Latest news with #TexasStateFair
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
After record-breaking attendance, The Big E seeks to disperse crowds in 2025
The Big E is seeking to avoid crowding issues, which stemmed from record-breaking attendance last year, by offering half-priced tickets for this year's fair. The fair is hosting a flash sale from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday where weekday tickets, which normally cost $21.50, will be priced at $10.75. 'The midweek tickets aim to promote the Fair's fantastic entertainment offerings and highlight the best days to come to the Fair,' a press release read. 'We hope this becomes part of how people plan their Fair visit, making it a mini getaway in the middle of the week. It's a fresh way to experience the Fair, and this flash sale is the perfect reason to give it a try!' Customers can purchase up to eight tickets. Tickets are valid only one weekday of The Big E, Monday through Thursday. Tickets are exclusively available on The Big E's website. The sale was announced after The Big E broke an all-time total attendance record by welcoming 1,633,935 people in 2024. As one of the largest fairs in the U.S. and Canada, the 175-acre West Springfield event also broke its all-time single daily attendance record at 178,608 attendees on Sept. 21, and reported seven attendance records broken over the course of this year's 17-day fair, with five of them in a row. The Big E now nears — or far surpasses — daily attendance numbers of the 375-acre The Great New York State Fair and the 277-acre Texas State Fair. Last year's fair led may fairgoers to be concerned for their safety due to large crowds. Multiple viral social media videos showed gridlocked crowds across The Big E, with some fairgoers becoming concerned for their safety. 'It was almost impossible to walk through, because there were so many people,' Alice Flyte, of Westfield, previously told MassLive. 'I was just totally amazed at how full it was,' the 74-year-old said while describing lines of well over 20 people at every food stand and restroom and 'gridlocked' paths. Flyte was one of 49 people who told MassLive last year they felt unsafe at the fair over that weekend. Others said they experienced varying degrees of feeling secure with their family. The Eastern States Exposition said it was prepared for the crowds. 'In preparation for these large crowds, Eastern States Exposition increased its security detail and worked closely with law enforcement and emergency service partners to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for all,' a statement to MassLive read. 'Thanks to these efforts, only minor incidents occurred, with just one arrest related to a domestic matter in the parking lot — an outstanding safety ratio given the high volume of attendees.' The Big E takes place from Sept. 12 to Sept. 28. Pop headliner announced for The Big E Arena in fall 2025 performance Rick Ross, Busta Rhymes to headline the Big E Arena together for fall 2025 Sparking interest, powering growth: Manufacturing tech show fills Big E Folk rock band The Avett Brothers to headline The Big E Arena in fall 2025 'Halfway to St. Paddy's Day' 2025 performance lineup unveiled by The Big E Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
Voices of Veterans: SP5 George Padilla shares his story of service in the US Army during the Vietnam War
May 9—AUSTIN — Today, Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is proud to introduce the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans oral history program. This week, they highlight the service of Information Specialist 5 (SP5) George Padilla who served in in the United States Army. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas in the shadow of Big Tex and the Texas State Fair, Padilla said he went to North Dallas High School, graduating in May 1963 before attending college. "The first college I attended was the University of Texas at Arlington where I was a pre-law major and participated in debates there before transferring to North Texas State University, which of course is now known as the University of North Texas (UNT), where I was a radio and television broadcast announcer." While he was attending UNT, Padilla said he was in the vicinity of where President John F. Kennedy (JFK) was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. "I was there on the corner of Industrial and Commerce Streets sitting in my 1960 white Chevrolet Impala watching the motorcade race up the on ramp onto the freeway. I had gotten there seconds after he had been killed, yeah, I was there," he said about that day. "That day is as vivid as yesterday, if I was to get off the phone right now, it still comes back, I know exactly what happened." Padilla left the university to get married and said that's when Uncle Sam sent him a letter he has yet to forget that told him he had been drafted. "It said 'Greetings, you are now in the U.S. Service, please report to the following location,' so I dropped out of college, got my draft notice and went and talked to my friendly recruiter at 1100 Commerce here in Dallas and he says 'Gosh boy, you've been to college, sign here for an extra year and we will guarantee you will not go to Vietnam, which is a common conversation for many in Texas during that time." Padilla said he reported to boot camp at Fort Polk in Louisiana, now known as Fort Johnson, in November 1967 as Third Squad Leader in Company D. Padilla said he learned quickly about the real world when he was in Louisiana. "I gravitated from academia to the reality of the real world, it took me out of my comfort zone," Padilla explained about boot camp life. "It taught me physically how to maneuver against another opponent since I was one of the shortest guys in the military, I learned how to defend myself quickly." After boot camp, Padilla was sent to Korea and believes he was sent there after the USS Pueblo was captured off the coast of North Korea in January 1968. A lot of people, he said, from Fort Polk were sent to Korea instead of Vietnam for that reason. "Since my college background was in radio and television broadcasting, I finagled my way out of a company morning report clerk job with the 2nd Aviation Battalion and I ended up in Public Information Office for a 15 minute interview," Padilla said. "I told them about my experience in high school and college, the debate teams, and he just told me I was hired and they would have my orders transferred in one week." While in Korea, Padilla interviewed soldiers and sent their recordings back to the States to be played on their hometown radio shows for families to hear. While all of it gave him more action in the field, something he acknowledged wasn't the case as a morning report clerk, it also afforded him the chance to interview Bob Hope during one of his tours. "The big highlight for me was just interviewing G.I.'s. My regular job was called 'Radio Hometown Interview.' I would interview from five to 50 soldiers in a 30 day period and I would package that up, send to it to Washington D.C., and they would disperse it to the hometown of the G.I. to be played on their local radio station," Padilla told the GLO. "Other than that, the other highlight was interviewing Bob Hope in December 1968, rubbing elbows with Ann Margaret, Penelope Plummer and Miss World at that time." Click here to listen to SP5 George Padilla tell his story.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ford launches new Expedition SUV in Louisville with $500 million investment. Take a look
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Ford Motor Co. has officially started to ship its newest SUV, assembled in Kentucky, just six months after the all-new 2025 Ford Expedition was unveiled in dramatic fashion at the Texas State Fair. On April 30, Ford CEO Jim Farley was joined by Rocky Adkins, a senior adviser to Gov. Andy Beshear, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and workers at the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville to celebrate the launch of the new vehicle. "Kentucky makes the greatest baseball bats, the finest American whiskey, raises a lot of very fast thoroughbreds ... But in my book, Kentucky's greatest contribution to America happens right here (at Kentucky Truck Plant)," Farley said. In addition to the Expedition, Lincoln, the luxury vehicle producer in the Ford portfolio, showcased its 2025 Lincoln Navigator, the flagship SUV in the Lincoln brand, which is also assembled at the Kentucky Truck Plant alongside the Expedition and F-Series Super Duty trucks. More: Dramatic lighting, instrument display announce luxurious new 2025 Lincoln Navigator "You are the horsepower of the auto industry in Kentucky, and you're showing America what's possible," Adkins said at the launch party. In anticipation of the 2025 Expedition launch, Ford invested roughly $500 million into the Kentucky Truck Plant to bring it updated equipment, new technologies, additional vehicle testers and more, Farley said. Here's what we know about the new 2025 Ford Expedition SUV: Ford is branding the launch as "From Kentucky, For America" in an effort to remind consumers during uncertain economic times that the automaker is an American company, employing a large American workforce. Between the Kentucky Truck Plant and Ford's smaller Louisville Assembly Plant off Fern Valley Road, Kentucky currently represents about 20% of Ford's entire hourly workforce, a company spokesperson said. Last year, the Louisville area plants assembled more than 700,000 vehicles. "At Ford, we believe we can, and we must build a strong manufacturing base in America," Farley said, adding that Ford is leading the way on revitalizing American manufacturing, with 80% of vehicles sold in the U.S. being assembled in the U.S. at facilities like the Kentucky Truck Plant or Louisville Assembly Plant. During the event, Farley took aim at competitors, noting "we never left America," and adding that Ford has continued investment planned for the U.S., including the current construction of a plant in Ohio and Tennessee. "Imagine, if the companies who import all the vehicles in the U.S., treated American manufacturing like Ford," Farley said. "... if our competition moves forward and moves assembly production back to the U.S. at our levels, that would be equivalent of producing 15 new auto plants in the U.S. That's the difference." In recent weeks as President Donald Trump has enacted a slew of tariffs, automakers like Ford have been caught in the crossfire. While Farley said he supports the Trump administrations mission to restore American manufacturing, he said there is still room to grow on securing "a comprehensive set of policies to support our shared vision of that healthy and growing auto industry." "We are not there yet," Farley said in regard to trade policy. With the emphasis of Ford's latest marketing campaign, "Built for America" the company is hoping to "remind Americans where things come from matters and Ford is different," Farley said. In 2023, the last time Ford launched a new vehicle out of the Kentucky Truck Plant, company officials harped on a new era of quality control standards coming into play. At the time, Ford was freshly off having seen nearly three million vehicles recalled in 2022 and surpassing $5 billion in warranty related costs in 2019. The quality control efforts implemented at the truck plant and across town at the smaller Louisville Assembly Plant that produces the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair, have produced mixed results. Ford has had several recalls, impacting at least 11,000 Super Duty trucks since the 2023 model launched along with recalls facing its other Kentucky-made vehicles. But amid the ongoing effort to battle quality issues, Ford is confident its latest SUV to hit the road is a winner. "We think it's the right time to emphasize that on quality, we will never be done with quality," Farley said. "Every time you come here for a launch, you're going to be hearing about quality. It is a game of inches and millimeters." Claire Yarmak, a quality manager at Kentucky Truck Plant, told The Courier Journal quality control was a "relentless" focus for the automaker this go around, and led to the introduction of 20 new trained drivers to do tests and audits on 100% of the new vehicles and 72 new finished vehicle compliance audits to ensure vehicle features work as intended. One of the most evident areas of quality control inside the Kentucky Truck Plant is the deployment of the Mobile Artificial Intelligence Vision System, an AI technology developed by Ford that uses machines to scan vehicles in real time and identify quality issues such as electrical, component and trim issues. This technology was first used at the truck plant in 2023 with only 20 machines but ahead of the Expedition launch, the company installed more than 100 machines at the plant to up its quality control for the newest SUV. "We do not want to go through the issues we have in the past, and so far, the quality looks great," Farley said. The 2025 Ford Expedition boasts a multitude of new features, packages and an upgraded design. To date, some 16,000 vehicles have been produced and are making their ways to consumers across all 50 states. "Expedition is all about serving families that live big lives," said Adrian Aguirre, chief program engineer for Ford Expedition. "We know these customers and we know them because we are obsessed with finding out what will make their lives easier and their experiences better." So much of the newest vehicle's focus is around elevating the experience for families who spend a lot of time in and around their vehicle, from camping trips to long days hauling it across town, leading Aguirre to call it, the "most dependable Expedition ever." While not a new generation vehicle redesign, the outside appearance of the vehicle has received a stylish facelift with a new take on the front grille, new headlights and taillights, and a new wheel design. One of the hallmark features of the new large SUV is a power tailgate split into independently opening upper and power sections to create a variety of new features. The three-row SUV which can seat up to eight people also features a "squircle" shaped steering wheel to make room for a newly revamped interior, touch screen display in the vehicle. The manufacturer suggested retail price for the most basic version of the vehicle starts at $62,000 and goes up to a starting price of $86,655 for the Expedition Max King Ranch model. There are seven models of the vehicle available. Here are 15 additional new features on the 2025 Ford Expedition: Note: This list is not inclusive of all features for all models of the 2025 Ford Expedition. Contact business reporter Olivia Evans at oevans@ or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter at @oliviamevans_. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Ford invested $500M in Louisville plant, launches new Expedition SUV Sign in to access your portfolio
USA Today
26-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
247Sports doesn't consider OU-Texas the most intriguing neutral site game
247Sports doesn't consider OU-Texas the most intriguing neutral site game Show Caption Hide Caption John Mateer growing relationships with Deion Burks, Javonnie Gibson OU football QB John Mateer growing relationships with WRs Deion Burks, Javonnie Gibson The annual Red River Rivalry clash between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns is one of the most anticipated games of the college football season every single year. No matter how good both teams are, OU-Texas almost always delivers. The unique environment that's become a part of the game only helps to add to the intrigue. Played in Dallas, Texas at the legendary Cotton Bowl that is equidistant between the two campuses in Norman and Austin, the entire game takes place in the middle of the Texas State Fair every October. With the fans split 50-50 inside the stadium, there's truly no other environment like Red River. The rivalry game is always played at this neural site in South Dallas, and it's one of the key pillars of every college football season. The game has survived conference realignment, as OU represented the Big Eight for many years and Texas represented the Southwest Conference. As the two teams joined the Big 12 and later broke off to join the SEC, the Red River Rivalry has stood the test of time, even as neutral-site rivalries are not extremely commonplace in college football. 247Sports college football writer Cody Nagel compiled a list of the most intriguing neutral-site games for the 2025 season. Surprisingly, OU-Texas was not at the top of his list, instead getting the runner-up spot behind Florida-Georgia. Texas won in a blowout last season, but the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl delivers on drama more often than not. Oklahoma has lost two of the past three meetings since winning four straight before Brent Venables took the helm. But a potential resurgence could be in the cards for the Sooners with coveted transfer quarterback John Mateer leading the offense after an impressive spring. The star power is not lacking with the Longhorns either, as former five-star prospect Arch Manning steps into the spotlight for his first season as Texas' starter. - Nagel, 247Sports All due respect to Nagel and to "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party", but there's never a year where the Red River Rivalry shouldn't top a list like this. Florida has beaten Georgia just once (2020) since 2016, and the last one-score game was in 2019. OU-Texas, on the other hand, is typically always a close game, and the schools have split the last four matchups, with nine out of the previous 12 contests being decided by one score. The Red River Rivalry isn't just the best and most intriguing neutral-site game in college football. It's one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. The Longhorns won 34-3 a year ago, as the Sooners were completely inept on offense all season. Oklahoma won 34-30 in 2023, and they'll look to get revenge for last season's loss when the Red River Rivalry returns to the iconic Cotton Bowl Stadium on October 11th.
