Big Tex has taken his spot at Fair Park as organizers and vendors get ready for the State Fair of Texas. The State Fair of Texas first launched in 1886; Big Tex made his first appearance in 1952.
Big Tex is 55 feet tall and wears a 95 gallon hat.
This year, he wears a Shiner belt buckle.
"They have totally redesigned it," says the State Fair of Texas' Taylor Pulfer. "It's a classic, rustic belt buckle. It says, of course, 2024, so you can look back at your annual photo with Big Tex & know what year it was. It’s a beautiful, shiny gold.”
Cranes hoisted Big Tex into place Friday morning, and people lined up around the plaza a couple hours early.
"This has been a tradition so long. It needs to be my tradition, now, too," one man coming for the first time said.
A mom coming with her husband and two kids said she came with her parents as a girl.
"It's just great. I love it," she said. "I hope that impacts them, and they want to continue that, too."
Every year, Luke Janacek comes with his parents and siblings. He was wearing a shirt, boots and hat to look like Big Tex and had practiced his rendition of "Howdy, folks."
"It's a tradition, don't you know?" he says. "Every time we get him put up, and we're ready for him to move his eyes, wink and point."
Before dawn, artist Eric Hanson arrived to paint Big Tex. Hanson paints local landmarks. His works include the Inwood and Majestic Theatres in Dallas and Stockyards Hotel and Bass Performance Hall Angel in Fort Worth.
"About eight years ago, I rode my bike out here just to watch him get set up and realized, 'Hey, we've got a Dallas icon here,'" he says.
Hanson says he takes a picture of Big Tex' face at the end of the fair each year to use as a reference the next year since he arrives in the dark while Big Tex is still lying down. He draws an outline on the canvas before he arrives.
He then chooses an angle in the plaza to capture the right perspective.
"It's a good crowd out here in years when it's not raining," Hanson says. "Great crowd out here. The weather's nice, and it's just been fun."
The State Fair of Texas opens Friday, September 27 and runs through October 20. Last year, 2,341,449 people attended.
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