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Big Tex will be unveiled to the public Friday at Fair Park, one week before the State Fair of Texas opens Sept. 25.<\/p>\n
Smiley N. Pool\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
La State Fair of Texas se llevar\u00e1 a cabo hasta el 18 de octubre 2026.<\/p>\n
Christine Vo\/The Dallas Morning News <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Shafkat Anowar\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Big Tex is set to rise \u2014 and reign \u2014 again over Fair Park Friday morning, and this time the iconic North Texas cowboy will be sporting a new look.<\/p>\n
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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<\/a> opens.<\/p>\n The Fair said the timing could be adjusted if inclement weather affects the installation.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Related: DART changes light rail service, adds direct buses from 4 locations to State Fair of Texas<\/a><\/p>\n Big Tex will return wearing what the Fair describes as an all-new outfit: a Western shirt developed with Cavender\u2019s Boot City, a new 95-gallon Resistol hat, custom Levi\u2019s 501 jeans and a new pair of size 96 Lucchese boots.<\/p>\n The State Fair partnered with Cavender\u2019s on the style, colors and overall design of Big Tex\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s design includes a nod to the 250th anniversary of the United States.<\/p>\n Levi\u2019s also became the official jeans of Big Tex this year and created a custom pair of its 501 jeans for him.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Related: What to know before you go to the 2026 State Fair of Texas<\/a><\/p>\n The jeans are size 434 by 240, require about 100 yards of fabric and weigh about 100 pounds, according to the State Fair.<\/p>\n Big Tex will also debut new boots Friday.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s new boots.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Big Tex\u2019s other measurements are equally outsized. His Western shirt is size 200 by 325, his belt stretches 33 feet and his sleeves measure 27 feet.<\/p>\n Big Tex has greeted State Fair visitors since 1952, but his story began several years earlier in the small town of Kerens.<\/p>\n 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)<\/p>\n Lola Gomez\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Related: The State Fair is planning to ban guns, again. Here\u2019s what to know<\/a><\/p>\n 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-m\u00e2ch\u00e9, cloth and rope.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n State Fair officials bought the figure for $750 in 1951 and hired Dallas artist Jack Bridges to transform it into a cowboy.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s face, and Big Tex received his voice the following year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n