Dallas tends not to conjure up images of water cascading down craggy stone cliffs. However, locals and visitors alike can behold the city’s own version of a majestic waterfall above Interstate 35, just off Harry Hines Boulevard in front of the Alexan apartment complex. There, on a giant billboard currently advertising Miller Lite, with a shoutout to the Dallas Cowboys, water rushes down a carefully crafted rock mountainside, beckoning commuters and road-trippers to Big D.
Like many native North Texans, the billboard holds a special place in my heart. I passed it as a child on the way from Fort Worth to my grandmother’s house in East Dallas. Once, on our yearly winter sojourn to Neiman Marcus to dine in the Zodiac Room, my mother and I saw the waterfall frozen, icicles dangling as if jaunty Christmas décor to celebrate the Coors brand. Starting Sept. 27, many of the over 2 million attendees of the State Fair of Texas will have their chance to see it in all its historic glory.
The billboard debuted in 1962, its cascading water, pumped from a mechanism below the advertisement, reflected the tagline of San Antonio’s Pearl lager it advertised: “From the Country of 1,000 Springs.” Designed by the international company Tracy-Locke in its original form, it held the honor of being the biggest beer ad in the world at 45 feet high with a length of approximately 150 feet. Beyond beer, the billboard has shilled for, among other brands, Salem cigarettes in 1968, boasting that Salem “refreshes naturally.” In 1987, the billboard made an “Absolut splash” by advertising Absolut Vodka.
Now, Clear Channel Outdoor owns the billboard, one of many they own in Dallas-Fort Worth. According to Jason King, senior VP of corporate communications and marketing, Clear Channel’s research suggests “95% of Dallas residents drive or carpool each week, and 30% spent over 20 minutes commuting one way. Overall, locals have seen time in traffic go up 28% since 2021.” That’s a lot of eyeballs on Dallas’ oddest waterfall.
Originally, the billboard’s rocky landscape was constructed of hay bales covered in concrete, though it was re-vamped by Rock-Scapes in 2008. Each day, water cascades 45 feet down into a 3-foot-deep pool that pumps the water back up to the top of the waterfall. The billboard cycles through 1.5 million gallons of water daily. Long-time residents may recall that the billboard used to be located beside the restaurant Baby Does’ Matchless Mine, a popular spot for pre-prom dinners in the ’70s and ’80s, where one could dine on Coors beer soup (recreated recipes can be found here and here)—a fitting meal given that the billboard is now leased by the Coors Brewing Company.
Rumor has it that the billboard inspired thrill-seekers to scale it and attempt skinny dipping in its cool waters and that college football fans have dyed the water either orange or red (depending on one’s affiliation) for Texas/OU weekend played annually at the Cotton Bowl. Other jokesters settled simply for pouring laundry detergent over the billboard’s edge, creating flumes of bubbles.
According to a Dallas Morning News article, “Gerald Bosher, who said he had maintained the sign for 28 years, told The News in 1997 that an unnamed doctor’s $15,000 Cartier watch fell into the faux waterfall one night, so Bosher hired a wetsuit diver to find it.” (It was found and returned to the gentleman’s office.) Such hijinks prompted the billboard’s owner to erect fencing around the advertisement to deter illicit bathing and lost watches.
Such is the billboard’s fame that the city of Dallas designated it an “extraordinarily significant sign” in 2008. Its “significance” is further solidified by the fact the billboard claims its own Wikipedia and Reddit fan pages, the latter of which has a local claiming that they used to call it “Beer Mountain” and another local remembering that as a child he thought the waterfall was made of actual beer. Even America’s Team, one of the city’s biggest draws, is a fan:
“We appreciate Molson Coors showcasing its partners and featuring the Cowboys alongside its iconic Miller Lite brand on a billboard leading into one of the most beloved events in the state of Texas,” said Chad Estis, the team’s executive vice president of business operations, via email.
Estis added that the billboard is a “great way to welcome people” arriving for the state fair. But for me it will always be the landmark I looked forward to when I got to visit the big city when the city wasn’t so big.
