Romantic Getaway: Fort Worth Stockyards
Recommended for: country & music dancing, B&Bs

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Pick up your cowboy hat. Pull on your boots. Grab your partner. It’s time to party, Fort Worth style.

If you’re looking for a chance to dress like a cowboy, do a little line dancing, or ride the mechanical bull, here’s your opportunity. Fort Worth is a city that parties in style, and that style is true country and western.

Nowhere is the kick-up-your-cowboy-boot-heels feeling more evident than in the Fort Worth Stockyards. This National Historic District is still home to cowboys on horseback, as well as historic hotels, western shopping, and the city’s top nightlife.

Formerly the Stockyards were known as the biggest hog and sheep marketing center in the Southwest. Here, too, cattle once filled Exchange Avenue, traded like stock in The Livestock Exchange, formerly called the Wall Street of the West. Today the flavor of the livestock exchange lives on through sites such as the Cowtown Coliseum (121 E. Exchange Ave., 817-625-1025), built in 1908. The building still is home to professional rodeos held every Saturday night from April through September.

Probably the best-known attraction in the Stockyards is Billy Bob’s Texas (2520 Rodeo Plaza, 817-624-7117, www.billybobstexas.com). Billed as the “World’s Largest Honky-Tonk,” this Texas-sized nightclub spans 100,000 square feet with 40 bar stations, live bull riding, and an arena for 6,000 guests to enjoy top country performers.

Top names in the country world have performed at Billy Bob’s, from Garth Brooks to Clint Black to Tanya Tucker. You can visit a hallway featuring cement impressions of every performer’s hands and autograph.

Even if a top performer is not playing at Billy Bob’s you’ll find plenty to do. The arena here, the only indoor area in any nightclub in the world, is home to shows every weekend as professional riders try to stay on bucking bulls.

You’ll find plenty of other nightlife in the Stockyards district, too. Stop by the well-known White Elephant Saloon and Beer Garden (106 E. Exchange Ave., 817-624-1887, www.whiteelephantsaloon.com) for live country and western music every day, the Rodeo Exchange (221 W. Exchange Ave., 817-626-0181) for country dance lessons on Tuesday and Wednesday, or The Cantina Cadillac (120 W. Exchange Ave., 817-740-1288) for rodeo videos and a real Western decor.

While you’re in the Stockyards, check out the Tarantula Train (Stockyards Station Market at 140 E. Exchange Ave., 817-625-7245, or 800-952-5717; www.tarantulatrain.com). This 1896 steam locomotive takes passengers on a nostalgic ride through 10 miles of historic Fort Worth. (Don’t worry: there are no tarantulas on the train. The strange moniker grew from a map drawn of early Fort Worth. The wiggly rail lines that led into the heart of the city reminded someone of spider legs, hence the name.) You can also depart from the station on a luxury ride to nearby Granbury on a train decorated in 1940s style, complete with a glass dome car and full stocked bars.

Short and Sweet

Getting There:
The Stockyards are located 2-1/2 miles north of downtown Fort Worth just off Interstate 35W and Interstate 20. Most of the action is found along Exchange Avenue and Stockyards Boulevard which run east-west off North Main Street.

Festivals:
The Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District kicks up its heels all through the year at events such as the Chisholm Trail Round-Up in June, Pioneer Days in September, Red Steagall’s Cowboy Gathering and Western Swing Music in October, and Christmas in the Stockyards during the holiday season.

Love Nests:
The Stockyards Hotel (109 E. Exchange Ave., 800-423-8471; www.stockyardshotel.com) is known as the place Bonnie and Clyde slept. Dating back to the turn of the century, this historic hotel is a Stockyards favorite. It’s also the home of Booger Red’s (817-625-6427), a restaurant named after an oddly-monikered cowboy.

Bed and breakfast lovers shouldn’t miss Miss Molly’s B&B (109-1/2 W. Exchange Ave., 817-626-1522; www.missmollys.com). With eight rooms, this historic hotel was once a brothel and recalls its bawdy history with Miss Josie’s room (where a bathtub stands on a platform overlooking the room). The rooms are furnished in 1920s style, complete with iron beds.

For More Information:
Call the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau at (817) 336-3282, or (800) 433-5747, or visit www.fortworth.com.