The streets at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo were lined with trailers as exhibitors moved into barns.
"It's fun," Kris Terry of Terry Family Farms said as she and her grandchildren prepared bedding for their cattle. "As cattle breeders, we get to get our brand out and people see the quality of cattle that we breed and raise."
Exhibitors come from 36 states and nearly every county in Texas.
"The Fort Worth show is, I don't know if it's Super Bowl, but it's up there pretty high with major shows in the country," FWSSR Cattle Show Supervisor Pat Hamilton said. "To Fort Worth, it's a big deal, and to folks who are moving into the area and maybe not familiar with it, they'll find out the Stock Show is a big event."
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
"The Fort Worth livestock show is legendary, so how do you not come to Fort Worth," Terry said. "It's a fun hobby. Most people have some kind of hobby they like to do that's fun and this is just ours that costs some money and doesn't smell so great!"
In the exhibits hall, boots and cowboy hats dominated the aisles, and Andrew Douglas Boot Shine put on a show while they worked.
"They like to look good. They like to feel good," Charles Hill said as he shined boots and sang a little song. "Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo and Boot Shine, boot shine, boot shine. Yeeeeehaw!"
