The clip-clop of hooves mixed with the clinking of spurs on the streets of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo opening day.
"This is Cowtown, the city of cowboys and culture, some say the modern West," FWSSR spokesman Matt Brockman said. "It's all celebrated here for 23 awesome days!"
After going through a pandemic, the hope is this year, the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo's 126th year will be the biggest yet.
The FWSSR brings exhibitions and competitions into one place. There are people from all over Texas and 34 states competing this year.
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"These cows are our babies," dairy farm manager Justin Burris said. Burris is showing dairy cows like 1,800-pound Pizzaz at the stock show. "We treat these like our own kids."
Burris, who drove in from the Panhandle area, says the FWSSR gives people a chance to see where their food comes from.
"Dairymen are some of the hardest working people in the country," Burris said. "They get up before the sunrise and don't go home to see their family until 9 or 10 o'clock at night."
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In the exhibition hall, vendors have everything a cowboy or cowgirl needs...or if you just want to look like one.
"There's people in here who have never worn a cowboy hat," Jobe Sanchez Jr. said as he steamed and hand-shaped a hat. "I remember the first open crown I did with my dad."
Sanchez's dad, Jobe Sanchez Sr. started Jobes Hats. They took over a prime spot in the FWSSR exhibition hall last year. Sanchez Jr. says they're helping introduce the cowboy hat to new people.
"If you come in, that's gonna be your hat. We center it to your face," Sanchez explained. "If someone else puts it on, it's gonna be crooked on them, so it's specialized 100% for you!"
The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo runs through Feb. 4. Click here for a list of events.
