Sunday ran on four clocks
The Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering closed its 35th edition on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, in the Fort Worth Stockyards. The organiser dated the gathering Oct. 23 to Oct. 25. The Sunday board held four items. Cowboy Church & Singing started at 10 a.m., the Youth Chuck Wagon Cookoff at 10 a.m. on the Livestock Exchange Lawn, the Chuck Wagon Awards Presentation at 1:30 p.m. on the same lawn, and Head 'Em Out: Chuck Wagon Camp Breakdown at 4:30 p.m.
None of the four carried a ticket mark on the organiser's at-a-glance grid. Cowboy Poetry, Cowboy Music, Ranch Rodeo, Red Steagall & The Boys in the Bunkhouse and the Western Swing Festival all did. Sunday held the walk-up half of the weekend.
The district set its own rhythm around it. Real Texas cowhands led longhorns down East Exchange Avenue at 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day, free to watch. The 11:30 drive sat between the 10 a.m. service and the 1:30 awards. The 4 p.m. drive ran 30 minutes before the chuck wagon breakdown.
The grid published start times
The organiser states the schedule denotes start times only. So the board gave 10 a.m. for the service and no end time. The Cowboy Church page added the leader, Brother Dan Roberts, and named Tannahill's as the venue. The at-a-glance grid listed RFD-TV Studios for the same 10 a.m. line. Ask at the information point on Exchange Avenue, or call the organiser at 817-222-6432.
The chuck wagon camp carried the prize money
$4,500 in prize money sat on the cook-off. Teams were judged on meat, beans, bread and dessert, plus overall camp presentation. Chuck wagons may not feed the public. Visitors walked the camp, talked to the teams and watched the Dutch-oven work. The wagons carried the 1880 kit: a coffee grinder mounted on a chuck box, a water barrel, kerosene lanterns and cooking wood.
Friday and Saturday carried the ticketed programme
The gathering opened Friday, Oct. 23, with the chuck wagon arrival at noon on Exchange Avenue. A Cowboy Gathering Celebration hosted by Schaefer Outfitter ran 2 to 5 p.m., with signed Texas Red books from Red Steagall in limited quantities. Cowboy Poetry started 2:30 p.m. at RFD-TV Studios and Cowboy Music started 3:30 p.m. in the same room. Sip & Shop with Gail Steagall ran 4 to 7 p.m. at Double D Ranch. The Ranch Rodeo took Cowtown Coliseum at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 24, opened with the Youth Fiddle Contest at 8 a.m. and the Chuck Wagon Camp at 10 a.m. Cowboy Music ran 11 a.m., Cowboy Poetry 1:15 p.m., Red Steagall & The Boys in the Bunkhouse 4 p.m. and a second Cowboy Music set 5:15 p.m., all at RFD-TV Studios. The Boys Ranch Poetry landed at the Rodeo Music Stage at 5:15 p.m. Ranch Rodeo held Cowtown Coliseum at 1:30 p.m. and again for the finals at 7:30 p.m. The Western Swing Festival closed the night at 9:30 p.m.
The Ballads & Brands Pass covered the Friday and Saturday daytime entertainment at RFD-TV Studios, Cowboy Music & Poetry included. A guest on a Sunday-only trip met no ticketed item that day.
A desk for the morning, the programme after
hotelSlots lists 255 hotels in Fort Worth. Its priced day-use layer returned 14 Fort Worth properties on Oct. 26, 2026, at $55 to $177 a block, mean $84.14, with the booking fee inside each figure. A block runs from the booked start hour to the booked end hour.
The Courtyard by Marriott Fort Worth Historic Stockyards sits 0.16 straight-line miles from Cowtown Coliseum and 0.10 from Billy Bob's Texas, on the edge of the district. Its three blocks run 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., priced $177. The 8 a.m. block held the 10 a.m. service and the 1:30 awards. The 11 a.m. block held the awards and the 4:30 breakdown.
The remote-work product states what a block includes: high-speed Wi-Fi, a desk and ergonomic seating, privacy for calls, and gym, coffee and restaurant breaks between calls. A Sunday that ran 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. left room for a shift. Service at 10, the laptop at the desk by noon, awards at 1:30.
The organiser published five properties of its own: SpringHill Suites at 2315 N. Main St., the Courtyard at 2537 N. Main St., Hyatt Place at 132 E. Exchange Ave., TownePlace Suites at 805 E Belknap St. and Country Inn & Suites at 2200 Mercado Dr. Those are overnight bookings. A day block on the same street covered the Sunday programme without a night.
Distances here are straight-line, measured from Cowtown Coliseum at 32.7896348, -97.3476882 and Billy Bob's Texas at 32.7911463, -97.3477735.
Getting to Exchange Avenue
TEXRail stops at North Side Station, 2829 Decatur Ave., off NE 28th Street. The Orange Line connects the station to the Stockyards at N. Main Street and Exchange Ave., and to N. Main Street and 26th Street for Billy Bob's. A Trinity Metro local day pass costs $4 inside Tarrant County. A regional day pass costs $12 from Dallas County, and the transfer between rail and bus is included. The Stockyards district publishes 817-215-8600 for route questions. The organiser's office sits at 122 E. Exchange Ave., Suite 420, Fort Worth, Texas 76164.
