Easygoing Fort Worth, with a rapidly growing population approaching 815,000 (compared to 500,000 just 15 years ago), is located just 30 miles west of its dazzling cousin Dallas, which it bears little resemblance to in terms of personality and environment. Fort Worth happily advertises it as a “cow town” and disdains both formality and pretense. Famous for its restored and infectiously festive Stockyards district, whose festive neon signs advertise cavernous steakhouses and country music venues, the city also claims a host of eye-catching museums and world-class performance spaces throughout downtown and the impressive attractions of the Cultural District. .
Fort Worth’s diverse strengths and welcoming attitude, albeit somewhat more conservative, are big reasons why a small but pronounced contingent of lesbians and gay men prefer it to more buttoned-up and image-conscious cities in the Lone Star State. . The city hosts Tarrant County Gay Pride Week for 10 days in late September and early October, with major events taking place on October 1-2, 2016.
Note that QCinema, the Fort Worth International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, usually held around the same time as Pride, moved to a later date this year. It will take place from November 10 to 12, 2016.
Tarrant County Gay Pride begins with a housewarming party on Wednesday, September 28 and includes several other events. You can view a detailed Tarrant County Pride schedule here.
Then, on Saturday, October 1, the Pride Parade and Street Festival takes place in the heart of downtown. In recent years, the parade started at noon from Weatherford Street, continued down Houston Street to the festival grounds on Main and 9th Street in General Worth Square.
There is a final event over the weekend on Sunday, October 2: The Tarrant County Pride Picnic takes place from noon to 6 p.m. at the Trinity Park Arts Pavilion, a beautiful expanse of greenery on the Clear River Fork Trinity.
In November, QCinema 2016 takes place over three days (November 10-12) at the Fort Worth Community’s Arts Center, Sander’s Theater (1300 Gendy St.). About a dozen movies are screened each year, and there are several related parts.
More about visiting Fort Worth
Fort Worth has a handful of bars and a stretch of gay-friendly restaurants in an up-and-coming, artsy neighborhood centered around Magnolia Avenue. A short drive north, you will find the city’s attractive pedestrianized center. To the west is the Cultural District, and to the north, the Stockyards National Historic District. Parking lots and lots abound here, and a reliable trolley serves most of the museums and attractions, many of which are free.
Downtown Sundance Square consists of 14 square blocks of elegant glass and steel skyscrapers, restored Victorian buildings, and elegant red brick streets. Here you will find new shops, from supermarkets to boutiques, as well as lively restaurants. The majestic Bass Performance Hall houses an esteemed symphony, ballet, and opera. The Downtown Circle Theater presents six contemporary plays per year; they often touch on gay themes. At the small Sid Richardson Museum of Western Art, you can peruse an impressive permanent collection of classical Western paintings and sculptors executed by legendary American artists Charles Russell and Frederic Remington.
The Cultural District is home to some of the best art museums in the nation. Don’t miss the ultimate Kimbell Art Museum, an exceptional installation with a fresh, light-filled interior of sharp lines and high, arched ceilings – the original section of the museum was designed by iconic architect Louis Kahn and an impressive new wing The patio created by Renzo Piano. His works represent a virtual who’s who of the art world. The Amon Carter Museum of American Art, whose collection of photographs includes works by Ansel Adams and Laura Gilpin, is a shutter’s dream.
Also note the works of Georgia O’Keeffe and the Thomas Eakins painting Swimming, once controversial for its homoerotic depiction of young naked men frolicking in a lake. Gay architect Philip Johnson, who is also responsible for the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, designed this building. The Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art has one of the best contemporary collections in the nation. You’ll find important works by Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Hockey, and many others. The Modern is also home to an excellent restaurant, and has had exhibits in the past with great LGBT relevance.
The neighborhood also claims the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, with a planetarium and an Omnimax theater; and the 109-acre Fort Worth Botanical Garden, which includes a 7.5-acre Japanese Garden. A rather unexpected treasure here is the National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame, which honors the lives of more than 150 pioneer women from the Old West, including not just ranchers but writers, artists, and teachers, including Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, the first female pioneer. in traversing the rocky mountains.
Also visit the acclaimed Fort Worth Zoo, home to the fantastic Texas Wild! Experience: A fascinating 8-acre recreation of a 19th-century Texas city and landscape, inhabited by some 300 animals native to the Lone Star State. If you’re looking for a new Fiestaware set or Edwardian wardrobe, stop by Montgomery Street Antique Mall, a great multi-dealer mall with lots of high-quality pieces, it’s right off I-30 near the zoo. .
A honky-tonk tribute to country-western music and the city’s “cow town” tradition, the Stockyards District celebrates Fort Worth’s history as a cattle ranch on the old Chisholm Trail. Livestock depots and meat processing plants declined after World War II, but many of the historic red brick buildings were renovated and an entertainment district developed in the late 1970s. Take a look at the distinctive Sterquell Wagon collection, containing about 65 vehicles from the 18th and 19th centuries, is inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.
For information on what to see and do in the city, as well as tips on where to stay, see the website of the official tourism office, the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau, which also has a specific section on the site that welcomes LGBT visitors.
