Qualla: Big Tex https://qualla.com/big-tex en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:03 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/g/4/big-tex-wp/texas-state-fair-2008-with-big.jpg Qualla: Big Tex https://qualla.com/big-tex Big Tex: Introduction https://qualla.com/big-tex/ Photo credit TheNewAnimaniacsFan2001, CC BY-SA 4.0. 'HOOOOOOWDEEEEE, FOOOOOOLKS!!!' The booming drawl rolls across Fair Park every autumn, and if you have never heard it, you have never been to the State Fair of Texas. Big Tex -- 55 feet of cowboy in Dickies jeans, a 95-gallon hat, and size 96 boots -- has greeted visitors from the center of the fairgrounds since 1952. He is part mascot, part meeting point, part cultural monument. He also started life as Santa Claus, burned alive on his 60th birthday, and was rebuilt in secret for half a million dollars. Even by Texas standards, that is a biography.

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Image: TheNewAnimaniacsFan2001 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/g/4/big-tex-wp/9vg4-big-tex-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Big Tex: From Santa to Cowboy https://qualla.com/big-tex/ Photo credit Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0. In 1949, the small town of Kerens, Texas -- population roughly a thousand -- wanted to boost holiday shopping. Howell Brister, manager of the local Chamber of Commerce, had an idea: build the world's largest Santa Claus. Community members welded a 49-foot frame from iron drill ca...

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Image: Photo: Andreas Praefcke | CC BY 3.0

]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/g/4/big-tex-wp/9vg4-big-tex-from-santa-to-cowboy.mp3 0:06 2 full Big Tex: The Voice in the Doghouse https://qualla.com/big-tex/ Photo credit Kurt Nordstrom from Montgomery County, MD, USA, CC BY 2.0. Big Tex made his debut at the 1952 fair as a 52-foot cowboy in denim jeans and a plaid shirt donated by the H. D. Lee Company. He was silent that first year. In 1953, Jack Bridges rigged a custom recipromotor and 75-watt speaker inside the head, creating a swinging mechanical jaw...

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Image: Kurt Nordstrom from Montgomery County, MD, USA | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/g/4/big-tex-wp/9vg4-big-tex-the-voice-in-the-doghouse.mp3 0:06 3 full Big Tex: Fire on His Birthday https://qualla.com/big-tex/ Photo credit MyName (Bantosh), CC BY-SA 3.0. On the morning of October 19, 2012 -- the final weekend of the fair and Big Tex's 60th birthday -- a fire started in an electrical panel under his right boot. The blaze raced upward through the framework. His clothing, face, and hat were destroyed in minutes as fairgoers watched ...

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Image: MyName (Bantosh) | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/g/4/big-tex-wp/9vg4-big-tex-fire-on-his-birthday.mp3 0:06 4 full Big Tex: Larger Than Any One Texan https://qualla.com/big-tex/ Photo credit David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA, CC BY 2.0. Big Tex's wardrobe tells part of the story: size 96 boots, a 95-gallon hat, jeans in a 434-waist, and a shirt fabricated from nylon awning fabric. He receives new clothes every three years, currently made by Dickies (originally Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Company, now part of...

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Image: David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/g/4/big-tex-wp/9vg4-big-tex-larger-than-any-one-texan.mp3 0:06 5 full