Big Tex, the Texas State Fair icon, destroyed by fire

Big Tex, the 52-foot talking cowboy that has welcomed visitors to the Texas State Fair for 60 years, was destroyed today by a fire, The Dallas Morning News reports.

The newspaper quotes fair spokeswoman Sue Gooding as saying the fire began with smoke pouring from Big Tex's neck, indicating that the fire was electrical in nature.

"It's a very sad day for all fairgoers," she says. "It's a sad way to end the fair."

Only Big Tex's hands, Dickies belt buckle and skeletal structure were left of the iconic figure.

The News reports that firefighters were alerted to the blaze by an unusual report from a Dallas Fire-Rescue dispatcher:

"Got a rather tall cowboy with all his clothes burned off," the dispatcher said over the radio, according to the newspaper.

WFAA-TV says the structure was originally created as Santa Claus and was bought by the State Fair for $750 to become the hulking cowboy.

Bill Bragg, who provided Big Tex's voice live for the past 10 years from a nearby trailer, tells the News he was reading from his script and didn't see the fire until he glanced up. "He went down talking," Bragg, who watched with tears in his eyes, tells the News.

Mitchell Glieber, vice president of marketing for the fair, says it was likely an electrical short circuit in Big Tex's vocal equipment that caused the blaze.

"There's obviously some electronics inside of Big Tex that leads to the ability for his mouth to move when he speaks," Glieber tells WFAA-TV. "I believe there was an electrical short, but that hasn't been confirmed or investigated."