09/27/2025
The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:
12 years ago today, on Sept. 27, 2013, the second incarnation of Big Tex, shown here, was unveiled to the public at the state fairgrounds in Dallas. He was three feet taller than the original Big Tex, which had burned up in a fire the previous year. He also weighed four times more than Big Tex I, coming in at more than 10 tons. The previous Big Tex had first been displayed at the state fair in 1952.
When the call came in at 10:30 in the morning, the Dallas fire department responded almost immediately. "We got a rather tall cowboy, all his clothes burned off," an officer can be heard saying on the dispatch call. Truck No. 777 left at 10:31, but it was too late. Within an hour, the Dallas Morning News reported the tragic news: "Big Tex is toast." Only his outstretched arms, belt buckle and metal skeleton were left intact, reported the New York Times later that day.
State Fair officials originally believed the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction that started in Big Tex's right boot. But senior vice president of operations Rusty Fitzgerald, who was there working, says he later discovered a speaker wire that shorted out in Big Tex's chest was responsible for starting the fire.
