This year’s fair runs Sept. 26–Oct. 19, and attendance figures are said to be soaring, thanks to unusually beautiful weather and outstanding attractions like the Texas Skyway, performers like the Nerveless Nocks, the Domino Man, and the U. S. Marine Band, and every kind of fried food imaginable.
Along with the annual football spectacles provided by Texas/OU and Grambling/Prairie View, the biggest draws are the children’s barnyard and livestock arenas (where you can watch pig races and dancing dogs), the Midway with its many games and rides, and the State Fair Auto Show.
A luxury showroom features premium names such as Lexus, Infiniti, Lincoln-Mercury, Chrysler, Cadillac, and Saab, while the classic corral has vintage cars like Mustangs, Model A’s and T-birds.
Even the hardest-to-please auto fans are guaranteed to find something to fuel their dreams, from futuristic concept cars like the 2009 Jeep Wrangler and Suzuki Equator Quad to the exciting new styles of the 2009 Ford Flex Limited (pictured), the Chevrolet Traverse (pictured), and the Corvette ZR-1.
The Traverse is currently under production at GM’s Spring Hill Manufacturing site in Tennessee and has been one of the most anticipated new crossovers to be introduced in the market.
Toyota touted its new crossover utility vehicle, the Venza (pictured), which opened a new niche for Toyota—the manufacturer who’s usually ahead of the pack—with its southwestern launch at the State Fair Auto Show.
Helping to promote the new Toyota Venza launch was a specially designed Partner Robot (pictured), which can play the trumpet among numerous other skills. Toyota is developing Partner Robots to contribute in the following four target fields: nursing and medical care assistance, housekeeping assistance, manufacturing assistance, and short-range personal mobility assistance.
The Toyota Partner Robot in the United States plays the trumpet. It has artificial lips and lungs that work together to replicate the vibration of a human mouth. The robot operates the valves on the trumpet with fingers that have human-like dexterity. It currently plays 13 tunes, a few of which include Love of the Heart (I Just Called To Say I Love You), What a Wonderful World, and a Disney medley. It is the only trumpet-playing robot in the world.
While this was hard to top, other crowd-pleasers included the 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8, the Journey, and Durango Hybrid; the Chevy Aveo-5, the gorgeous Camaro, and the Malibu Hybrid; the GMC Acadia and Sierra Hybrid; and the Hyundai Genesis and Sonata. The 2009 Lincoln Mercury MKS was also drawing second and third looks from car buyers.
The State Fair of Texas ends Sunday, Oct. 19; for more information about the fair visit www.bigtex.com .
Jo Ann Holt is a car columnist and journalist based in Dallas, Texas, and a member of the Texas Auto Writers Association; [email protected].
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