Photo by Lindsey Venable
The Billy the Kid Museum is authentic because not only does it tell the story of Billy the Kid, but presents a twist in the typical outlaw story. It is a museum not just about a legend, but a collection of evidence allowing the visitor to decide whether Brushy Bill Roberts was or was not Billy the Kid. “Authenticity connotes traditional culture and origin, and a sense of the genuine.” (Chhabra) The fact that Roberts lived in Hico makes the museum authentically related to Hico. The Billy the Kid Days’ celebrations present reenactments of pioneer era shootouts that although were not that common, still occurred in places such as Hico. The actors dressed in typical old-west cultural costumes and appropriately used western lingo. The cultural productions of Hico were fitting and made visiting the town more like stepping back in time than travelling to another part of Texas. “If the past is a foreign country, nostalgia has made it a foreign country with the healthiest visitor trade of all” (Lowenthal).