WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 The Great American State Fair is up and running in the nation\u2019s capital \u2014 one of the events celebrating America\u2019s 250th birthday. Texas is one of the 40 states and territories with a pavilion right on the National Mall.<\/p>\n
The Texas state booth at the Great American State Fair has a little bit of what people love about the Lone Star State.<\/p>\n
It includes the Big Tex state fair mascot but a bit smaller than the original. In a corner, a jukebox plays tunes by famous Texans like Gary Clark Jr., Willie Nelson and Selena Quintanilla. Visitors can sign a replica of Amarillo\u2019s Cadillac Ranch, enjoy a mock-up of the Alamo in San Antonio or step into a NASA capsule.<\/p>\n
While there is only so much that can be inside a modest booth on the National Mall, some native Texans tell Spectrum News, “Houston, there\u2019s no problem here.”<\/p>\n
David Newell was on vacation with his family. They are visiting the nation\u2019s capital from Pearland, Texas. Newell told Spectrum News the booth felt \u201cvery much like home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the monuments that we know about sitting around here, and being able to see, it kind of gives a little feeling of home without being home just yet,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
The booth was organized by Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s Economic Development and Tourism Office.<\/p>\n
“Texas is proud to showcase what makes our state exceptional, world-class industries, rich culture, booming economy, unmatched energy production, agricultural strength, and the unbreakable spirit of the Lone Star State,\u201d Andrew Mahaleris, the governor\u2019s press secretary, said in a statement to Spectrum News. \u201cVisitors can expect a dynamic showcase highlighting why Texas is both a premier travel destination and a national leader in opportunity, innovation, and freedom.”<\/p>\n
While the Lone Star State put in a Texas-sized effort, 11 states \u2014 mostly led by Democrats \u2014 declined to participate in the fair, which was put on by a group created by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
For Newell, America\u2019s 250th anniversary is also about its resilience.<\/p>\n
When asked what he is celebrating, Newell said: \u201cJust the fact that we’ve been able to survive this long and really be such like a light to the rest of the world, our freedoms and anyone else’s freedoms, and trying to protect that.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can check out the Texas booth and other state pavilions on the National Mall until July 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 The Great American State Fair is up and running in the nation\u2019s capital \u2014 one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[6329,1657,1658,3645,132,134,133,6328,102,223,287,91318,82,27,835],"class_list":["post-358998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-app-capital-tonight","tag-app-latest-local-state-politics-stories","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-app-national-politics","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-capital-tonight","tag-dallas","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-reena-diamante","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358998","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=358998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}