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Briscoe Western Art Museum saddles up for National Day of the Cowboy

Roping with Kevin Fitzpatrick at NDOC
Briscoe Western Art Museum
Roping with Kevin Fitzpatrick at NDOC

It’s the National Day of the Cowboy on Saturday. If you plan to celebrate, the Briscoe Western Art Museum can help.

“We celebrate in a variety of ways," said Amber Phifer, director of development at the museum. "We have music. We have food. We’ll have arts, all kinds of art activities,” she said. “We are an art museum, so we’ll have arts for everyone. We’ll also have a storytime, as well as cowboy poetry.”

The museum has an array of exhibits, including a full-sized western wagon. There will be live music as well, and the annual tip of the cowboy hat to western culture is family-friendly.

“We invite everybody out," said Phifer. "There’s something for all ages and we encourage families to come and do the activities as a unit. Grandma loves it, the grandkids love it. It’s a great free day at the museum. And it’s indoors!”

That this event is indoors is important, as there’s a pretty good chance of rain, and if it’s not raining, it’s likely to be quite toasty.

“All of the activities inside the museum will keep everybody comfortable in that 70 degrees. And so it's a whole day full of fun on the River Walk in San Antonio,” Phifer said. “Guests can explore the 14 galleries. They can explore the special exhibition, 'Survival of the Fittest,' eat lunch in our garden if the weather’s not too hot.”

Food trucks will be nearby, and the garden is spacious, with sculptures shaded by massive oak trees. The building itself backs up to the river and has an interesting history itself.

“The Briscoe Museum is actually San Antonio's first public library. The Carnegie Library was built there...[and] was destroyed in the flood that came into San Antonio,” Phifer said, referring to the 1921 flood that damaged the building's foundation and devastated the city.

If you look above the front double doors, chiseled into stone is "San Antonio Public Library."

“That building then became revitalized with the Hertzberg Circus Museum, which many people recall,” she said.

Then the building became dormant for many years before the Briscoe Western Art Museum took over, extending and giving new life to the original building. Among its oddities is the stairway to the second and third floors is made of buffalo hide.

“So when you come in our lobby, not only are you going to see the bison stairs, [but] you can [also] look up and you can see these silver medallions of a buffalo nickel, and a Native American male. And those were part of the library, their original decor, and we've brought that up to the ceiling you see. The tiles and the floor are all part of history as well.”

The Day of the Cowboy is celebrated all day Saturday at the Briscoe. Admission is free, and you can find more information here.

Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii