“Got a rather tall cowboy with all his clothes burned off”

There are a lot of things that one can say about Dallas. Some indictments fair, many not, but for me it all boils down to "Big". That's the hair, the money, the business, egos, aspirations, booms and busts (of all kinds). And as the saying goes, the bigger they are the harder they fall; to this, the recent tribulations of the fittingly-named Big Tex can attest.

Big Tex is was a 52-ft-tall Cowboy who reigns supreme for three weeks each October from his perch at the Texas State Fair. Though last Friday, heading into the final weekend of this his sixtieth year, ol’ man reached the end of his rope. Electrical fire brought him down in under ten minutes. Must’ve been damn traumatic for the kids. The college kids, that is. I read one account where a woman walking by looked up and said, “I didn’t know Big Tex smoked.” He doesn’t, but if Dickies opts out of its sponsorship I smell an opening for Philip Morris. Talk about your target market... young and intoxicated with a penchant for poor decision-making.  

This is but one element of a diverse flock that enters the gates of the largest State Fair in the country. Many of these folks you wouldn’t ordinarily talk to unless their arms were on fire (and even then, only if they asked). But for a few short hours a kinship forms over mid-morning wax cup beers and Fletcher’s corny dogs and deep-friend errything. Before long it’s time to stuff flasks into boots and head into the Cotton Bowl, after which you’d always meet back underneath Big Tex and his booming drawl… “Howwwww-deee Follllllks!”

Hopefully next year it’ll be no different. After all, this is Dallas. They’ll probably just make him bigger.

Photos via: Dallas Morning News.