A Canuck at the Texas State Fair

The Texas Rover group displays their Landys once a year at the Texas State Fair. It is a fun event and like all things Texan, it is huge! Don't believe me that its big? How about the fact it takes up 277 acres of land and is spread over twenty-four days? What about that it grosses over $350 million each year for the state? How about the 8,000 livestock entries each year and the 7,000 creative entries? Is it big yet?

And of course, we end up there on the busiest day of the entire event - the day of the Red River Rivalry!
The Red River Shootout is the college football game between the University of Oklahoma and University of Texas. This year's game was held in Cotton Bowl which sits in the middle of the fair grounds, commanding quite the view. After a revamp that fixed bad plumbing and dilapated seating, it now holds 90,000 people...in case you didn't get that the first time, that was 90,000 people...in one building. Nuts! Did I already say everything is huge in Texas?













This is what 90,000 people waiting to get into the stadium looks like and half time was worse! Crazy! I wish I had been able to find a higher vantage point - one of the frustrating parts of being a short photographer.
The Land Rovers were nicely set apart in the Classic Car Corral. This meant that we had a fence all around us and a gate to keep foot traffic out. It was a relaxing place to sit and observe the masses from a safe and undisturbed distance - perfect when you are talking about rowdy football fans!












Every bit of the land is taken up with displays and activities. Near where we were put with the Land Rovers, a giant lagoon had swan boats you could rent and a big fountain. All around the lagoon was outdoor sculptures, food stalls and souvenir stands. Surprisingly, everyone was very well behaved and even though it was standing room only, most people where laughing and enjoying the line ups.

















The midway was something Jon and I avoided - crazy busy and scary big rides. The Texas Star Ferris Wheel is the tallest in North America at 212 feet tall. Now that I know it is the tallest, I am upset I didn't take the plunge and try the ride but at the time, it was just too scary to consider! It has 44 gondolas that holds a total of 264 people. The staff of eighteen keep it moving at a rate of one and a half rotations a minute. On a clear day, you can reportedly see for 42 km away and is lit up at night by 16,000 red, white and blue lights.
Before the game started, all 90,000 people were milling around outside and playing on the rides. Once they moved inside to watch the game, we could all move around so we headed to the livestock area.













The livestock area was impressive - lot's of animals, all in comfortable pens with no sense of your tyical animal smell. The 1200 boar was disturbing - nothing living should be that big and it was fun watching the animals being show. Considering how many years I was involved with dog shows, I thought I had seen it all but I was wrong. Hand stacking goats was something to see and the little girl with heffers was a sneaky trick to get the judge's attention on the right cow.

All day long there are shows going on in all the arenas. The dog shows included a group of frisbee dogs and then a group of dogs that do jumping tricks. We watched the practise session but were locked out for the actual show - two minutes late and we are not allowed in!



































































The baking competition was going on behind us with a full news crew filming the event. The arts and creative section was amazing, including the rows and rows of preserves. All those colored ribbons represent the first, second and honorable mention of one type of preserve. I would like to know how many different types of preserves they judge but it would have taken too long to find out.

Come back tomorrow for more photos and stories from the fair!