By Shannon Wilkinson
Staff Writer
If you are looking to unleash your inner Texan this year, the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo is the perfect place to do so. In its 117th year, this 23-day event shows the Western history in a fun and unique way.
The show opened Jan. 18 and runs until Feb. 9 and has kid-friendly exhibits, rodeos, live music and much more.
“I’ve gone to the show 10 times in the past 26 years and it’s something I always look forward to,” Stock show attendee Mary Winans said.
Besides the familiar cattle drive and rodeo, the Stock Show offers horse shows and poultry, pigeon and rabbit exhibits.
“My favorite thing to do is go through the barns because I always have been and always will be an animal lover,” Winans said.
This year new events include mounted shooting, competitions for wild donkey’s and mechanics projects for junior exhibitors. Stock show also has introduced an app for any smartphone that predicts scores in the rodeo competitions.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association will be performing its rodeo for the crowds.
“I downloaded the app because I can go to another area and still check predicted scores for the competitions,” Stock show attendee Randy Trent said.
This year the area where the show is held was redesigned. The parking spaces were enlarged, giving the one million attendees easy access and an easy way to load and unload the farm animals.
Opening weekend, the Stock Show raked in a crowd of about 127,700 people. Numbers are expected to pick up as the show continues.
In 1918, the show had the world’s first indoor rodeo. It gave many attendees a taste of the true western life.
“My grandmother used to ride her horse in the rodeo when it was still called the Fat Stock show,” Winans said. “She would borrow someone’s horse so she could ride in the parade and did it until she was 62.”
General admission tickets are $10 for adults, $5 dollars for kids ages 6 to 16 and free for children 5 and under.
“You won’t regret going to this awesome show, especially the bull riding and the rodeo, you can’t miss it,” Trent said.
