Fall Classic
Houston Rodeo versus the State Fair: Your winner is ...
There's plenty to love about fall: football season, cardigans, pumpkin candles and a renewed joy in soup.
But the best thing about fall in Texas is the State Fair. There's nothing like it in Texas, and maybe anywhere in the world.
Based in Fair Park since 1886, when Houston was just a cowtown on a swamp, the State Fair is the largest fair in the country by total attendance. It's the home of an auto show that dates back over a century, the tallest Ferris wheel in North America, and a somewhat creepy 52-foot-tall macot named Big Tex that tells everyone "Howdy." It hosts an annual football rivalry so storied that even the destruction of the Southwest Conference couldn't dampen enthusiasm.
I know, I know, Houston has the Livestock Show & Rodeo, a unique melding of roping contests and Radio Disney.
The State Fair isn't about music at that level. The biggest headliners this year are the Eli Young Band, Collective Soul, American Idol castoff Brooke White and an Elvis impersonator.
Actually there's no one thing that defines the State Fair, despite the University of Texas and Oklahoma football fans' ideas to the contrary. As a kid, I thought it was all midway rides and funnel cakes, which was fiiiiiine with me. (I'm one of the few who can handle a surfeit of both.)
Now there's even more of an emphasis on fair food beyond the traditional corny dogs and cotton candy. This year vendors will introduce Texas Fried Frito Pie — "a generous portion of savory Texas born chili accented with a hint of sharp cheddar encased in everybody’s favorite corn chip, lightly battered and fried to a golden brown perfection" — and fried beer, the winners of the Big Tex Choice Awards for best taste and most creative, respectively.
If gluttony and adrenaline aren't your thing, there are also pig races, sky views from the Texas Skyway gondolas, exhibitions galore, street performers, and the traditional livestock exhibitions and petting zoos (nothing in the world makes me happier than miniature ponies, and I'm still kind of annoyed my parents never bought me one). Where else can you hang out with a record-size boar before wandering over to a wine garden for rosé and jazz?
And just when you think you've seen everything, the Jeopardy! tryout bus rolls in.
I probably sound like some over-caffienated State Fair cheerleader. But for Dallasites, the State Fair is a cultural icon cherished from childhood, celebrating a mix of Texas pride and modern fun. Explaining it's appeal is like trying to parse why grilled cheese sandwiches are delicious, why OU fans are so embarrassing or why an 8-year-old needs a height-challenged horse.
Some things are beyond words.