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State Fair of Texas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (October 2007) |
The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas, Texas (USA). The fair season usually begins in late September and ends in the middle of October. The fair is held at the historic Fair Park where it has been held since 1886. The 2007 fair will be from September 28 to October 21. Big Tex, a 52 ft (16 m) tall cowboy, has been the symbol of the fair since his introduction in 1952; in 1953, Big Tex's jaw was hinged, so that he appears to "speak" the announcements that promote fair events.[1]
The State Fair of Texas is the largest state fair in the United States by annual attendance, according to industry magazine Amusement Business; although the fair no longer tracks attendance by ticket sales — the numbers always underestimated attendance due to the practice of free entry for local schoolchildren and senior citizens on certain days — the fair's past estimates by various methods consistently suggested more than 3 million people visit the fair annually.[2] It also has the largest ferris wheel in North America.[citation needed] As of 2003, the fair's marketing director estimated that the fair was bringing about US$350 million dollars into the Dallas economy.
Traditionally, one of the centerpieces of the fair has been the annual college football game between Texas and Oklahoma, nicknamed "The Red River Shootout" AT&T Red River Rivalry (formerly the Red River Shootout) and played in the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park.
The State Fair of Texas is the only Fair in the country to include a full blown auto show. It includes over 300,000 square feet of new model vehicles, two buildings, a Truck Zone and a Test Drive Track. The State Fair has been the site for several international launches including the 2007 Chevy Tahoe, the 2007 Ford Sporttrac and the 2008 Chevy Silverado.
In recent years the fair has emphasized its reputation as an event featuring unique, albeit high-fat foods. The fair has been known for years for Fletcher's brand corny dogs. Recent years have seen the introduction of new unusual deep-fried items, including deep-fried Oreo cookies; deep-fried Twinkies; deep-fried pork ribs; fried cheesecake; deep-fried peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwiches; and most recently a batter-based fried Coke. The State Fair of Texas has chosen "The Sky's the Limit!" as the 2007 theme.
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In 1955, tragedy struck when students from the Memphis High School marching band from Memphis, Texas fell from the top of the Ferris wheel, resulting in the death of one student.[1] Robert Draper wrote a feature for Texas Monthly commemorating the 50th anniversary of the accident.[3]
On October 11, 1956, the fair highlighted a show by the then-21 year old Elvis Presley, with 26,000 teenagers attending, and breaking all attendance records for an outdoor concert in the state of Texas. Nearly 30 years after his death, Presley made news again at the state fair when a silk shirt he had worn was stolen from a traveling exhibit, "The King's Ransom," that was one of the featured attraction of the 2005 fair; the shirt was recovered less than 24 hours later when an anonymous person dropped it off at a local post office.[4]
- ^ a b Steven Butler. Fair Park Timeline, part 4: The Post-Exposition Years (1938-1984)
- ^ Pam Wagner."BigTex.com: Texas State Fair ropes in visitors, revenues," Fiscal Notes, September 2003 (Texas State Comptroller's Office). Retrieved August 9, 2007.
- ^ Robert Draper. "Wheel in the Sky," Texas Monthly, October 2005. (Links to article preview only)
- ^ Associated Press. "Collector recovers Elvis shirt stolen from State Fair of Texas," Lubbock Online, October 14, 2005. Retrieved August 9, 2007.
