Friday was the kick-off of the Texas State Fair ("Our state fair is a great state fair!"). City Hall sent out a memo saying Western wear "was approved" for the day. Dallas.
I walked over to Main Street at lunch to watch the Texas Sate Fair Opening Parade. I participated in this parade a few times in the late '60s and early '70s, as a member of the Preston Trail Ride. We rode horses and wagons from Preston in Grayson County (a historic crossing of the Red River between The Republic of Texas and Indian Territory USA) down the old Preston Trail (pretty much Highway 289 and Preston Road today) to open up the State Fair every year.
On my stroll, I was wearing this J.B. Stetson 5X "Cattleman", my El Paso made (meaning, "real") Tony Lama kangaroo skin rodeo heel boots, a tooled belt with a handmade Pearl Beer buckle, and a starched Oxford cloth western Shirt from Cavender's.
Making my way to the parade, a father pointed me out to his daughter, saying, "Look! A real cowboy!" Well, no and yes. I've done it, but I don't anymore, and haven't in a long time (almost 40 years). But I paid my dues and earned the look.
Behind me is a slanted building designed by I.M. Pei, and a Henry Moore sculpture often used as a public urinal in the past by Dallas' homeless. Who says "art" serves no purpose?
