Be a Cowboy Days guest at a retro Wild West wedding

You're invited to an usual wedding. The groom is an upper-crusty Bostonian with a persnickety Victorian mom visiting New Mexico for the first time. The bride is a Las Cruces rancher's daughter whose widowed Spanish mom wonders if the groom is after her land grant. Save the date: 1895. Get ready to time travel and be a guest at a retro Wild West wedding this weekend during the 11th annual Cowboy Days at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum (NMFRHM), 4100 Dripping Springs Road. Visitors will be able to check out the bridal party and guests in period costumes and ask questions about the matrimonial ceremonies and customs of yesteryear at Living History Reenactments from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the NMFRHM Horse and Cattle Barn. " The idea is to learn what it was like for people living in New Mexico in 1895," said the museum's exhibit designer Megan Walker, who will portray the groom's sister. f you're not in the mood for an old-time marriage, there will be lots more to do, from gunfight reenactments and rodeo-style events to horse shows, cowboy poets, authors and musicians, arts and crafts, demonstrations, cowpoke grub and plant sales during Cowboy Days, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday...read more