Marfa: Small town, big contradictions. — To whoever is not listening to the sea

Downtown Marfa, TX.  The courthouse is town's center piece and a source of pride. — Downtown Marfa, TX. The courthouse is town's center piece and a source of pride.

"Prada Marfa", an art installation about 30 miles outside of town. (The bags are fake, after they were stolen.)

We'll readily admit, when we pulled into Marfa, TX our first thought was: "Oh...what have we done." The road to our house disintegrated before our eyes...and the neighborhood seemed less than picturesque.

The roads are like this everywhere in Marfa.  It's kind of incredible. — The roads are like this everywhere in Marfa. It's kind of incredible.

First contradiction, when we laid eyes on our little house for the month, it was lovely.

We found this is actually normal in Marfa. It's a mix of arty, fancy refurbished homes, arty, less than refurbished homes, and just homes of people who've lived here an awful long time. It also holds true if you replace the word "homes" in that last sentence with businesses.

Marfa style swings widely. This house....

Contradiction number two, the town seems to be both contracting and expanding at the same time.

The Marfa Museum holdings are wide-ranging from fossils, to the first piece of barbed wire used in the area, to an old store front.  Most donated by current and former residents. — The Marfa Museum holdings are wide-ranging from fossils, to the first piece of barbed wire used in the area, to an old store front. Most donated by current and former residents.

When we talked with a lifelong Marfa resident at the Marfa Musuem, she seemed reticent to accept the town's newest incarnation: "We are supposed to be come kind of 'artist' place".

She was more interested in talking about the families who have moved away because ranches could no longer be sustained (she blamed lack of rain), new found jobs in customs and border patrol, and...football. This is West Texas after all. It was a big blow to the town when the local High School no longer had enough students for an eleven-man team. They now field a six-man team.

True to reputation, this West Texas town loves it's football.

The local rancher's supply store is still in operation, but for sale.

A field near our house was stomping grounds for 3 -4 hours.

On the other hand, there are three, pretty fancy hotels in town and any number of restaurants with big city prices. (Something mentioned in nearly every Yelp review!) Some in chic buildings...others in (it seems) purposely rough looking food trucks.

Hotel Paisano, was featured in the film Giant.

There are gift shops with $175 pillows, next to abandoned store fronts. There is a lot of construction and real estate for sale. But if you are thinking you'll find bargains here, you'll be disappointed. Our experience of Marfa is that it's a pretty expensive place to live for a town with a population of 2,000.

There are a fair number of vacant storefronts downtown Marfa.

And a bike rental program...with two locations (about 3 blocks from one another.)

And, of course, there's art. Galleries large and small, and the big kahuna, Chinati Foundation, founded by Donald Judd, the artist that started it all in the 1980s. (If you don't count Giant, which was filmed here...as was No Country for Old Men.) All in a town that just announced it's discontinuing the school band program, due to budget cuts.

15 untitled works in concrete by Donal Judd at the Chinati Foundation.

We leave Marfa making no judgments, (except about the train, we pretty much hate the train), but intrigued by this experiment. We hope it works out well for everyone.