MARCH 2016 BCBUSINESS 63 FORT WORTH CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU
Two Tales of
Two Cities
T r a v e l
Both Dallas and Fort Worth
defy (and embrace) tradition
in one of America's fastest-
growing metropolises
by Matt O'Grady
While stereotypes may be shorthand for
the lazy, in each stereotype lies a grain of
truth. Take Texas, for example. America's
second-largest and second-most-popu-
lous state is an increasingly cosmopolitan
and diverse place, with big cities that rival
Chicago, L.A. and New York for culinary
and cultural excellence. And yet, in other
ways, the Lone Star State lives up to its
reputation for doing things big, brash and
with an unmistakable twang.
That contrast—new and old Texas,
if you will—is most evident in the twin
cities of Dallas and Fort Worth. Often
lumped together because of their
namesake airport (DFW
is equidistant
from both cities), the two cities paint a
complex portrait of what's happening in
one of North America's fastest-growing
urban regions. (The Dallas-Fort Worth-
Arlington
CMA is the fourth-largest
metro area in the U.S. and trails only
Houston, down state, in growth; it added
more than 131,000 people from July 1,
2013, to July 1, 2014, while New York-
Newark-Jersey City, ranking third, added
91,000 during the same period.)
Fort Worth is often the forgotten
half of the region, as far as tourists go,
but it's also the best place to explore
that dual personality. If outsiders know
anything about the city, it's the famous
Stockyards—where a twice-daily cattle
drive sees 16 longhorn cattle (owned by
the local tourist board) paraded down
the main cobblestone street, or where
Billy Bob's (the world's largest honky-
tonk bar) hosts line-dancing lessons,
bull-riding demonstrations, and a slew
of country and western stars. But the
pretty former trading post (and current
home to corporate giants Bell Helicopter,
Lockheed Martin, American Airlines
and Radio Shack) is also a renowned
centre for art, with the acclaimed Kim-
bell Museum (designed by Louis Kahn
and Renzo Piano) and the Modern Art
Museum of Fort Worth (designed by
Tadao Ando) upping the cultural ante.
It's not just starchitect-designed
museums that are shifting perceptions
about Fort Worth. Increasingly, the city
is taking cues from other livable cities
around the world and revitalizing former
industrial, low-density neighbourhoods.
Among the up-and-comers: the West
Seventh District, which in the past five
years has emerged as a major restaurant
and entertainment district (and like
Vancouver's Yaletown, chockablock full
of eligible yuppies); the Near Southside,
which is home to edgy fusion eateries,
craft breweries (like Rahr & Sons) and
distilleries (Firestone & Robertson, the
only artisanal bourbon distillery in North
HOOF AMONG US
Fort Worth Herd long-
horns walk the bricks
of Exchange Avenue for
the world's only twice-
daily cattle drive
