Outings: Ruidoso Downs

Getting into the Western Swing

The parking lot of Ruidoso Downs
Racetrack is a sea of pickups—all makes and models, in shades from white to royal blue. Some are pristine; most are caked with dirt and dried mud—true ranch workhorses. Cowboy hats (with cowboys beneath) bob along the sea toward the entrance.

But today isn’t a day for horse racing: It’s the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium (LCCS), where, for the second weekend in October, everybody dons a hat and boots and becomes a cowhand, if only for the weekend. It’s hard not to. At the racetrack, nearly 200 miles southeast of Albuquerque, cowboys both urban and authentic connect with the West through music, poetry, junior rodeo, talks, and horsemanship classes.

On this crisp, blue-sky October morning, I wander around the track’s infield amid chuckwagons, as mouthwatering aromas spiral in the air: crackling mesquite, baking biscuits, sizzling bacon, boiling coffee. This is Sunday morning—the culmination of the Chuckwagon Cookoff. While I wait for the Dutch-oven biscuits to brown to perfection, a husband/wife duo sings classic cowboy songs celebrating the frontier days. Their harmonies raise goosebumps on my arms.

This World Championship Chuckwagon Competition, featured on the Food Network’s All-American Festivals and Cowboy Challenge, with prizes totaling $13,000, is one of the Symposium’s highlights. Twenty-four wagons (representing teams) from various states, including four from New Mexico, are vying for trophies. Competitors are judged not only on their mouth-watering food, but also on the authenticity of their wagons and attire. Every piece of equipment must have been available before 1900. Conditions are rugged—no electricity, no running water, no microwaves. Just basic food cooked over a campfire. Awards go to the best meat, beans, potatoes, bread, and desserts—as well as to the team that has traveled the farthest to compete.

The judges have their work cut out for them, but the toughest choice I have to make is which chuckwagon’s breakfast to buy (each wagon serves between 20-25 guests). I sample the biscuits and gravy at the Circle F wagon. My friends each choose different wagons, and we share the food, enjoying a taste of this and that. 

But food is not the only reason to attend. The Symposium is a Mecca for all things Western: Kids participate in the junior rodeo, which features dummy roping, stick-horse barrel racing, goat roping, and a goat/sheep scramble. For kids and grownups, horse whisperer Craig Cameron gives daily demonstrations on getting more from your mount.

Country and Western music occupies center stage all day, beginning around 8 a.m., with different bands performing in five strategic locations throughout the racetrack. This year Mel Tillis, winner of a Pioneer Award from the Academy of Country Music, kicks off the Symposium with a Thursday night concert. Among Friday and Saturday concerts, Texas dance hall favorites Billy Mata and Texas Tradition, and Jody Nix and the Texas Playboys play good ol’ country music. Children old enough to know right from left are encouraged join in the dancing, too. Living the cowboy way is a family affair. Among the azure sky, golden mountains, chuckwagon vittles, and music-—I know I’ve found heaven.

If it’s good Western art you’re wanting, the nation’s finest cowboy festival hosts woodworkers, craftsmen, painters, sculptors, writers, photographers, speakers, jewelers—all with a strong, traditional feel. Handmade cowboy boots are available along with a varitey of custom-fitted cowboy hats.

Sunny Hirschfield, event coordinator, says, “The performers, chuckwagon cooks, and Western craftsmen gathered here are as diverse in nature as they are in talent, but they all have a common love of the West and the life that it offers. Their stories are rich with history; their skills are seasoned with time.”
—Melody Groves

The 22nd annual Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium will be held October 7–9 at Ruidoso Downs; Friday and Saturday admission $20; Sunday admission free. Concert and dance admission additional.
(575) 378-4431, www.cowboysymposium.org.