Longtime president of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo to retire in April

Fort Worth is where the West begins, and nothing speaks to that more than the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo (FWSSR).

It is the city's oldest and largest annual event, with a million visitors every year, pro rodeo athletes riding for buckles and paychecks, and thousands of kids from across Texas with dreams of blue ribbons, scholarships, and preserving a way of life.

"It's really about our culture in Fort Worth. It is the livestock show," said Brad Barnes, the longtime president of the FWSSR.

Barnes fell in love with it as a kid.

"It was an annual event that you just had to go to, you know. We all got our school day tickets and couldn't wait to come out," he recalled.

The city slicker grew up, got a business, and then a dream came true. Barnes joined the stock show 38 years ago as an original member of the Calf Scramble Committee.

During 23 rodeo performances, 230 4-H and FFA youth will catch calves and be awarded certificates valued at $500. Certificate proceeds are used to help purchase a beef or dairy heifer that participants care for and prepare for an exhibition at the Stock Show the following year.

Those who complete the Calf Scramble Program may be eligible for scholarships based on the quality and content of monthly reports, the care they give their heifer and their final essay outlining their Calf Scramble experience.

That volunteer role led to more duties and responsibilities, and Barnes joined the staff full-time in 2004.

He remembers the day Ed Bass, the chairman of the Stock Show's Board of Directors, asked him to step into the boots of Bob Watt Jr., who would soon step down after more than three decades.

"He came to me and said, 'I have a plan, and it's you.' That was not on my radar screen. So anyway, one thing led to another, and it was a great opportunity, and I've loved every minute," Barnes said.

Barnes has been there as livestock shows grew. The rodeo moved from the Will Rogers Coliseum to Dickies Arena and raised the payout to rodeo winners to $1.5 million.

The improvement of the Will Rogers facilities is part of the FWSSR's mission. Millions have been spent on improvements that have been gifted to the City of Fort Worth for everyone's use. The Will Rogers Coliseum is the next big renovation.

"Our hope and our plan is that when we reach 2036 and the coliseum and the auditorium and the tower are all 100 years old, we've put the shine back on them and brought them back to their glory," he said. "That is an awesome challenge but a great thing for the City of Fort Worth."

And since 1985, premiums, scholarships, and grants for Texas youth have soared past $100 million. The 2025 Junior Sale of Champions raised more than $10 million for Texas youth. It broke records with every dollar going to the 292 kids who made it to the sale.

"You know I would say that probably the thing that I'm most proud of is what together everybody has accomplished," Barnes said.

He is quick to credit a full-time staff of 21, the 900-plus seasonal workers, and the more than 2,000 volunteers, the executive committee, the board of directors, all who come because they love it.

Barnes may have the title of president, but he doesn't want the spotlight.

"This show has never been about one person, and it never will be. It's about the community," he said. He counts the people who've been part of the FWSSR for decades and who give up vacation time to be there year after year to work.

"If you've been here 20 years, you're new," he said.

There's been a concerted effort to make everyone feel part of the community. Events now include the Best of Mexico's Celebracion, the Invitational Escaramuza & Charro Cala competition and Dia de la Familia. Barnes remembers the early days at the Hispanic Advisory Committee.

"We gathered up in the room and the first thing they said to me is it's one thing to invite us, it's something else to make us feel welcome and I have never never forgotten that," he said.

Conversations with Hall of Fame cowboy, Cleo Hearn, brought the Cowboys of Color Rodeo in 2010.

"I tell everybody, you know, it goes back to those early days in the Chisholm Trail, and driving cattle, and it wasn't a bunch of just white men out there. It took everybody to move that cattle," he said. "You've got to make people feel welcome. So, we've tried our best."

Barnes respects those who came before, and those who come now, especially the moms and strollers he sees from the window in his office.

"Because you realize every stroller is our future," he said. "In my very humble opinion, it's the moms and the strollers. Moms are making the decision. Dad thinks he is but mom really is on where the family is going. This is a family event going back to the generations out there. So if we can continue to appeal to those families and those moms that are looking for that family event, then we'll be OK."

And Barnes will be OK, too. His official retirement is in April when the board holds its annual meeting. He'll turn 70 in May. And with board approval, he'll move into a support role as President Emeritus.

"While I do not plan on having an office here, I will be a phone call away. Now I might add, I'm throwing my existing phone number away and getting a new one that nobody knows," he joked.

Matt Carter will take the reins, another volunteer turned full-time staff member. He's been involved with the FWSSR since 2009 and joined the executive team in 2021. Two years later, he was named General Manager and replaced Barnes as the leader of day-to-day operations.

"He has been a friend and a mentor and a man of character that I admire. And I am thrilled and honored to try to fill the boots that he's leaving behind," Carter said.

"Every organization I don't care what it is or what they do, the most important activity or the most important thing an executive committee or board of directors can do is succession planning," Barnes said. "And if you did if you plan that right and you go through the process then all the rest of this takes care of itself."

As the city kid turned cowboy rides away, Barnes leaves a trail of success to help keep the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo legendary.

"Fort Worth truly is where the West begins. Those tourists that come to Fort Worth, whether it's a convention or just a family that comes for the weekend. I promise you, they're coming for one reason and that is to experience the West otherwise you're just any other big city," Barnes said. "Why would they come here versus Dallas? Houston? Austin? Whatever? They're coming here to experience the West and if we ever lose that, we run the risk of just being another one on the list."