Big Tex Boots on the Highway…Again!

By Taylor Austin | July 28, 2025 | Mr. Tex’s boots are headed to Washington D.C.! Big Tex’s iconic cowboy boots will leave the great state of Texas for only the second time in their history to be featured in a national museum exhibition. This summer, the State Fair of Texas will send Big Tex’s famous size-96 Lucchese boots on a cross-country journey to Washington, D.C., where they will be part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s upcoming exhibition State Fairs: Growing American Craft, opening August 22, 2025, at its Renwick Gallery. 

The boots will hit the road from Fair Park in Dallas beginning July 28 and are scheduled to arrive in the capital on August 1. After careful installation, the boots will be officially unveiled to the public later in August alongside the opening of the yearlong exhibition, which runs through September 7, 2026. 

Standing 12 feet tall, Big Tex’s boots are one of the most beloved and recognizable symbols of the State Fair of Texas and of Texas pride itself. Designed and handcrafted by Lucchese Bootmaker, they have been greeting fairgoers in Dallas since 2012. Until now, they have not left Texas since 1953, making this cross-country trip a once-in-a-lifetime event for fans of the Fair and Big Tex alike.

State Fairs: Growing American Craft is the first major exhibition to explore the vital role state fairs have played in nurturing regional craft traditions across the United States. The show will feature a variety of handcrafted works and artifacts from fairs around the country, with Big Tex’s boots serving as a larger-than-life highlight of Texas’ contribution to this rich history. 

For more information about the exhibition, visit https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/state-fairs.