State Fair of Texas

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The Texas Star, North America's largest Ferris wheel at the State Fair of Texas

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The State Fair of Texas is an annual state fair held in Dallas, Texas (USA). The fair season usually begins in late September and ends in the middle of October. The fair is held at the historic Fair Park where it has been held since 1886. The 2008 fair will be from September 26 to October 19. Big Tex, a 52 ft (16 m) tall cowboy, has been the symbol of the fair since his introduction in 1952; in 1953, Big Tex's jaw was hinged, so that he appears to "speak" the announcements that promote fair events.^[1]

The State Fair of Texas is the largest state fair in the United States by annual attendance, according to industry magazine Amusement Business; although the fair no longer tracks attendance by ticket sales — the numbers always underestimated attendance due to the practice of free entry for local schoolchildren and senior citizens on certain days — the fair's past estimates by various methods consistently suggested more than 3 million people visit the fair annually.^[2] It also has the largest Ferris wheel in North America.^{[citation needed]} As of 2003, the fair's marketing director estimated that the fair was bringing about US$350 million dollars into the Dallas economy.

Traditionally, one of the centerpieces of the fair has been the annual college football game between Texas and Oklahoma, nicknamed "The Red River Shootout" AT&T Red River Rivalry (formerly the Red River Shootout) and played in the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park.

The State Fair of Texas is the only Fair in the country to include a full blown auto show. It includes over 300,000 square feet of new model vehicles, two buildings, a Truck Zone and a Test Drive Track. The State Fair has been the site for several international launches including the 2007 Chevy Tahoe, the 2007 Ford Sporttrac and the 2008 Chevy Silverado.

In recent years the fair has emphasized its reputation as an event featuring unique, albeit high-fat foods. The fair has been known for years for Fletcher's brand corny dogs. Recent years have seen the introduction of new unusual deep-fried items, including deep-fried Oreo cookies; deep-fried Twinkies; deep-fried pork ribs; fried cheesecake; deep-fried peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwiches; and most recently a batter-based fried Coke. The State Fair of Texas has chosen "Ignite Your Senses!" as the 2008 theme.

1 Notable historical events
2 See also
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Notable historical events

In 1955, tragedy struck when students from the Memphis High School marching band from Memphis, Texas fell from the top of the Ferris wheel, resulting in the death of one student.^[1] Robert Draper wrote a feature for Texas Monthly commemorating the 50th anniversary of the accident.^[3]

On October 11, 1956, the fair highlighted a show by the then-21 year old Elvis Presley, with 26,000 teenagers attending, and breaking all attendance records for an outdoor concert in the state of Texas. Nearly 30 years after his death, Presley made news again at the state fair when a silk shirt he had worn was stolen from a traveling exhibit, "The King's Ransom," that was one of the featured attraction of the 2005 fair; the shirt was recovered less than 24 hours later when an anonymous person dropped it off at a local post office.^[4]

In 1979, a gondola from the sky lift called the Swiss Sky Ride fell killing one and injuring 17. A similar but safer feature called the Texas Skyway opened in 2007.[1]