Visiting Big Tex

State Fair of Texas

http://www.bigtex.com

They say that everything is bigger and better in Texas.  And for over 125 years, people have enjoyed the super-sized fun that is found at the State Fair. Under the watchful eye of the 52-ft tall mascot Big Tex, 3 million people attend the State Fair of Texas each year.  Team Baird decided that it was time to see what all the excitement is about.

Lodging

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/travel/daldt-dallas-marriott-city-center/

The official State Fair website recommends several nearby hotels in the Dallas area. We went with the Marriott Dallas City Center and couldn’t have been more pleased. This was a great hotel located in downtown Dallas, right on the light rail route to the Fair. And using our AAA discount, we didn’t pay any more than you would for a motel.  As an added bonus, the hotel is connected to the Plaza of the Americas which has a food court and ice skating rink.

DART light rail

You can drive to the Fair Park and pay $15 to park, and hope that you find a parking space within walking distance. Or you can ride the light rail. An all-day pass is $4 per person.  Our hotel was just 3 stops away from the fairgrounds, so this was a great option for us. And the kids really enjoyed it.

Tickets

As soon as we knew we were going to fair, I pre-purchased our admission tickets online.  You can wait in line and purchase tickets at the gate for $16, or order them in advance for just $13.95. 

You can also purchase your food and ride coupons in advance.  A sheet of 20 tickets is $10 or 50 cents per ticket.  There are no arm bands that let you ride all the rides.  Nor are there any discounts for purchasing large amounts of tickets. It’s a flat rate of $0.50 per ticket whether purchased in advance or onsite.

Midway

I thought that the $40 in tickets that I pre-purchased would get us through the first day. WRONG! Especially once the kids hit the Midway.

Most rides are 10 tickets each.  Yep, that’s $5 per person per ride.  So, with two kids, we quickly went through those $40 worth of tickets the first hour!

Old school entertainment -- the Fun House was as popular as ever.

Food

Let’s face it … the State Fair of Texas is all about fried foods.  If it can be battered and fried, then you’re bound to find it at the state Fair.  This year’s winner in the food competition was Fried Jambalaya and Fried Cookie Dough.

We tried the fried cookie dough and thought it was delicious. 

We also sampled the Fried Snickers, which tasted just like it looks.
Ummm ...yeah. A melted Snickers bar. 

Another popular item was the Chicken Fried Bacon.

We stopped by the State Fair of Texas Wine Garden to sample some Texas wines and craft beers. It was a nice place to sit and rest our feet for awhile while sipping wine and enjoying a cheese platter.

All food and drinks at the State Fair are purchased with tickets.  Water and sodas are typically 8 tickets each. Beers and Wines are about 12-15 tickets.  And most foods are between 10-15 tickets. To give you an idea of what things cost, we got 2 corndogs and an order of french fries for 33 tickets.  You do the math.

Fletchers Corny Dogs are a State Fair staple, so expect long lines.

Exhibits and Shows

I admit we didn’t spend as much time exploring this part of the fair as we did the food and the Midway. But we did walk through several exhibit halls and saw a few demonstrations with cooking knives and cleaning products.  And there was one exhibit hall where you could sample tastes of Texas --  salsa, pecans, nachos – but the lines for these freebies were so long that we kept on walking.

There is also children’s petting zoo in one exhibit hall and livestock in another.  We peeked in and saw this huge pig! Kind of makes you think twice about eating that bacon.

We also stopped and watched horse trainer Robert Liner in his show Spirit of the Horse. And guys and girls alike enjoyed the auto show which is so big that it's held in two separate exhibit halls.

Tucked away in the back of the fairgrounds is my favorite exhibit -- the Greenhouse on the Midway. Here you’ll find beautiful gardens, as well as various Southern Living guest speakers.

This is also where you’ll find the Texas Railway, a collection of model trains, winding its way throughout the greenhouse.

And we enjoyed watching the fascinating Farmer Mike, aka the Picasso of Pumpkin Carvers!

After touring the Greenhouse, we decided to hop on the Texas Skyway to get an aerial view of the fairgrounds. (And to rest our feet!) The gondolas will carry you 1800 ft from one end of the midway to the other. 

Getting off the Skyway, we found ourselves near the Beers from the World beer garden. So Freddie stopped to grab a pint, although he was confused by the name since they only offered domestic beers.

Also near the Skyway is the Chinese Lantern Festival.  Admission to this exhibit is an additional 10 tickets. Unfortunately we were on our way out and had used all our tickets, so we didn’t get to visit this exhibit.

And if that's not enough to keep you busy, there are lots of different bands, dancers, singers, and other entertainers performing throughout the fairgrounds.  A highlight for us was watching the United State Marine Drum and Bugle Corp straight from Washington DC.

We spent two half-days at the fair which I felt was plenty to see and do everything that we wanted to do.  You could probably do it all in one day if you arrived early and stayed all day.  But the fairgrounds are so big, that we were exhausted from all the walking after just 3 or 4 hours each day.

All in all, it was a great experience and fun for the whole family. Definitely something that everyone needs to do at least once.

A few final tips

• The best advice I can give is to wear the most comfortable shoes you own!  The fairgrounds cover 277 acres.
• Arrive early.  If you go on a weekend, try to get to the fairgrounds during the first hour of the day. After lunch, the crowds are thick and the lines are long.
• Bring your own drinks and snacks.  You are allowed to bring in your food and drinks. So I carried a tote bag instead of a purse and put several water bottles in it.  And you can also carry snacks like peanuts or goldfish for the kids.