For more than two weeks, I made my home at the Hyatt, overlooking the Fort Worth Stockyards. I watched almost every square inch of space transformed into some sort of vendor, from the Hooey fan zone to Country Christmas. The historic Cowtown Coliseum hosted the Junior World Finals, the Permit Challenge, and the nightly watch party and concert. Texas Billy Bob’s hosted the Gala, Women’s Luncheon, and the World of Rodeo Reunion. The Stockyards is home to 16 restaurants, 13 bars, and 35 merchants. There are 419 hotel rooms and soon to be 619 when Hotel Drover opens in March. The John Wayne exhibit, which opened December 1, 2020, is there as well as the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, founded in 1997.
An average of 20,000 fans per day made their way into the Stockyards. They were greeted with a cattle drive down Main Street, horse and buggies to take them around, cowboy shoot-outs, and genuine family-friendly hospitality. “Being a part of the Cowboy Channel‘s NFR tailgate party three hour broadcast each day was so rewarding on so many levels,” said Pam Minick. “First of all it gave fans a real look at things other than just what happens inside the rodeo arena. My segment each day was on “legends” and getting a chance to visit with people like Roy Cooper, Clint Johnson, Ted Nuce, Tuff Hedeman, Billy Etbauer, and Rich Skelton for an extended period of time gave people a look into how they’ve seen rodeo change.”
Stockyards Heritage Development and the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District was honored to work with the City of Fort Worth, Visit Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Rural Media Group, Las Vegas Events, Hooey Brands, Group W Productions, Silverton Casino Hotel Las Vegas, and others, on the successful presentation of NFR Texas 2020,” said Ethan Cartwright, Vice President of Marketing for Stockyards Heritage Development. “We trust that the residents and businesses of Fort Worth, Arlington and Dallas enjoyed the opportunity to showcase genuine Texas hospitality as much as we did.”
