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Have a Blast in Fort Worth
By Greg Staley, Director of Marketing Communications, Forth Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau
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Friends meet after work on the top balcony of Fort Worth's Reata restaurant. |
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- The Cowtown Coliseum (121 East Exchange Avenue; 817-625-1025; 1-888-269-8696 "COWTOWN") is actually in the Stockyards National Historic District. The Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo takes place at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in the Cultural District (but only in the months of January and February.) The rodeo at Cowtown Coliseum is called the Stockyards Championship Rodeo, and runs almost every Friday and Saturday year-round. It is the home of the world's original indoor rodeo, first staged in 1918. For an authentic Western experience, stop in at The Stockyards Championship Rodeo, which includes many sports such as bull riding, barrel racing, and roping. If you are lucky, you might catch the horses and cowboys warming up in the outdoor arena on the west side of the Coliseum.
- Lonesome Dove Western Bistro (2406 North Main Street; 817-740-8810) is a high-end restaurant, complete with white table clothes and pewter chargers. Main courses are priced up to $30 and reservations are recommended. The intimate restaurant with a small open kitchen sports state pride in all kinds of fun ways. For instance, one window in the kitchen has a Texas flag painted on it. In 2003, chef and owner Tim Love was the first chef from Fort Worth to cook at the famous James Beard House in New York City. Tim's menu includes wild game, such as kangaroo, elk, wild boar, and buffalo, in addition to his signature roasted garlic- stuffed beef tenderloin. Vegetarian offerings include warm grilled asparagus, roasted beet salad with balsamic vinaigrette, goat cheese, and fried sweet potatoes. Other popular veggie favorites are garden tomato-and-basil soup with homemade pesto, roasted portobello mushrooms with chiles, seared artichokes, and goat cheese-stuffed Vidalia onions. For an appetizer you should order the seared sweet lobster cakes with roasted corn-and-black bean salsa and cilantro-orange butter sauce. Every dish we sampled here was wonderful.
- Sundance Square (www.sundancesquare.com) offers shops, theaters, events, and attractions year-round. A great new specialty shop is the high-end Western wear store Leddy's Ranch at Sundance (817-336-0800). It's connected to the famous Leddy's store in the Stockyards, where you can buy custom-made boots, hats, and clothing. Other shops include Earth Bones (817-332-2662), which offers an eclectic mix of gifts and jewelry from around the world -- good prices. There's Retro Cowboy (817-338-1194), which sells merchandise from the State of Texas, women's apparel, men's vintage shirts, sterling silver jewelry, Texas beers and wine, and ice-cold Dublin Dr Peppers.
- Shop for unique jewelry and gifts at Mayfair on Main Street (817-336-0989). Pier 1 Imports (817-877-0479), which is headquartered in Fort Worth, has a large downtown store. There are several art galleries including Milan Gallery (817-338-4278), featuring local, national, and international artists, and the Sid Richardson Collection of Western Art (817-332-6554), a small, free museum where you can see originals by Remington and Russell. Many restaurants in this area offer patio seating, including Angeluna (817-334-0080), Reata (817-336-1009; www.reata.net), and 8.0 (817-336-0880). Every April, the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival ( www.msfwaf.org) takes place. It is the largest free, outdoor arts festival in the Southwest. Performing, visual, culinary, and fine arts are all represented at this festival. Other events, concerts, and festivals are also staged here year-round, including Chevy Thunder in Sundance Square, which offers cars, music, and family fun, including visits from NASCAR drivers.
- The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame (1720 Gendy Street; 817-336-4475; www.cowgirl.net) is a two-story complex. The upstairs galleries are permanent and offer a mix of interactive exhibits. In their "Into the Arena" exhibit, kids can put themselves into a 1930s rodeo on a bronco ride, and later download the footage of their "ride" from the museum's Web site; the footage is also available through e-mail. The influence of cowgirls in pop culture is on display in the exhibit "Claiming the Spotlight." See Dale Evans' sequined costumes, a cactus-shaped guitar from the early days of the Dixie Chicks, an Andy Warhol original, and "Jessie," the Cowgirl from Disney's Toy Story 2. A brief film recaps great Westerns, from the beginnings of the silver screen to the present. The small theater in this exhibit even has a few saddle seats. Downstairs is the Hall of Fame, honoring 160 inspiring women with diverse achievements, such as Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Willa Cather, Sacajawea, and Dale Evans, to name a few. Two large touch-screen electronic yearbooks give info on their lives. "Lifetiles," located between the first and second floors and visible from the rotunda, showcase 12 murals that change as you move around them. In the gift shop, lifelike models of honoree Mamie Hafley and her horse appear to dive from the ceiling into the shop.
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If you want to know more about Fort Worth, surf these sites.
- www.forthworth.com Find visitor information, event calendars, dining options, and coupons from the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau. You can even locate a hotel near your favorite Fort Worth attraction.
- www.kimbellart.org The site for the Kimbell Art Museum offers exhibit and collection information, hours of operation, and restaurant and gift shop details.
- www.fortworthzoo.com Get directions and admission information along with a schedule of events.
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