Big Tex will be unveiled to the public Friday at Fair Park, one week before the State Fair of Texas opens Sept. 25.
Smiley N. Pool/Dallas Morning News
La State Fair of Texas se llevará a cabo hasta el 18 de octubre 2026.
Christine Vo/The Dallas Morning News
Tom Grace poses as he wins the Big Tex Choice Awards savory for Burger Chop Tater Tacos, on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026 at Fair Park in Dallas.
Shafkat Anowar/The Dallas Morning News
Big Tex is set to rise — and reign — again over Fair Park Friday morning, and this time the iconic North Texas cowboy will be sporting a new look.
Crews are expected to begin hoisting the 55-foot cowboy into place at Big Tex Circle promptly at 10 a.m., according to a State Fair media advisory, showing off his complete 2026 outfit one week before the State Fair of Texas opens.
The Fair said the timing could be adjusted if inclement weather affects the installation.
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Big Tex will return wearing what the Fair describes as an all-new outfit: a Western shirt developed with Cavender’s Boot City, a new 95-gallon Resistol hat, custom Levi’s 501 jeans and a new pair of size 96 Lucchese boots.
The State Fair partnered with Cavender’s on the style, colors and overall design of Big Tex’s pearl-snap shirt. The partnership begins a new annual tradition in which portions of the shirt can change to recognize fair themes, anniversaries and other milestones.
This year’s design includes a nod to the 250th anniversary of the United States.
Levi’s also became the official jeans of Big Tex this year and created a custom pair of its 501 jeans for him.
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The jeans are size 434 by 240, require about 100 yards of fabric and weigh about 100 pounds, according to the State Fair.
Big Tex will also debut new boots Friday.
Aaliyah McNeal, a 31-year-old Dallas native who now lives in Suwanee, Ga., won the 2026 Big Tex Boot Design Contest from nearly 450 entries.
Her design features Texas imagery including a longhorn, bluebonnets, pecan trees, prickly pears and the Texas Star Ferris wheel. McNeal worked with the State Fair and Lucchese Bootmaker to turn the design into Big Tex’s new boots.
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Big Tex’s other measurements are equally outsized. His Western shirt is size 200 by 325, his belt stretches 33 feet and his sleeves measure 27 feet.
Big Tex has greeted State Fair visitors since 1952, but his story began several years earlier in the small town of Kerens.
The Big Tex at the State Fair of Texas during its opening day in Dallas on Friday, September 24, 2021. The fair was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, making this year’s event all that much more anticipated.(Lola Gomez/The Dallas Morning News)
Lola Gomez/Staff Photographer
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Local merchants built a 49-foot Santa Claus in 1949 in hopes of keeping Christmas shoppers in town rather than losing their business to Corsicana or Dallas. The figure was made from iron-pipe drill casing, papier-mâché, cloth and rope.
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State Fair officials bought the figure for $750 in 1951 and hired Dallas artist Jack Bridges to transform it into a cowboy.
Big Tex made his State Fair debut in 1952, standing at 52 feet tall, wearing size 70 boots and a 75-gallon hat. After that first fair, Bridges refined the figure’s face, and Big Tex received his voice the following year.
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During the mid-1950s, Big Tex moved to the roundabout in front of what is now the Tower Building, where he continues to stand during the fair.
Big Tex on fire at the State Fair of Texas, in Fair Park, Friday morning, Oct. 19, 2012 in Dallas, TX.
An electrical short sparked a fire that destroyed Big Tex on Oct. 19, 2012, the final Friday of that year’s fair. Dallas Fire-Rescue responded, but the structure could not be saved.
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A rebuilt Big Tex returned the following year, standing three feet taller at 55 feet. The State Fair held a welcome-back celebration Sept. 27, 2013.
The rebuilt cowboy’s boots grew from size 70 to 96 and his hat from 75 gallons to 95 gallons.
The State Fair of Texas opens Sept. 25 and runs through Oct. 18 at Fair Park. This year marks the fair’s 140th anniversary. Its 2026 theme, “Stars, Stripes, and Howdies,” also recognizes the nation’s 250th anniversary.