Comanchero Rendezvous 2016
SATURDAY, JUNE 18TH, 2016
Article by Carol Campbell, from the Caprock Courier
Archeological experts Paul Katz and Rick Day help identify artifacts.
Archeological experts Paul Katz and Rick Day help identify artifacts.
The 3rd annual Comanchero Rendezvous was held at the Comanchero Canyons Museum, Quitaque, TX, on Saturday, June 18, 2016, featuring artifact identification, a pottery exhibit, a live flint-knapping exhibition, a handicraft table for children and a hamburger cookout with all the trimmings.
About 100 guests attended bringing their fossil and artifact finds for experts Dr. Paul Katz and archeology steward Rick Day to identify. The vast area of the Comanchero homeland in Briscoe, Hall, Motley, Floyd and Swisher counties has provided hundreds of artifacts that are displayed in the informative and educational exhibits at the museum.
Potter Melinda Collins, Quitaque, had a display of her beautiful art, showcasing horse-hair platters; hand-crafted necklaces, small relish pots, and red-clay pottery that can be used on the stove, but is impossibly light-weight. She has a studio in downtown Quitaque. She provided children with stone-fired clay shards to decorate and then attach to a red string as a necklace.
Flintknapper Vyrl Keeter teaches young flintknappers
Flintknapper Vyrl Keeter teaches young flintknappers
Expert flint-knapper Vyrl Keeter of Muskogee, OK, set up demonstrations outdoors on the east side of the museum. He also displayed his collections of handcrafted blades and arrow points. Keeter travels all over the western US, collecting stone that he sells at knapp-ins. Knapping demonstrations were extremely fascinating to the young people that attended the event, many trying their hand for the first time at knapping flint under expert instruction.
Local resident Anthony Kingery flipped burgers on the patio area of the museum, serving area guests. Museum volunteers Kim White, Kayla White, Renee Dudley and Shonda Lee, prepared all the trimmings, keeping the ice tea and cookie plates full.
Jerry Leatherman, president of the board, discussing history with visitors.
Jerry Leatherman, president of the board, discussing history with visitors.
Volunteers have documented hundreds of artifacts that are used in the exhibits, including an authentic Mexican carreta (cart), donated by Mott Creek Ranch. The large, authentic cart is the center focus of a large room that includes private collections on loan as well as permanent collections on display, including an exhibit on the failed Texan-Santa Fe Expedition of 1841. Artifacts from this attempt by the military and merchants from Austin, seeking a trade route to Santa Fe, NM, includes a framed newspaper of the day that reports the tragic event in detail along with artifacts found at the numerous campsites in the surrounding counties.
During the height of the rendezvous, the museum happily accepted an important donation of a bison hide from Dr. David Fuston, DVM, from Childress. The immensity of the hide was fully realized when it was laid on a 6-foot table, draping over the sides to reach the floor.
The Comanchero Canyons Museum opened its doors in 2014. The museum is located at 200 S. 3rd Street in Quitaque, just south of the Caprock Canyons State Park and Trailway which is home to the official bison herd of the State of Texas.