El Paso Poppies Fest Is Happening This Year and It’s Going to Be a Month-Long Celebration

Good news, fans of the colorful poppies that cover Castner Range in Northeast El Paso this time of the year.

There will be a Poppies Fest this year and instead of a one-day event, it’s going to be a month-long celebration.

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The Wildflowers Typically Blown from February - April

In the coming weeks more and more Mexican Gold Poppies will begin blooming all around the El Paso Museum of Archaeology and along the nature trails on Castner Range.

On a good year, Northeast El Paso is poppin’ with poppies and the mountainside around the museum is covered in a blanket of yellow.

The size of the bloom depends on the amount of rainfall from the previous year and the amount of seeds deposited from the last bloom, which is why some years are better than others.

Because of less-than-ideal conditions the last couple of years, there hasn’t been a widespread and abundant poppy bloom since 2019. And because of the pandemic, there hasn’t been a Poppies Fest since 2019 either.

But that ends this March.

2023 Poppies Festival

The Museum of Archaeology announced the Poppies Fest will not only happen this year, it will go from a day-long event to a month-long celebration of the wildflowers.

The dates for the 2023 fests will be March 4, 11, 18 and 25, and April 1. They're all on a Saturday.

Although specific activities and an event schedule haven’t been announced, it typically consists of live music, art and food vendors, educational exhibits, and nature tours.

How to Get to the Poppy Trails Along the Museum of Archaeology