A life-size bronze statue was recently unveiled at the 29th Annual Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering and Western Swing Festival to honor the man who started it all, and who has long been an active member of the community. Depicting the legendary cowboy entertainer on horseback, Red Steagall, Always Ridin’ For the Brand, Ft. Worth, Texas, Where the West Begins by Cowboy Artists of America member Bruce Greene stands 8-feet tall on a 2-foot base and resides on the east lawn of the Cowtown Coliseum
along Exchange Ave. Red’s commitment to preserving the Western lifestyle is a true expression of who he is, and the new statue commemorates his contributions to cowboy culture and the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District. Now part of the Fort Worth Public Art Community Legacy Collection, the Red Steagall bronze was donated by friends, including Greg Brown, H.B.(Hub) Baker, Johnny Trotter, Gary Winslow, Mike Ingram and artist Bruce Greene.
Red has hosted the annual Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering and Western Swing Festival in the Fort Worth Stockyards since 1991, organizing an annual weekend packed with authentic Western activities for the entire family to enjoy. Started as a way to raise funds for scholarships to help students interested in Western culinary arts, poetry, and swing music, the festival attracts more than 30,000 visitors each year — who come to the Stockyards to enjoy and partake in ranch rodeo, chuckwagon cooking, a youth poetry contest, fiddle contests, Western swing dances, cowboy music and poetry, a large trapping show, horsemanship clinics, and the annual Texas Trail of Fame Induction.
Be sure to stop and take your photo next to The Stockyard’s latest installment at the Cowtown Coliseum while in town for the RFD-TV’s The American Semi-Finals, being held at Cowtown Coliseum February 24-March 1.
