It was a day that will live in Texas infamy.
October 19, 2012 was the day Big Tex, the beloved symbol of the State Fair of Texas, was completely destroyed after catching on fire.
Big Tex burned in minutes. After his big body was pulled to the ground by a crane, police motorcycles led a procession out of the fairgrounds. Onlookers watched on, some with tears in their eyes, and some with their hats over their hearts.
Rusty Fitzgerald, senior VP of operations at the fair told Dallas News at the time, "At that moment, you got tears in your eyes because of how much Big Tex meant to people.
"It was like a real person."
Thankfully, no one was injured (besides Big Tex), and construction began immediately on a bigger and better cowboy.
Big Tex currently stands 55-feet-tall, costs $500,000 to construct, and earlier this month, for the sake of State Fair history, celebrated his 70th birthday!
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