In the months since Big Tex met his untimely end, State Fair officials have been releasing snippets of how an iconic 50-foot cowboy statue is designed in the 21st century. First, they showed the hand, then a his head. Today, we get our first good look at Big Tex's face.

The videos seem intended to build excitement for Big Tex's September 27 unveiling, though those chillingly empty eyes and deranged rictus might have another effect entirely.

State Fair of Texas

For now, the State Fair of Texas is sticking to its story that Big Tex wasn't reduced to a scorched metal frame during this summer's conflagration but instead is recuperating at an undisclosed Texas spa. Not only that, but he's well enough to send a holiday greeting that the fair passed along this morning.

See also:
-The Tragic Tale of That Giant Santa Who Once Sat Upon Porter Chevrolet on Mockingbird

From the Christmas missive, we learn that Big Tex thinks enough of himself to write in the third person, is fond of making macabre references to his "accident" ("Thanks also to those at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas who are giving Big Tex a helping hand to get this message delivered. Big Tex needs that hand because right now his own hands are not real useful, know what he means?") and believes, falsely, that he once had a laugh with Elvis ("Big Tex reminded him his first name is still Big, and that nobody much knew or cared about Elvis' last name. 'You're just Elvis,' Big Tex said. Well, Elvis must have thought that was pretty funny. He laughed and said, 'We ain't nothing but a couple of hound dogs, you know it?")

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Yesterday, it would have been hard to imagine the Big Tex saga becoming even more absurd. Just think about it: a 50-foot-tall mechanical cowboy spontaneously bursts into flames and becomes the subject of weepy-eyed morning as if he were a Beatle.

Yet today brings evidence that the story actually can become more absurd. The State Fair of Texas dispatched a press release this morning, ostensibly to inform the public that Big Tex will be fully restored in time for the opening of the fair on September 27, 2013, but really to showcase the talents of freelance journalist Dallas Small. This doesn't appear to be a real person, just an ill-advised play on the Big Tex name (get it?), but it's not really clear. The State Fair lays it out with a poker face.

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WaveLoch

One of the many available FlowRider styles.

Here's what we know so far: Fair Park, in an effort to not be a waste of space 11 months of the year, is opening an amusement park. It's called Summer Adventures, despite the fact that it will open next spring. It will have the $11 million, 500-foot Top of Texas Tower.

We didn't know until today that is that, according to city documents, there will also be a FlowRider. And what's the FlowRider, you ask? Well, it's like the ocean in that you can surf on it. But it's really more like one of those Endless Pools in that you just hover there on a jet of water. You can watch a video here.

Via Twitter

The last time time Dallas Nostalgia took this big a hit was when the St. Patrick's Day parade appeared in peril. Before Mark Cuban emptied his cup holders and saved it, the internet took up the cause, in the form of a CrowdTilt fundraiser.

See also:
- CrowdTilt Started a "Save the St. Paddy's Day Parade" Page, But Needs Someone to Finish It
- Big Tex Burned Down Today at the State Fair

A similar campaign raised money for the Deep Ellum Community Garden. Now CrowdTilt's at it again. James Beshara, the Dallas native who co-founded the crowd-sourced fundraising site, emailed a couple minutes ago to let us know that a Big Tex CrowdTilt campaign has been started. Its name: "Big Tex Tragedy 2012: Let's get him some new clothes!!!!" Its goal: Raise $50,000 to get Tex up and clothed and waving kinda creepily again.

"I remember dressing up as him for Fair Day at my elementary school in first grade," 26-year-old Beshara, who lives in the Bay Area, told me by email. "To me, as a six year old, he was the fair. I mean, it's funny to look back and think about the impact this 50-foot robotic cowboy had on my youth, but growing up in Texas he was the cowboy you know you'd get to see year after year. Was pretty sad to see the images of him burning up on my phone this morning."

This is worse than 9/11 big tex is gone :(

— Hayden Lee® (@hcclee3) October 19, 2012

Even the dispatchers couldn't help but have a little fun at Big Tex's expense this morning. (Via Texas Storm Chasers and Wilonsky's Twitter feed.)

See also:
- "Big Tex is Gone. There's a Hole in Our Hearts," by Alice "Cheap Bastard" Laussade
- "Big Tex Burned Down Today at the State Fair," by Anna Merlan

They're raising the roof in Texas Heaven today.

State Fair mascot Big Tex has gone up in flames. It's still not clear what caused the fire, which is reported to be "under control."

Remembering Big Tex:
"Big Tex Gets a Makeover," by Allison V. Smith
Alice Laussade's exclusive interview with Big Tex
"Big Tex Will Haunt Your Dreams," by Robert Wilonsky

Photos from fair-goers show Big Tex burned to a blackened crisp, surrounded by fire trucks. I live nearby, and I can hear both fire-trucks and helicopters overhead. We'll have more for you as this develops. To quote fellow staff-writer Brantley Hargrove, "I feel like my heart is breaking."

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If you build it dump $82 million into it, they will come.

Mayor Mike Rawlings sends word today that it's a lock: The annual, traffic-snarling blood feud between the University of Texas and Oklahoma University known as the Red River Shootout will be played in the Cotton Bowl at least through 2020.

Says Mayor Mike:

I am very delighted to announce that Pete Schenkel has informed me that the Universities of Texas and Oklahoma have signed an agreement to extend the "Red River Classic" through 2020 in the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park.

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The backdrop, the pageantry, the Fried Everything: There are plenty of reasons the folks at Texas and Oklahoma wouldn't mind keeping the schools' annual rivalry at the Cotton Bowl.

But these are college football guys we're talking about, so you can't underestimate the Big R. The schools split $10 million in revenue with the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl, Texas AD DeLoss Dodds told the News recently, more than they would if they moved the game back to Austin and Norman. So, yeah: They want to stay here. The sheen on their back-up jets depends on it.

But the sheen on their back-up jets also depends on happy Sooners and Longhorns fans, and that happiness depends on the very swankiest accommodations. Thus the schools' call for $25 million in spruce-ups to the Cotton Bowl, just a few years after the city shelled out $57 mil for the same purpose. Clean it up and the game stays in Dallas through 2020: That's the deal, Pete Schenkel, chairman of the State Fair of Texas' sports committee, told the City Council late yesterday.

"Do we have a signed commitment? No," he said. "We have in Texas what I would call a handshake deal. ... It's ours to lose."

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