The right way to Spend the Excellent Weekend in Fort Wort, Texas — With Cowboy Boots, Artwork, and Spicy Cocktails

Fort Price has greater than a handful of nicknames: Cowtown, Wall Avenue of the West, the Sudden Metropolis, The place the West Begins. That is not as a result of the place has an id disaster — it’s as a result of it has a lot to supply, as I found on a latest go to. Fort Price has managed to keep up its Previous West allure and cowboy roots whereas modernizing right into a cultural powerhouse, with an id distinct from Dallas, its bigger neighbor. One of the best factor of all? It took solely a weekend to see its transformation for myself.

Friday

I received my bearings on the 35-block Sundance Sq. within the metropolis heart, which has a plaza that’s anchored by a fountain and an enormous disco-mirrored cowboy hat. Subsequent I made my technique to Water Gardens, a collection of reflecting swimming pools that had been featured in one in all Kendrick Lamar’s music movies. As I walked, I paused to learn a collection of historic plaques detailing the characters of Fort Price’s previous, together with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Child. 

At lunchtime, I pulled up a seat at Don Artemio, a James Beard Award semifinalist, for enchiladas filled with queso fresco and drizzled with tamarind mole. 

Put up-meal, I freshened up in my suite on the Crescent Lodge, a slick 200-room property that opened final November. It’s dwelling to Canyon Ranch’s first Wellness Membership, which has a 9,000-square-foot health heart and spa that has a variety of therapies, together with facials with diamond peptides. 

The Crescent is near a quartet of artwork establishments that rival any metropolis. The Louis Kahn–designed Kimbell Artwork Museum has one in all Michelangelo’s first recognized work (and the one one to hold in an American museum), along with works by Monet, Mondrian, and Rembrandt, plus an exhibition corridor designed by Renzo Piano. 

Simply steps away is the Fashionable Artwork Museum of Fort Price, designed by Tadao Ando, in addition to the Amon Carter Museum of American Artwork, named for the founder and writer of the Fort Price Star-Telegram, who was a dominant determine within the metropolis for the primary half of the twentieth century. The Carter holds a formidable assortment of pictures targeted on the American West, together with works by Richard Avedon, Dorothea Lange, and Alfred Stiegltiz. 

Associated: Fort Price Is Extra Than Simply Cowboys

However I used to be most drawn to the Nationwide Cowgirl Museum & Corridor of Fame, which had an exhibition of embroidered conventional attire, sombreros, and shawls worn by Mexican cowgirls throughout Escaramuza Charra competitions — a revered Mexican rodeo sport through which groups of girls journey sidesaddle and carry out choreographed equestrian abilities to music.

Saturday

Within the morning, I headed to the neighborhoods of Southside and Close to Southside to see what the younger creatives of Fort Price had been as much as. My first cease was PS1200, a mixed-use area designed by Arkansas architect Marlon Blackwell. This collection of buildings with curved, ribbed-metal roofs homes venues from the Gifted Group, a collective of girls with Korean and Mexican roots. I ran into two of the cofounders, sisters Jazmin and Jeanette Ramirez, at Gifted, a boutique promoting linen clothes, ceramic jewellery, and porcelain bowls. The collective additionally owns Café Momento, an espresso bar that doubles as a bookshop and artwork gallery. “We discover inspiration from our travels,” Jazmin informed me once I requested about her imaginative and prescient for the place.

I walked up Magnolia Avenue for brunch at Paris Espresso Store , a contemporary revamp of Fort Price’s oldest diner. It serves hearty dishes like smoked-brisket breakfast tacos and buttermilk pancakes. From there, I headed over to South Fundamental, a neighborhood the place I found many female-owned outlets, together with Bodega South Fundamental, an upscale grocery and deli, and fair-trade boutique Winton & Waits. At Apothenne, a perfume home, I stocked up on fragrant candles and musky sandalwood perfumes. The neighborhood can also be excellent for grabbing a drink, whether or not at dive bar Nickel Metropolis, biodynamic-wine spot the Holly, or the retro-style Low Doubt Bar, which is linked to the dwell music venue Tulips FTW.

No journey to Fort Price is full with no go to to the historic Stockyards, the place longhorn steers are herded twice day by day and rodeos occur on the Cowtown Coliseum each Friday and Saturday evening. I needed to decorate for the event, so I ended into Metropolis Boots for a handcrafted pair of cowgirl boots. I additionally went to the Greatest Hat Retailer, the place hat shaper Danny Adams custom-made the crown and brim of a beaver-felt cowboy hat. “A cowboy hat shouldn’t be an adjunct,” he mentioned. “Every thing else is.” 

Throughout the Stockyards is Mule Alley, a thriving buying and nightlife district. I sipped a jalapeño, pineapple, and tequila cocktail at Sidesaddle Saloon earlier than taking a line-dancing lesson at Billy Bob’s Texas, the world’s largest honky-tonk. Our trainer reminded us, “We’re in Fort Price, not Dallas,” which received an enormous cheer from the gang. As I discovered how one can do quite a lot of strikes — a jazz field step with a flip, a rolling grapevine, a rock step, and a mambo step — I might hear boots clacking on the ground and see a wave of cowboy hats as I spun round.

Sunday

The subsequent day, I checked in to Bowie Home, Auberge Resorts Assortment, a lodge owned by Dallas businesswoman, rancher, and horse breeder Jo Ellard. Appropriately, my suite featured equestrian touches like hat racks, boot benches, and black-and-white images of Texas ranch tradition by Constance Jaeggi. The property additionally showcases greater than 400 artworks from Ellard’s non-public assortment, together with {a photograph} by Kenyan artist Thandiwe Muriu that hangs over the lounge’s fire. The classic saloon and the delicate chophouse Bricks & Horses felt like locations to see and be seen, however I additionally discovered quiet moments throughout my keep — on the rooftop pool and with a CBD-infused therapeutic massage on the lodge’s Ash Spa.

Associated: This New Luxurious Lodge Is Serving to Make Fort Price, Texas ..

That afternoon, I received some contemporary air on the Trailhead at Clearfork, a park alongside the Trinity River that can also be dwelling to outlets and eating places. At Press Café, I had a waffle topped with a sunny-side-up egg, fontina, shaved ham, crispy bacon, and maple syrup. The park’s Keith Home Skyspace, a brand new work by James Turrell, was open by reservation solely throughout my go to, however is anticipated to totally open later this yr. I ended in for a sneak peek on the set up, which is impressed by the Quaker assembly homes of the artist’s youth. As with Turrell’s different works, mild and shadow are at play: daylight from an aperture within the ceiling is choreographed to altering lighting within the area. As the sunshine shifts all through the day, each the ceiling and the sky seem to vary coloration.

After the tour, I rented a motorcycle to cruise the scenic trails alongside the river again towards Bowie Home. I handed teams of Fort Worthers strolling their canines, exercising, and picnicking. All of them appeared comfortable to name Cowtown dwelling — as, for a short time, was I. 

A model of this story first appeared within the October 2024 challenge of Journey + Leisure beneath the headline “Maintain on to Your Hat.”