How Fort Worth Is Building Its Tech Cred With a Splashy SXSW Outing

AUSTIN — Fort Worth brought its own flavor of weird to Austin for this year's South by Southwest.In a large warehouse space near the giant tech conference and music and film festivals, the North Texas city threw a celebration of its own artisans, entrepreneurs and innovations. The two-day event Tuesday and Wednesday included Fort Worth-made beer and whiskey, backyard performances by local musicians and a market of local goods, such as dangle earrings made from the leather scraps of cowboy boots. The effort shows how seriously the city is taking warnings that it is falling behind in the battle to attract millennials and businesses in the knowledge economy. In a new strategic plan released in December , the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce acknowledged it had "a talent problem." It set goals to increase its college-educated workers by 5 percent and recruit the corporate headquarters of four Fortune 1000 companies over the next four years.Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, an avid cyclist, led SXSW attendees on a morning bike ride Tuesday through downtown Austin. On the bike ride, Price said she spoke to people from New York, Chicago and London about her hometown.   Continue reading...