Most people think of the annual State Fair of Texas as a 24-day event, beginning in mid-September and concluding in mid-October. But in the Dallas area, the fair extends far past its festival dates.
When I was growing up in Rockwall, my elementary school teacher tucked fair tickets into our September take-home folders, and we’d pester her about when we’d be released from school for Fair Day. As early as summer, my mom began stockpiling cans of pinto beans to earn the Wednesday admissions discount for my dad and herself. Since the fair’s spirit often spills over from its three-week run time, it seems only right that Texans can enshrine their own Big Texes at home.
The Big Tex Store, which raises revenue to preserve Fair Park, sells 13-inch miniature versions of the iconic 55-foot Big Tex statue, who waves down at fairgoers from his perch in front of the Tower Building. The cowboy figurine’s red slick button-down shirt tucks smartly into shiny pants, buckled by—you know it—the silhouette of Texas. After joining the entourage of the State Fair of Texas in 1952, Big Tex received a nose job and a voice box that greets fairgoers with a “Howdy, folks!” When an accidental blaze engulfed Big Tex in 2012, he returned bigger and better than ever, with boots scaled up to size 96 and a 95-gallon cowboy hat.
On Fair Day, my parents would caution: “If you get lost, meet at Big Tex.” Now, we can all meet at the little Big Tex who found his way home.
