| FORT WORTH, TEXAS |
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Page 1 of 2 Real cowboys. Real culture.
In the late 1800s, cowboys herded longhorn cattle up from southern Texas to the Kansas railroads along what was called the Chisholm Trail. Fort Worth was the busiest distribution point along the route, luring all types of wealth-seeking Westerners to the booming livestock capital widely referred to as “Cowtown.” Now you know where that term came from. All that cowpoke history thrives today unabashedly in cosmopolitan Fort Worth. From the world’s largest honky tonk to the National Cowgirl Museum, a surprisingly wide and impressive array of meeting and cultural venues are close to Fort Worth Convention Center in the downtown core. For example, the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District sells itself as a place where, back in the day, “horse traders, hog dealers and?harlots mixed with harness makers and mule dealers.” Over 100 years old, the preserved, working cattle facility is three miles north of downtown where cowboys herd cattle down Exchange Avenue into pens for public viewing, twice daily. The Stockyards is also home to the aforementioned, world-famous holy grail of honky tonks, Billy Bob’s Texas—base camp for all stripes of Texas-style teambuilding. Just some of the activities designed for groups include line dancing lessons, calf roping lessons, poker tourneys, chili cooking classes, GPS scavenger hunts, horseback riding, guided cattle drives and the always popular introductory gunslinging. There’s also outdoor professional rodeo action every weekend year-round at the Stockyard’s Cowtown Coliseum. Speaking from experience, rodeo is a lot cooler than you think if you’ve never witnessed a 1-ton bull with an attitude go airborne sideways. “We always have groups visit the Stockyards to see live big horn cattle and cowboys on horseback,” says Beverly Brin, GM of Ultimate Ventures DMC. “Forth Worth is Texas. It’s what people think of when they envision the state.” Bitsy Burns-Matthes, director of operations for the Southwest Veterinary Symposium, agrees. She has planned several trips to downtown Fort Worth over the last few years. “I’ve taken groups as large as 5,000 and they love the atmosphere of Fort Worth,” she says. “It’s clean, it’s safe, they can walk out anytime and everything is within walking distance from the convention center.... During the day, you see business men in their suits wearing cowboy boots and cowboy hats. It’s the real deal, and there’s plenty to do.” Those big hats and boots are part of Fort Worth’s lure, according to Madeleine Sellouk, CMP, senior events manager with the American Petroleum Institute, “You’d be surprised,” she says. “Holding doors open for women and the ‘yes ma’am’ routine goes a long way with some of our people.”
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