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Stock show not just for cowboys
Commentary
By Colleen Casey
I
don’t know what stock is and I’m not even sure why there’s
a show for it going on down the street.
I’ve
grown up in the same suburb my whole life, yet moving to Fort Worth
wasn’t enough of a culture lesson for me. So I followed an
animal trailer being hauled by a pick-up truck to Will Rogers Center.
The damp weather may have prevented some from attending the Fort
Worth Stock Show and Rodeo last weekend, but there still was a steady
stream of denim-clad folk moseying along through the sights.
I felt like I was at the fair (although I’ve never been to
one of those either). There were fudge booths, SpongeBob SquarePants
doll stands and rainbow-colored rock candy in almost every young
child’s mouth.
My first stop was to get myself a little energy. It’s not everyday
I get the chance to eat a deliciously greasy funnel cake topped
with sticky powdered sugar.
I washed it down with a bottle of Borden milk from Elsie the Cow,
who just happened to be at the booth herself. Seeing Elsie was just
one of the highlights of my trip.
I purposely wore jeans because I knew Western Wear was the norm.
Even toddlers dressed in adorable mini-cowboy hats and baby’s
first boots.
Although I still didn’t know what stock was, I was certainly
enjoying the show.
Walking into one of the barns was one of my only experiences seeing
cattle. While minding the unpleasant manure on the walking paths,
I felt outdoorsy in a good way.
There
are plenty of other things to do too. I felt raw wool, that was
just sheared off a sheep, for the first time. And I learned about
the agriculture of Texas and the importance of its top crops.
Did you know that many of the state’s farms harvest peanuts
are used in many non-food household items, such as vinyl latex caulk
and non-clump kitty litter? I bet you could guess I had no idea
either.
It’s good to know how important the land and animals are to
the lives of the many people I saw at the show.
I also liked seeing how proud the high school students in 4-H Club
were of the rabbits they raised. One rabbit was at its healthy size,
but was as big as an overweight cat and had fur so fluffy it looked
like caged cotton candy.
(Oh,
cotton candy. That was good too.)
And although I don’t know what 4-H is, I now know that rabbits
eat hay not just carrots.
Moving through the market area, I entered a contest and won a souvenir.
And that 96.3 KSCS magnet will be proudly clinging to my refrigerator
for many semesters to come.
The stock show will leave town Sunday and once again we’ll
be able to eat Brau Chips at Hoffbrau without waiting two hours
for a table.
But if you don’t get the chance to go this weekend, when it
rolls into town next January go see for yourself how much you can
learn from another place on University Drive.
If nothing else, go for the food.
Colleen
Casey is a junior news-editorial journalismmajor from Skokie, Ill.
She can be reached at (c.m.casey@tcu.edu).
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