It is assumed that this town is named after Texas legend Jim Bowie, although there is evidence that a popular railroad worker named “Buie” may have been the inspiration. Nonetheless, the town has pushed all its chips into the center of the table on the hero of the Alamo, staging the Jim Bowie Days Festival every June since the 1970s. There is even fundraising taking place to create the world’s largest Bowie knife for a monument in Pelham Park.
Planning a visit? Stay at Camper’s Paradise.
Main Street in Bowie also takes center stage in the fall for the Chicken & Bread Days Heritage Festival. The fun-filled family event remembers the days in the 1890s when a young Amon G. Carter and his friends peddled chicken and biscuits to train passengers traveling through Bowie. Carter moved down to Fort Worth to found one of the Lone Star State’s greatest newspaper empires.
As befitting a city that is all about business, the town’s event of longest standing is Second Monday Trade Days. This event traces its origins back to 1893 when livestock men from Montague, Clay and Wise counties gathered to swap animals and tools.
It was estimated that on market days, the streets of Bowie would fill with as many as 6,000 horses. These days the equine population has slowed but upwards of 15,000 shoppers arrive each month to inspect the wares of nearly 300 vendors. Second Monday Trade Days covers 20 acres of Pelham Park and event sponsor Trade City across the street.