{"id":206896,"date":"2026-03-16T15:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/206896\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T15:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:14:07","slug":"new-boots-who-dis-big-tex-is-getting-new-footwear-this-fall-after-design-contest-winner-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/206896\/","title":{"rendered":"New boots, who dis? Big Tex is getting new footwear this fall after design contest winner announced"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Big Tex will be sporting a new look, at least in terms of his footwear, for the upcoming State Fair of Texas this fall. <\/p>\n<p>The fair announced 31-year-old Aaliyah McNeal as the winner of its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/texas\/news\/big-tex-state-fair-of-texas-boot-design-contest\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Big Texas Boot Design Contest<\/a>\u00a0Monday morning. McNeal takes home the honor with a design that blends both Texas and state fair icons. <\/p>\n<p>McNeal, who now lives in Georgia, said she attended the fair year after year with her family and has cherished those memories for a lifetime. She\u00a0 said she hopes visitors see the heart of her design. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BIG TEX HAS A NEW PAIR OF BOOTS ON THE WAY! \ud83e\udd20 We\u2019re excited to announce Aaliyah McNeal as the winner of the 2026 Big Tex Boot Design Contest, presented by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Lucchese1883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@Lucchese1883<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Selected from nearly 450 entries, you can check out Aaliyah&#8217;s winning design at <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QizDNft7gO\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/QizDNft7gO<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JXaCL8q54Z\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/JXaCL8q54Z<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 State Fair of Texas (@StateFairOfTX) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StateFairOfTX\/status\/2033513932371984749?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Key Texas symbols come together to create the embellishments at the heart of my design. From a distance, sweeping patterns mimic the rich textures of genuine leather, accented by pops of red and blue in honor of the Texas flag,&#8221; McNeal explained. \u00a0&#8220;Up close, you&#8217;re met with Texas-sized icons that immediately draw the eye, including a longhorn, bluebonnets, pecan trees, prickly pears, and even the iconic 212-foot-tall Texas Star Ferris Wheel.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>The first boot design contest was launched in 2019 in partnership with Lucchese Boot Company in celebration of that year&#8217;s theme, &#8220;Celebrating Texas Creativity.&#8221; The last time Big Tex got a new pair was in 2023. <\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s contest garnered 450 entries from artists of a range of ages and from different regions of the U.S. A panel of judges narrowed that pool down to five finalists based on creativity, representation of Texas pride and design for Big Tex. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The response to this year&#8217;s Big Tex Boot Design Contest was incredible, and we&#8217;re grateful to every Fair fan who shared their creativity with us,&#8221; Jennifer Schuder, senior vice president of customer engagement for the State Fair of Texas, said in a statement. <\/p>\n<p>As the winner, McNeal will work with both the State Fair and Lucchese to put the finishing touches on Big Tex&#8217;s new boots.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n          More from CBS News\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n<p>  <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Big Tex will be sporting a new look, at least in terms of his footwear, for the upcoming&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10503,2787,102,368,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-206896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-big-tex","tag-contest","tag-dallas","tag-state-fair-of-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}