. Larry will be remembered for his booming presence, his sense of humor, his open door, and his generous spirit. The stories, laughter, and memories he leaves behind will remain with the many people whose lives he touched. A graveside service was held Thursday, October 8, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. at American Heritage Cemetery, with Pastor Chris Hagger officiating.
KEEP BIG BEND WILD is going on the road – join us if you can! October 19 at 7pm MT in El Paso, “The Urgency to Keep Big Bend Wild” presented by KBBW Chair Bob Krumenaker and sponsored by the El Paso/Trans Pecos Audubon Society and the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. Live at the UTEP Interdisciplinary Research Building. Or view it on zoom. Learn more at http://www.trans-pecos-audubon.com/monthly-meeting.html, which also has a link where you can sign up for a zoom link.
October 22 at 7pm CT in Odessa, Bob will be the keynote speaker before another showing of "The River and the Wall", at the Odessa High School Performing Arts Center. This event is hosted by the International Baccalaureate Students and Faculty of Odessa High School and presented by Keep Big Bend Wild and No Big Bend Wall. Parking is available and all are welcome. No advance registration is needed.
Parking is available at both events and all are welcome. You can also find info on the KBBW Facebook site events calendar, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61591090042176&sk=events
By now everyone knows that DHS has asked Judge Cardone in El Paso to stay her preliminary injunction; we await word on that but do not expect her to be swayed by the government’s arguments – in essence that the financial cost of having idle contractors far outweighs the damages to the environment and the plaintiffs from continuing construction destruction.
Please forgive the long post, but this seems to be a good opportunity to write about why we are on the verge of an unprecedented opportunity in Congress to truly protect Big Bend National Park from both the border infrastructure and from unwanted additional development in the park’s remaining wide-open spaces.
Decades ago, following extensive study and public involvement, the NPS recommended the permanent protection of more than 4/5 of the park’s area from additional development as Congressionally-designated “Wilderness.” This is the highest level of recognition and protection for any public land in the country. Big Bend would join Yosemite, Mt. Rainier, Death Valley, Olympic, Zion, and about 50 other NPS areas whose large undeveloped backcountry areas are protected in the national Wilderness system. Designed park Wilderness remains a vital part of each national park and managed by the NPS; it simply prohibits – with the force of law – the construction of new roads, buildings, or permanent developments more extensive than trails or walk-in campsites in that part of the park with the Wilderness overlay, which would not include the current road system or NPS developments.
A Big Bend Wilderness, with boundaries carefully drawn to exclude the existing NPS network of paved and unpaved roads, visitor and administrative facilities, and the Rio Grande, would keep those undeveloped lands forever undeveloped – while having absolutely no impact on current legal uses of the park or private inholdings inside the park (yes, there are a few) or lands outside the park’s boundary. No existing visitor facilities or opportunities would be affected in any way by a Wilderness designation.
NPS national policy has mandated that park managers preserve the wilderness values of Big Bend until Congress acts – but between the border construction proposals and the likely rollback of that protective policy by the current administration, these undeveloped lands are clearly not as protected as we have long thought. Only Congress can make those protections permanent, and they have yet to do so. Not because they’ve debated or voted on it and rejected the idea; it simply faded off of their radar years ago.
OK, but what about the border? It’s true that the Department of Homeland Security can normally waive the protections of Wilderness to expedite construction of border walls or related industrial development for border security, just as they have waived the protections of the Clean Air and Water Acts, the Endangered Species Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and even the fundamental laws that established the NPS and Big Bend National Park.
But Congress can also rescind those waivers and prevent them from ever being imposed again at Big Bend – and there’s a growing interest on Capitol Hill in seeing that happen in the next Congress.
We have an unprecedented opportunity resulting from the current crisis to Protect Big Bend Forever in the 120th Congress, which will convene in January 2027.
The Capitol Hill staff we’ve spoken with are interested, and advise that the best way to get a Big Bend bill through Congress with bipartisan support would be to bundle the rollback of DHS’ overreach in the Big Bend with a wilderness designation at the same time. That law would include provisions that would prohibit the construction of border barriers or other major security infrastructure in Big Bend without explicit, site-specific authorization by a future Congress – and then only within existing law, subject to the normal environmental and cultural reviews and public involvement, and prohibiting any legal waivers.
It’s not easy to get a bill through Congress but crisis begets opportunity. We’ll likely never have more attention to, and national support for, the need to protect Big Bend than we have now. It’ll be essential to have local and regional businesses, organizations, and governments in support, speaking as much as possible as one. We can, and must, work together to Protect Big Bend Forever.
While Wilderness designation is specific to the federally-owned lands in the national park, If there is enough local, regional, and congressional support, the Protect Big Bend Forever bill’s border security provisions could also extend to the private and public lands in the Big Bend Sector and beyond, between Fort Quitman and Amistad. If there’s enough support, it could go even further. The challenge will be determining what is the art of the possible, to craft a bill that can pass the Congress and not be vetoed by the President, that protects as much of the area that is politically feasible at this time.
By designating Wilderness for currently undeveloped areas of Big Bend National Park, Congress and the American people would make a commitment to keep those areas undeveloped forever. It would be our generation’s opportunity – and maybe it’s our obligation -- to fulfill the vision of our predecessors. And it’s our best opportunity to stop with the force of law, the horrific assault on the Big Bend park and region by the Department of Homeland Security.
A big thank you to everyone, especially local businesses, that have added your names to the Keep Big Bend Wild supporter list at keepbigbendwild.org/become-a-supporter
KBBW is a strategic partner in the No Big Bend Wall Coalition. Please follow us on our Facebook and Instagrampages. #keepbigbendwild
Bob Krumenaker
Chair, Keep Big Bend Wild
bob.krumenaker@keepbigbendwild.org
www.keepbigbendwild.org
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