El Paso’s First Poppy of the Season Has Bloomed – Will There Be a Poppy Fest This Year?

“The first poppy of the season has bloomed!”

A super-excited El Paso Museum of Archaeology posted the good news signaling poppy season is near.

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El Paso’s Poppy Season

Mexican Gold Poppies begin to dot the Franklin Mountains in Northeast El Paso this time of the year.

In the coming weeks more and more will start to come out of hibernation and begin blooming around the museum gardens and along the nature trails on Castner Range.

The First Poppy of 2023

Here's a closeup view of 'the first poppy of the season' in all its golden glory.

Per the museum’s post, “poppy plants begin to appear at the end of January and flowers begin to bloom the first weeks of February.”

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

“The size of the bloom depends on the rainfall from the previous year as well as the seeds deposited from the last bloom,” the post explains.

There hasn’t been a widespread and abundant poppy bloom since 2019.

Will There Be a 2023 Poppies Fest?

There hasn’t been a Poppies Fest since 2019 either.

The daylong event featuring live music, art and food vendors, educational exhibits, and nature tours had been an annual springtime celebration in the month of March for 14 years until the pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020.

Will there be a Poppies Fest this year? Yes.

But, "it will be a little bit different with a month-long celebration instead of a one-day event." The El Paso Museum of Archaeology added more details were coming.