The last thing anyone wants is to attend an event like the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo and not suck the marrow out of the experience. With this in mind, we created a Before-Ya-Kick-the-Bucket List (Stock Show edition) to act as a challenge and guide to help round out the festivities. We challenge you to check all these off so you can greet your maker with zero regrets.
- Chat up a bull rider.
- Dance the two-step at the Bud Light Roadhouse.
- Laugh as a child is dragged through the dirt during the Calf Scramble.
- Ride the Ferris wheel with someone you love.
- Have dinner at Reata and order the calf fries.
- Watch the non-motorized All Western Parade and experience one of the longest-running Stock Show traditions, with wagons, stagecoaches, and horses galore.
- Attend a livestock auction and talk like an auctioneer on the way home. Fun (and eventually annoying) for the whole family.
- Check out one of the museums on the Stock Show grounds: the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame & Museum, Fort Worth Museum of Science & History, or Texas Cattle Raisers Museum.
- Say, “Aww,” at the baby animals in the Children’s Barnyard. (If you don’t say it, it doesn’t count.)
- Sip a glass of fine Texas wine in The Corkyard.
- Tiptoe by a cowboy sleeping in the straw next to his animal.
- Stroll through the cattle or horse barns and choose your own “Best of Show.”
- Scream with excitement when a rodeo athlete makes the winning run — or dodges catastrophe on a wildly bucking beast.
- Choose a favorite and cheer for them wildly at a special contest like the Mariachi Competition, Fiddle Showdown, or Celebrity Goat Milking.
- Watch the Grand Entry and imagine yourself on horseback leading the procession. Sequins optional.
- Cast an eye toward the sky and say, “Yep … looks like rain.”
- Munch on a funnel cake while you wander down the Midway.
- Root for a lesser-appreciated breed at a show for pigeons, miniature horses, sheep dogs, dairy goats, rabbits, donkeys, or mules.
- Pick up a Stock Show-themed souvenir or some goodies at the Go Texan Market.
- Buy a Rodeo program from the Junior League ladies and thank them with a tip of your hat.
- Listen to Western poetry and music around the Cowboy Campfire.
- Go home with a spring in your step and a fire in your heart for Fort Worth.
