Fort Worth Celebrates Some Of Its Most Notable Attractions This Year — From Botanic Gardens to Longhorn Cattle Drives

It’s time to celebrate some of Fort Worth’s most enduring tourist attractions. From our ever-expanding Botanic Gardens to the other-worldly urban oasis of the Water Gardens, and the longhorn cattle drive that has become the symbol of our legendary city ― these are three things every Fort Worthian adores and every tourist simply has to see for themselves.

Fort Worth Botanic Gardens Celebrates 90 Years

Did you know that Fort Worth boasts the oldest public botanic garden in the state of Texas? Fort Worth Botanic Gardens (FWBG) provides a 120-acre oasis in the middle of the city where guests can escape daily life and enjoy an array of plants, flowers, and trees throughout the year. Known for its European-inspired formal Rose Garden, as well as its internationally revered Japanese Garden ― this year, FWBG is celebrating 90 years, with an enduring commitment to education and horticulture.

“The Garden has been treasured by our community for generations,” notes Patrick Newman, president and CEO in a release.

The BRIT Philecology Herbarium is also housed on the grounds. It contains nearly 1.5 million plant specimens from around the world making it one of the largest herbaria in the United States, and a vital resource for international research.

There are several splendid upcoming opportunities to visit the gardens ― in case you needed an excuse.  The annual fall plant sale will be held from October 2 through 4 (beginning with the members-only preview on October 2), followed by the fall Japanese Festival on November 2 and 3. And, FWBG will end its 90th year by hosting Lightscape once again from November 22 through January 5, for the third consecutive year. Guests will enjoy an even longer trail, more than 20 all-new illuminated installations, and more than one million holiday lights.

Fort Worth Water Gardens Turns The Big Five-Oh

Famed architect Phillip Johnson left his mark on Fort Worth with both The Amon Carter Museum of American Art and his modernist Water Gardens, a meditative design combining geometric forms, with concrete, water, and shade trees. The urban oasis (built on the grounds of what once was known as Hell’s Half Acre) was dedicated to the city on October 19, 1974 ― a lofty beautification project and gift to the city by the Amon Carter Foundation.

The park features three pools of water, the most famous, known as the active pool ― with its spiral descent of rushing water leading to the central pool has been the backdrop for movies, like Logan’s Run which filmed a scene there in 1976, as well as music videos like Kendrick Lamar’s 2022 song, “N95”.

One of Fort Worth’s top tourist attractions, the engineering feat has lasted the test of time, now at 50 years old, the Water Garden stands as a monument to brutalist design, and the transformative, tranquility of water. Other features of the park include the aerating pool with forty nozzles gently spraying water, the secluded wet wall, and the quiet pool.

A Quarter Century For The Fort Worth Herd

It’s also time for a tip of the hat and a dip of the horns to one of Fort Worth’s most iconic attractions ― the Fort Worth Herd, which celebrates 25 years of daily cattle drives down Exchange Avenue. It has become the ultimate introduction to visitors from around the world who visit the historic Stockyards in search of the Old West ― and a visual that is now synonymous with our city.

According to Visit Fort Worth, “The Fort Worth Herd was created as part of the city’s sesquicentennial celebration. A herd of 17 Texas Longhorns, each steer representing one decade from Fort Worth’s colorful past, and a diverse team of drovers clad in authentic 19th-century clothing were acquired to create the Fort Worth Herd.”

The first cattle drive reenactment took place on June 12, 1999, in front of 15,000 spectators. It was so popular that it became a permanent feature in The Stockyards ― taking place twice daily, first at 11:30 am and again at 4 pm, as locals and visitors alike line the brick street in front of The Coliseum.

The Fort Worth Herd Experience has been added in recent years providing a behind-the-scenes look at the herd and its caretakers (drovers). You’ll find it behind the Livestock Exchange Building at 131 East Exchange Avenue on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm. The majestic breed’s horns can grow from six to ten feet, tip-to-tip.

Cheers to the Botanic Gardens making Cowtown bloom, to the Water Gardens for adding a spectacular oasis on the very grounds of our rowdy past, and to The Herd for representing us so well ― as Fort Worth remains a true Western legend.