The culture of Texas has been a melting pot of the "Southern" (Dixie) and Southwestern culture, with pockets of colonies of ethnic groups in some locations.
Texas also has an influx of people fromNorth America moving in to find oil. Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota have experienced a "brain drain" as their university graduates move to Texas to find jobs.
There are many popular events held in Texas celebrating cultures of Texans. The annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the world's largest known rodeo. It is held over 20 days from late February through early March. The event begins with trail rides that originate from several points throughout the state, all of which convene at Reliant Park for a barbecue cook-off. The rodeo includes typical rodeo events, as well as concert performances from major artists and carnival rides. The Fort Worth Livestock Show and Rodeo lasts three weeks in late January and early February. It has many traditional rodeos, but also a cowboy rodeo, and a Mexican rodeo in recent years that both have large fan bases.
The big State Fair of Texas is held in Dallas each year between late September through mid to late October at Fair Park. The OU-Texas as well as the Grambling St-Prairie View A&M football games are played at the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park during the State Fair. The State Fair is known for its fried food, particularly the corndogs. The State Fair is also home to the Texas Star, the tallest Ferris wheel in North America, and Big Tex.
Texas has a vibrant live music scene in Austin boasting more music venues per capita than any other U.S. city, befitting the city's official slogan as The Live Music Capital of the World. Austin's music revolves around the many nightclubs on 6th Street and an annual film, music, and multimedia festival known as South by Southwest. The longest-running concert music program on American television, Austin City Limits, is videotaped at the University of Texas at Austin campus. Austin City Limits and Waterloo Records run the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual music and art festival held at Zilker Park in Austin .
Texas is known for its love of NFL football and is noted for the intensity with which people follow high school and NCAA football teams—often dominating over all else for the purposes of socializing and leisure. School districts in Texas are sometimes criticized for the amount of money spent on their sports programs and facilities. Such facilities and programs can garner a school attention, however. Texas is also home to two NFL teams, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Houston Texans.
Rodeo is the official sport of Texas.
Baseball is also very popular in Texas. In Major League Baseball, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros are equally popular in the state (geographic wise), as North Texas, West Texas, and Panhandle residents are predominantly Rangers fans, while Southeast Texas, Central Texas, and South Texas are predominantly inhabited by Astros fans. Minor league baseball is also closely followed.
Other popular sports in Texas include golf (which can be played year-round because of the South's mild climate), basketball (the state has three NBA teams: the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and Dallas Mavericks), fishing, and auto racing. Lacrosse, originally played by some of the indigenous tribes, is a visible sport and growing. Soccer is a popular participatory sport—especially among children—but as a spectator sport, it does not yet have a large following despite two Texan teams in Major League Soccer. Hockey has been a growing participatory sport in the Dallas/Fort Worth area since the Minnesota North Stars became the Dallas Stars in 1993. Minor league pro hockey has become quite popular in the last decade; Texas is home to eight of the Central Hockey League's seventeen teams. Texas is also home to the Houston Aeros and San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League and the Texas Wildcatters of the ECHL.
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