MARFA, Texas (CN) – The Lost Horse Saloon is not your typical cowboy bar.
Sure, it’s got dim lights, pool tables and cattle skulls on the walls. But has your local saloon ever hosted a Japanese punk band for a photo shoot or given a tour to Anthony Bourdain?
Such is the norm in small-town Marfa, Texas – the “capital of quirkiness,” as Morley Safer once put it – a onetime cow town and borderlands military outpost turned international arts destination via the cult of minimalism.
Normally at this time of year, the town’s gravelly streets are flooded with tourists from all over the world, starry eyed in their new felt hats and seeking a taste of the mythic West – or just friendly people, killer barbecue and stunning sunsets, all of which are in good supply.
But the sweeping societal disruptions from the global coronavirus pandemic have arrived here in full force. Now, the streets are empty, the hotels are closed and the beer’s going bad at the saloon.
As of press time, there have been no confirmed cases of the new coronavirus or Covid-19, the disease the virus causes, in Marfa or the surrounding Big Bend region of Texas. But local officials have nonetheless shut down hotels, Airbnb’s and RV parks, worried that even a small outbreak of the virus brought in from the outside could easily overwhelm the area’s already limited health care infrastructure. The bars are all closed and restaurants are take-out only after a statewide order from Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
Far West Texas, with its sprawling landscapes and wide-open highways, can often feel pretty removed from the rest of the world. But the impacts of the pandemic have trickled down here in a way that few, if any, other world events have before. Even after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, locals say, day-to-day life didn’t grind to a halt the way it has now.
“One reason it upsets me the most is because we never close,” said Ty Mitchell, the lanky, eye-patch-wearing cowboy that owns the Lost Horse.
Mitchell isn’t mad about the closures – “you can’t put people at risk just because you want to be hardheaded,” he says – but the way he tells it, the whole thing just rattles the spirit of rugged individualism West Texans pride themselves on.
The Lost Horse was open after the disastrous Rockhouse Fire of 2011, one of the worst wildfires in the state’s history that torched more than 300,00 acres of ranchland in the area and destroyed more than 20 homes.
“I went out for a few days and moved livestock and wildlife and cut fences, and when we got back, the bartenders kept the bar open, we barbecued and took water to the firefighters,” Mitchell said.
When a brutal ice storm hit the region years ago, knocking out power to most of the town, the bar stayed open.
“I’ve always said that no matter what goes on, we’re going to do everything we can to possibly stay open for the people,” Mitchell said. “This was out of our control this time.”