| Larry Powell: Parades and subways and fairs, oh my! 12/27/2000 By Larry Powell / The Dallas Morning News Good morning, midweek readers. It is time for contemplation.
Let's consider where we are in the universe. Wait. That's way too much thinking. Let's just see how people perceive our sprawlin' city.
To help us do this, I submit the January 2001 issue of Texas Highways, a splendid publication that is filled with pretty pictures and entertaining and informative stories about our Lone Star State.
Sometimes the magazine surveys its readers. Sometimes Dallas shows up in the surveys. Keep in mind, surveys may be as accurate as a Florida exit poll.
Consider Texas Highways' "Best Parade." No argument with the readers' choice: the fantastic Fiesta San Antonio parade. Second place? Dallas' Cotton Bowl Parade.
Beg pardon? Yep. Readers of Texas Highways who responded to the survey think the Cotton Bowl Parade is the second-best in Texas.
Only there's not a Cotton Bowl Parade. Last year there was one through the Arts District into the West End. And there was one the year before. But those were on New Year's Eve and weren't official New Year's Day Cotton Bowl parades in the manner that the Rose Parade is an adjunct to the Rose Bowl game. Nope, the last real Cotton Bowl Parade (the first was in 1957) was in 1992 – nearly a decade ago.
Yes, the city that wants to host the 2012 Olympics can't muster enough annual support and interest to stage a downtown parade directly linked to the town's signature athletic event. Sheesh.
Back to the rankings: Houston's Livestock Show parade was third and its Thanksgiving parade was fourth – they must really be lousy if they finished behind a parade that doesn't exist. The Fort Worth Livestock Show parade was fifth.
Dallas' Adolphus/Children's Christmas Parade, a jewel in the tiara of American processions, was not mentioned. Sorry, Santa.
Naturally, the State Fair of Texas was chosen "Best Annual Festival or Event" (Fort Worth's stock show tied for seventh with Galveston's Dickens on the Strand).
Dallas wasn't listed among best places to view wildflowers (the Hill Country prevailed) or best places to view fall foliage (the Lost Maples State Park won despite Dallas' towering old-growth forests and ... wait, I'm dreaming).
And Dallas didn't scratch in best places for a family reunion. I guess the annual Miller Family Reunion that draws hundreds of people from all over just didn't register with the voters.
When it came to best museum, Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum won, but the Dallas Museum of Art (which has many, many wonderful paintings) did not place. The DMA can take some comfort in the fact that the best museum list also overlooked Grand Prairie's Palace of Wax.
Finally, just so you'll know how the survey felt about our beloved Big D: When it came to naming "Best Place to Feel Like You're Not in Texas," the responding readers offered up such places as Big Bend National Park, Palo Duro Canyon, South Padre Island, Caddo Lake, the Davis Mountains and Lost Maples State Park. You get the drift – natural stuff so beautiful that you think it surely can't be in Texas.
So, where's the best place to feel like you're not in Texas? The survey says: "DALLAS!" Texas Highways even said that "several folks commented that it feels like New York."
Thank you, DART. That subway has really done the trick.
Larry Powell can be reached at 214-977-8487; P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265; fax 214-977-8319; or at .
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