The good folks of Fort Worth don’t mind if you refer to their fair city as ‘Cowtown’ – not as long as you smile when you say it. To be sure, there are still cows. But there’s also an authentic southwestern sophistication about the place – and you don’t have to be a cattle baron to drink it in. You just have to know where to go. To that end the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau has some notions about what to do for free in the nation’s 16th largest city:
- Revel in the western art of pair of masters at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. The museum houses and interprets almost 400 works by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. It’s also one of this nation’s prime repositories of American photography.
- Kick back at the Cowtown Opry. These folks are dedicated to the preservation of authentic country music as part of Texas’ heritage. Take in one of the free weekly concerts on the steps of the Livestock Exchange Building.
- Follow the Fort Worth Herd, it may be the closet you ever get to a real cattle drive. Grab a good spot on the sidewalk and watch the longhorn cattle rumble by through the Stockyards on Exchange Avenue.
- Make an impact crater at the Monnig Meteorite Gallery at Texas Christian University. The Monnig explains the mysteries of meteorites like no place on earth.
- Chillax in Sundance Square, one of the liveliest urban settings in America. The 35-square-block enclave is suffused with shops, restaurants and nightlife. If you thought Fort Worth was just about cowboys, a trip to Sundance Square will set you straight.
- See where John F. Kennedy delivered the next to last speech of his life before heading 35 miles east to Dallas. It was on the morning of November 22, 1963 that the president stood in a cold rain outside the former Hotel Texas and delivered unplanned address. A park, General Worth Square, now occupies the location. It’s adjacent to what’s now the Hilton Hotel.
(Image: Ken Lund)
