Mask on, cowboy up.
Despite the cancellation of the State Fair of Texas, its 55-foot-tall mascot Big Tex was installed in the middle of Fair Park on Sept. 16. And for the first time in the fair’s history, Big Tex is wearing a mask.
“It’s about solidarity with the community,” says State Fair of Texas president Mitchell Glieber, “and making a statement about what everybody’s going through.”
The mask is 84 inches by 45 inches — slightly larger than the length and width of a twin-sized mattress. It’s a bright blue mask made out of neoprene, a material used for wet suits and other sports equipment.
Tex can talk through the mask, and he’ll offer salutations like “Howdy, folks!” from his perch in Big Tex Circle in the middle of Fair Park.
In 2020, Tex got a new belt buckle, new hat and paint touch-ups on his face, in addition to the new, blue mask.
Big Tex’s relationship with the State Fair of Texas dates back to 1952, when a former Santa Claus statue was remade into a smiling cowboy. Big Tex the First was destroyed in a fire in 2012. He was remade and re-emerged in 2013 three feet taller, with bigger biceps, hands and head. His previous 75-gallon hat is now a 95-gallon hat. He wears a size 96 boot.
For 67 years, Big Tex’s installation was the biggest, tallest sign that the fair was about to open. Because of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Tex will not welcome the usual 2.5 million people to Dallas on his 68th year on the job, though the State Fair is hosting a drive-through event on select dates. Ticket holders will get out of their cars to take a photo with masked Big Tex, then get back in their cars, put masks back on and drive to stands handing out Fletcher’s corny dogs and other fair foods.
“Think of it as a progressive dinner," explains Jennifer Schuder, senior vice president of marketing for the fair. After taking pictures with Big Tex, ticket holders can stop for fried Oreos, then play a Midway game, then get their kettle corn.
Packages for that event cost $25 to $99 and drive-throughs begin Sept. 19.
This year, the fair-food parade is the only source of revenue for the State Fair of Texas, a non-profit. Whereas the State Fair’s total revenue was $66 million in 2019, the fair won’t see most of that revenue in 2020 with just one fundraiser, Glieber says.
About 50,000 cars will be allowed into the event during its four-week run, if it sells out.
Karissa Condoianis, senior vice president of public relations for the fair, says she hopes consumers continue to buy tickets, “so we can fulfill our non-profit mission.”
Glieber says the staff is still sad about the cancellation of the main event but they feel it was the right thing to do.
“The decision [to cancel the fair] was actually not a difficult one to make,” Glieber says, pointing to the spike in cases in July, when the cancellation was announced. “It was an emotional decision to make, but it was not a difficult one.”
