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The State Fair Of Texas Opens Today! Here's What You Should Know Before You Go

State Fair of Texas
The Texas Star ferris wheel.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Eleven people have applied to replace Susan Hawk as Dallas County District Attorney; the “Cycling Dutchman” is passing through Texas on his journey to bike around the world; a member of The Monkees returns home to Dallas this weekend; and more.

It’s opening day for the State Fair of Texas. Where to begin? Well, gates open at 10 a.m. Visit the State Fair’s website to scope out parking, save money on tickets and map your fried food circuit. Speaking of which, check out this year’s top new fried foods, including Fried Jell-O and State Fair Cookie Fries. There’s more where that came from — 24 more items to be exact, plus Fletcher’s Corny Dogs, of course. The State Fair of Texas had a record-breaking year last year selling $53.6 million in coupon sales for food and rides.

 

KERA will be at the fair, too. Join Jeff Whittington at noon for “Anything You Ever Wanted To Know”. The "Anything" team will be taking your questions from a shady spot along First Avenue between Big Tex Circle and the Lagoon. Catch the live broadcast on 90.1 FM and on KERA’s Facebook. Ask and answer questions in person or on the Facebook Live stream. You can email (anything@kera.org), call 1-800-933-5372 or tweet Jeff (@JeffWhittington), too.

 

To get in the spirit, watch Big Tex bust a move from the 2014 festivities. The towering cowboy will be sporting a new outfit today — don’t forget to compliment him. Not familiar with the big guy? Read about his entire history and why Texans love him so much.

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  • Greg Abbott has been interviewing candidates for Dallas’ new District Attorney following Susan Hawk’s resignation earlier this month. At least seven of the 11 applicants were granted interviews but not all would confirm whether they were headed to Austin to talk with members of Abbott's staff, The Dallas Morning News reports. Of the applicant pool, more than half are women and all of them are former assistant district attorneys. Only one applicant still works in the Dallas County DA’s office. The attorney appointed by the Republican governor would serve through 2018, when Hawk's term was scheduled to end. [The Dallas Morning News]

  • Two Houston organizations launched a voter registration campaign that pokes fun at #TacoTrucksOnEveryCorner. Earlier this month, Latinos for Trump founder Marco Gutierrez told MSNBC's Joey Reid: "My culture is a very dominant culture, and it's imposing and it's causing problems. If you don't do something about it, you're going to have taco trucks on every corner." In response, the Houston Chronicle reports, Mi Familia Vota and Houston design firm Rigsby Hull kicked off a campaign this week that has turned some local taco trucks into voter registration booths.The campaign runs through Oct. 11, the last day of voter registration. [Houston Chronicle]

  • Rick Creemers, known as the Cycling Dutchman, is passing through Texas on his transcontinental bike excursion. The 24-year-old from Utrect, Netherlands set out last September to become the first and youngest solo Dutch person to go around the world by bike, Texas Standard reports. His favorite thing about Texas, he says, is the food.“The food is extremely good, if you ask me: like hamburgers, steaks, whatever,” Creemers says. “It’s really up my alley… Everyone here loves to go outdoors, hunt, stay in a cabin somewhere, hike – that’s an attitude that fits precisely in my attitude. It’s just a perfect match.” [Texas Standard]

  • On Saturday, Michael Nesmith of The Monkees will return home to Dallas. Nesmith spent his formative years in Dallas before joining the late '60s American pop rock band. This weekend, Nesmith will accept the 2016 Ernie Kovacs Award not for his musical accomplishments, but for his work in television and film. Bart Weiss, director of Dallas VideoFest, says: “He understood the future of home video and formed Pacific Arts Video, which was a high point for great video that could be viewed at home.” This week, The Big Screen team spoke with Nesmith from his home in California. [Art&Seek]