#11: Texas State Fair
I visited the Texas State Fair as part of a 28 hour trip to Dallas, including 9 hours of driving. It's the largest US state fair with cattle competitions, booming country music, booths selling products with no connection to Texas, a handful of museums, live performances including Ludacris, over-priced food and drinks etc. It's somewhere between Alton Towers and a school fair.
We arrived in a thunder storm and spent the morning huddled inside the auto-show. Mostly we tried to wind the car sales people up. We challenged the Toyota reps to an in-car yoga competition and the sole entry, my happy baby pose in the boot of a van, won.
Next I painted a salesman and told him that he was my inspiration, as I brandished a hastily done water colour. His sales persona almost cracked as he scrutinised my sanity with narrowing eyes, but then he regained composure, smiled and offered a test drive. Alas.
The rain cleared and we went in search of deep fried butter. I abused free sample etiquette as we wandered, both to get a reaction and also because I'm cheap. We eventually found a butter stall and watched it dribble down the chin of the only person brave enough to try it. Do not order this on a date, or at all to be honest.
No fair ground rides were ridden. My friends had spent their tokens on beer, whereas I struggle to take in all the emotion at once. We ended up leaving before Ludacris. Onto the scores.
Date of creation: 1886
The (first) attraction located outside Tulsa claims the oldest card in Tulsa Top Trumps. As my family members predicted, I'm running out of Tulsan attractions.
The Dallas incarnation of the State Fair of Texas first opened on October 26th, 1886. A Houston based precursor ran from 1870 to 1886. Tulsa didn't incorporate as a city until 1898.
History did that ebby flowy thing until the French industrial Exposition of 1844. Retailers could only exhibit products they had made and anything not deemed "socially useful" was removed. This spawned the Great Exhibition in London (1851). Both the French and British incarnations showcased industry and invention.
The first New York State Fair, held in Syracuse in 1841, was organised by an agricultural society. Sporting a plowing contest and samples of farm and home goods, the American take was far less industrial until it was re-branded as an Agrilcultural and Industrial Exposition in 1938.
Is any of this historically significant? No but I got lost down a Wikipedia hole and needed something to show for it.
Deep fried food is their shtick and recent innovations include deep fried butter and shepherd's pie. I went for a deep fried sriracha and it was genuinely good. These echoes of Glasgow saved the day...
The veteran's exhibition caught me off guard. I initially wrote it off as jingoistic. But the endless profiles of fallen soldiers from Texas, each with one photo in uniform and one from high school, was moving. All died in Iraq or Afghanistan. Dallas is also home to the George W Bush Presidential Library.
We arrived in a thunder storm and spent the morning huddled inside the auto-show. Mostly we tried to wind the car sales people up. We challenged the Toyota reps to an in-car yoga competition and the sole entry, my happy baby pose in the boot of a van, won.
Next I painted a salesman and told him that he was my inspiration, as I brandished a hastily done water colour. His sales persona almost cracked as he scrutinised my sanity with narrowing eyes, but then he regained composure, smiled and offered a test drive. Alas.
The rain cleared and we went in search of deep fried butter. I abused free sample etiquette as we wandered, both to get a reaction and also because I'm cheap. We eventually found a butter stall and watched it dribble down the chin of the only person brave enough to try it. Do not order this on a date, or at all to be honest.
No fair ground rides were ridden. My friends had spent their tokens on beer, whereas I struggle to take in all the emotion at once. We ended up leaving before Ludacris. Onto the scores.
Date of creation: 1886
The (first) attraction located outside Tulsa claims the oldest card in Tulsa Top Trumps. As my family members predicted, I'm running out of Tulsan attractions. The Dallas incarnation of the State Fair of Texas first opened on October 26th, 1886. A Houston based precursor ran from 1870 to 1886. Tulsa didn't incorporate as a city until 1898.
Historical significance: 39
(Clutching at cultural history straws) The phenomena of state fairs began with the Exposition des produits de l'industrie française in 1790. A series of festivals were organised to celebrate the new republic and win the acceptance of the people. A Festival of the Federation (1790) was followed by the Festival of Law (1792), Festival of Reason (1793), Festival of the Supreme Being (1794), and the Festival of the Foundation of the Republic (1796). These festivals begat the 1st Exposition of 1798. DATES.History did that ebby flowy thing until the French industrial Exposition of 1844. Retailers could only exhibit products they had made and anything not deemed "socially useful" was removed. This spawned the Great Exhibition in London (1851). Both the French and British incarnations showcased industry and invention.
The first New York State Fair, held in Syracuse in 1841, was organised by an agricultural society. Sporting a plowing contest and samples of farm and home goods, the American take was far less industrial until it was re-branded as an Agrilcultural and Industrial Exposition in 1938.
Is any of this historically significant? No but I got lost down a Wikipedia hole and needed something to show for it.
European-ness: 3.9
I imagined school fete vibes. Farmers weeping over prize winning pigs. Schools pushing politics disguised as a class project. Middle aged men, nursing the rejection of their liberal offspring, taking revenge by spunking the inheritance on classic cars. But the reality was so much more sterile.Deep fried food is their shtick and recent innovations include deep fried butter and shepherd's pie. I went for a deep fried sriracha and it was genuinely good. These echoes of Glasgow saved the day...
Cowboy hats: 167
Oh yes. Big Tex set the tone for the visit. I became somewhat desensitised and stopped counting. I'm going for a conservative 167.Collective consciousness: 41%
Why were there so many hot tub vendors? They must be tapping into some deep current in the Texas psyche. I didn't get it. I lose.Wokeness: 73
The sprawling state fair included a few cool museums. The Women's and African American Museum win solid woke points.The veteran's exhibition caught me off guard. I initially wrote it off as jingoistic. But the endless profiles of fallen soldiers from Texas, each with one photo in uniform and one from high school, was moving. All died in Iraq or Afghanistan. Dallas is also home to the George W Bush Presidential Library.
Overall
Texas is just a shinier version of Oklahoma. Tulsa is the one for me.
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