Silver City – The Kid’s Hometown – a Fitting Finale
to ‘Catch the Kid’s’ Weekly Celebrations
Silver City (September 8, 2011) – You’ve got to come from somewhere. In the case of Billy the Kid, that somewhere was Silver
City. So it only makes sense that Silver City should host the culmination of the New Mexico Tourism Department’s “Catch the
Kid” summer travel promotion weekly event schedule with “Old West Day” on Saturday (September 17, 2011) in the historic
downtown.
“A visit to Silver City is a passport to a land still so untamed that its rough-and-tumble sheen is unmistakably the Old West,”
said Monique Jacobson, Secretary of the New Mexico Tourism Department.
The Tourism Department is offering a reward of $10,000 for the “capture” of Billy the Kid through its “Catch the Kid” summer
travel promotion, and called on citizens to travel the state of New Mexico to find him. To-date, nearly 3,000 registered posses
(an estimated 9,000-15,000 people) are actively traveling the state, generating a conservative $4-5 million in direct economic
impact to the state.
To further enhance the “Catch the Kid” experience, the Tourism Department worked with clue location communities to bring
the promotion to life with events in their communities. The schedule concludes with “Old West Day” in Silver City.
Today a bastion of Victoriana, Silver City combines all of this local historical flavor with its reputation as a competitive
bicyclist's Mecca; gateway to the Gila National Forest and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, more than 50 restaurants,
eight private recreational campgrounds, and two museums, including the Silver City Museum – home of a clue on the “Catch
the Kid” summer promotion.
Even with all of this “modernization,” southeast New Mexico is a land still so unfettered and free that if the Kid were to return
to its wide open spaces, he would feel, momentarily at least, as if nothing had changed. West of the Silver City/Grant County
Chamber of Commerce chamber's Visitor Center is a marker that approximates the site of the Kid's 1873-74 boyhood home. On
the southwest corner, a second marker denotes the site of one of the Kid's foster homes, the Star Hotel; and on the northeast
corner, a third marker attends the site of the city jail, where the Kid escaped by shinnying up the chimney. The Kid's mother is
buried in quiet Memory Lane Cemetery, two miles northeast.
Celebrate this rich heritage at “Old West Day.” Presented by the Silver City Arts & Cultural District, the schedule features:
 Putting Down Roots: free (requires pre-registration) first come, first served: 7:30 a.m. –noon;
 Woodrow Archaeological Site Tour: free (requires pre-registration), first come, first served: 8 a.m. to noon;
 The Story of the Gila Bus Tour: $25 fee (requires pre-registration), first come, first served: 8:15 a.m. to 2 p.m.;
 Writing from Place II: San Vincente Creek: (meet at Visitors’ Center) $25 fee (requires pre-registration), first come,
first served: 8:45 a.m. to noon;
 Monsoon Puppet Parade & River Otter Story Free at Gough Park (ends with storytelling at Silco), 10 a.m. to noon;
 Mattocks Mystery -An Archaeological Tour Field trip with Marilyn Markel: $15 fee (requires pre-registration), first
come, first served: 1:15 to 5:15 p.m.;
 7th annual Gila River Festival Gallery Tour: free, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. ;
 Fort Bayard Days at Fort Bayard;


MRAC Red Dot Gallery Tour: free, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.;
At the Silver City Museum: Copper Cow-Belles, Native Foods, Grant County Extension Demonstrations; Billy the Kid
Shoot Out on Yankie St.: 10 a.m.; Silver Squares: 10-11 a.m.; Mike Eley, Western Music/Cowboy Poet: 11-11:45 a.m.;
Shoot out at high noon on Yankie; Pete Kennedy Cowboy Poet: 12:15– 1 p.m.; Maria & Trio: 1:15 – 2 p.m.; Billy the Kid
Shoot Out on Yankee St.: 2 p.m.; Cowboy Karaoke sign up: 2 - 3 p.m.; Jericho Country Gospel Band: 3 - 5 p.m.; and
Cowboy Karaoke competition: 5 - 7 p.m., $100 1st-place prize .
Activities continue into the evening with the:
 Billy the Kid Look- A-Like Contest: 7 p.m. at Billy’s BBQ Restaurant;
 Outdoor Film Premiere and Dance featuring the Kas Nelson Trio: 7:30 to 11 pm. ;
 Seedboat Center for the Arts.: Suggested donation $10 at the door for film and dance, children under age 12 admitted
free, no registration required; and
 Dance at Isaac’s Bar and Grill, 8 p.m. – midnight, no cover.
As an added inducement to head to Silver City, local merchants are joining in the fun by offering a plethora of discounts.
Merchants include Alotta Gelato, Artesanos, Clementine Mercantile, Creations and Adornments, The Curious Kumquat,
Custom Steelworks, Dandelion Wish, Diane's Restaurant, Document Center, G's Tees, Gila Hike & Bike, Ginny Wolf Studio
& Gallery, La Esperanza Vineyard and Winery, Leyba & Ingalls Arts, Log Cabin Curio Shop, Lois Duffy Art, Masa y Mas,
Mimbres Region Arts Council, Molly Ramolla Gallery & Custom Framing, Moonstruck Art Studio, Morning Star, Pinos Altos
Ice Cream Parlor, Silver City Museum, Silver Spirit Gallery, Syzygy Tileworks, Wild West Weaving and the Western New
Mexico University Museum.
Visit www.silvercityacd.org/catch-billy-the-kid-this-summer.php
Traveling to or from this great escape, visit Truth or Consequences, famous for its hot springs; test the waters at Elephant Butte
Lake State Park; have lunch in Deming, home of the annual Great American Duck Race and a stone’s throw from both Pancho
Villa and Rockhound state parks; or old-timey Hillsboro, featuring a history ripped from the pages of a Western novel.
Contact Mike Stauffer, Communications Director, New Mexico Tourism Department, 505-827-7379,
mike.stauffer@state.nm.us