Acclaimed singer to raise funds for Amistad gym

Award-winning cowboy singer and songwriter R.W. Hampton will bring his music to Amistad at 7 p.m. MST July 20 to raise funds to help preserve the historic Amistad Gymnasium.

The benefit is being organized by Circle The Wagons, an offshoot of the nonprofit Amistad Association, and it will take place inside the gym. While the concert is not a ticketed event, organizers hope to raise funds for the gym's repairs through donations.

Hampton in 2013 was named among the "Top 50 Best Singers of Country and Western Singers of All Time" by American Cowboy magazine, along with George Strait, Johnny Cash and George Jones. He was inducted into the Western Music Association Hall of Fame in 2011.

Hampton worked at ranches all over the West, including the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron and Red River Ranch near Springer.

Hampton's children attended the school in the rural Union County community. The gymnasium has for decades played in important role for the people of Amistad and the surrounding area.

"You'll no doubt notice that there are no houses!" Hampton stated in a news release. "No, just the schoolhouse, gym, tiny post office and church house. I've been coming to that old gym ever since the late '70s for the cow country dances, to ring in the new year, weddings funerals and, yes, even basketball games! My boys started school there and went through sixth grade. So many golden memories!"

The gymnasium, designated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, was proposed by the Works Progress Administration in 1935. The building project created about 50 construction jobs and was completed two years later.

The Amistad school, which was resurrected as a charter school for a few years, closed for good in 2007.

The gym has served as a community center not only for countless sporting events, but community dances and other gatherings. The gym's design features Art Deco influences that reflect local styles and traditions.

In recent years, the building has begun to suffer with age, notably along the western wall of the building that shows significant water damage. Circle the Wagons was organized to take on the task of the gym's preservation.

The total estimate for exterior repairs are about $36,000. Previous fundraising efforts, such as raffles and a pie auction, have brought in just under $13,000, said Barbara Copeland of Circle the Wagons.

"When I called up R.W. and told him the gymnasium was in danger, he said, 'What can I do?' that quick," she said.

"For as long as I can remember, all repairs on the school and gym were done by the local ranch families in rural Union County," Hampton said. "Well, it's time again to give our 87-year-old adobe brick gym a little TLC, and I am mighty proud to get to help with this community benefit to raise funds for the much-needed repairs."

Amistad is off Highway 402, about 25 miles north of Nara Visa.

Donations for the gym repairs also can be mailed to Amistad Association Inc., P.O. Box 200, Amistad, NM 88410.