“Our State Fair is a Great State Fair,” according to Rogers & Hammerstein’s famous lyrics in the 1962 movie classic.
In the case of the nation’s largest such event, the State Fair of Texas it’s never been truer. And while the Fair closes for the 2021 season on October 17, its influence and historical significance Deep in the Heart of Texas lives on.
The annual event traces its beginnings to the Dallas State Fair & Exposition, which was privately chartered on January 30, 1886, by a group of Dallas businessmen including civic leader W.H. Gaston. Things got off to a bit of a rocky start over where to build the new fairgrounds. Finally, rival associations merged in 1887 becoming the Texas State Fair & Dallas Exposition in east Dallas.
In the early years, there were appearances by such notables as John Philip Sousa (“Stars and Stripes Forever”), politician William Jennings Bryan, temperance leader Carrie Nation and educator/inventor Booker T. Washington. Eventually, the corporation sold the Fair to the City of Dallas in 1904 under an agreement that set aside a period each fall to hold the annual exposition.
It was a dramatic boost to the area, especially Dallas. A reported 300,000 people streamed through the gates in 1905. President William Howard Taft visited the Fair in 1909, and Woodrow Wilson delivered one of his most memorable speeches in 1911. Five years later in 1916, attendance topped the 1 million visitors just before closing during World War I.
The 1920s brought significant development including a grand new auditorium, eventually known as the Music Hall. Completed 1925, it became the area’s most outstanding venue presenting a variety of touring Broadway shows from New York and around the globe. For many years it was also home to the Dallas Opera and the Dallas Symphony.
The University of Texas vs. the University of Oklahoma football game, known today as the Red River Showdown, was established as an annual event beginning in 1929. A year later the large racetrack on the Fairgrounds was torn down to allow for the construction of a 46,000-seat arena called Fair Park Stadium and later renamed the Cotton Bowl. The Longhorns and Sooners continue to play their annual slugfest in the venerable old stadium to this day (The Sooners bested the ‘Horns in a 55-48 comeback win on October 9, 2021).
During the 1930s civic leader, R.L. Thornton led a movement to select Fair Park as the central exposition site for the proposed Texas Centennial celebration. Construction began on a $25 million project that transformed the existing fairgrounds into a masterpiece of art and imagination.
The 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition attracted more than six million people over its six-month run. Following World War II, under Thornton’s, the State Fair of Texas began an era of unprecedented growth reaching two million visitors by 1949.
The next decade oversaw the development of an international livestock show, the installation of a monorail system, a concert in the Cotton Bowl by rock ‘n’ roller Elvis Presley, and the first appearance of Big Tex, a towering cowboy built in the center of the grounds. Tex was originally designed as a Santa Claus in nearby Corsicana. The 49-foot-tall figure made of iron-pipe drill casing, Paper Mache, cloth, and seven-foot lengths of un-raveled rope for his beard. Tex joined the State Fair in 1952.
As the Midday increased in size, and attendance continued to rise, the State Fair of Texas grew impressively.
During 1985 at a football game between Grambling State and Prairie View A&M, legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson led his team to victory in the Cotton Bowl to become the winningest coach in college football.
The next year Fair Park was designated a National Historic Landmark, and the State Fair of Texas hosted a 31-day exposition celebrating both the Texas Sesquicentennial and the Fair’s own 100th anniversary.
In 1988 the traditional fair season was extended from 17 to 24 days, and corporate sponsorship began to play an increasingly important role in programming.
Major companies made it possible for the State Fair of Texas to offer visitors a range of exhibits, entertainment, and services that are unmatched by any such annual exposition.
In 1997, the State Fair welcomed WFAA-TV, the local ABC affiliate to usher in a brave new world in technology. For the first time in a large public forum in Texas, the local station displayed High-Definition Television (HDTV) in a specially made theater with a large screen and Dolby surround sound. Thousands of fairgoers lined up to watch a tape that featured performances by Peter Gabriel, the Gipsy Kings, and clips from the Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Critics hailed it as a major technical achievement for the Fair.
On the final Friday of the 2012 State Fair, October 19, 2012, to be exact, a fire due to an electrical short started in the base of Big Tex, burning the long, tall Texan to the ground. In 2013 he returned in grand fashion with a Lone Star size welcome back-celebration on September 27, 2013.
Today, the Fair is as strong as ever, and an enduring symbol of all things Texan, especially when it comes to fried cuisine and the annual food competition. Funnel cakes, corny dogs, and other specialty items are always on hand.
As an unparalleled celebration of all things Texas, the State Fair embodies Lone Star culture. And while has changed since its humble beginnings as a modest fair and exposition, the State Fair of Texas embraces its historical roots and strives to preserve the traditions upon which it was built.