A man in a cowboy hat and blue jeans carefully paints a black and white mural in a desert scene next to an American flag
Photo by Christ Chávez

On a March morning while waiting to shoot photos of the Clark Hotel Museum in Van Horn for “Weekend Wayfinder,” photographer Christ Chávez spotted a muralist painting outside an old building next door. “I thought it would be nice to show people doing something in their community to beautify it,” Chávez says. Sprucing up downtown is a goal of artist Yolanda Carmona, whose husband, Jose (pictured), assisted with the mural. Carmona, the town’s events and tourism director, hopes to see more new murals and downtown festivities in the future. The couple completed the mural in time for Van Horn’s 66th annual Frontier Days, which kicks off June 23 with a downtown street dance.

From the June 2023 issue

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