At Fort Worth Stock Show, rookie vendors excited to be there

Tim Horner had never been to the Stock Show until last week. Sarita Rule has been a livestock exhibitor and visitor for 25 years.

Differences aside, they have something in common: Both are first-time commercial exhibitors at the Stock Show.

Their smiles Wednesday were proof that they are thrilled to be at the long-running Fort Worth event.

“I had heard that the waiting list was long, so you can just imagine how happy I was when I was told that I was in this year,” said Rule, from Blue Ridge, north of McKinney, and the owner of La Vida Loca.

Horner’s friends encouraged him to apply to be a Stock Show exhibitor.

“I called in September and emailed them in October and November about my application, and they said, ‘Not yet,’ ” recalled Horner, of Terrell. “I was notified in early December, and I haven’t stopped smiling.”

More than 200 vendors, many of them Stock Show veterans, are on the grounds at the Will Rogers Memorial Center.

“Each year we get hundreds and hundreds of applications, but it’s not first-come, first-serve,” said Jay Blackmon-Yates, commercial exhibits manager. “We’re looking for diversity.”

This year, the Stock Show had only a handful of spaces for new commercial exhibitors.

“We’re looking for experienced exhibitors,” Blackmon-Yates said. “It takes a lot to work a 23-day show.”

A majority of the vendors are in the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibits Hall, where everything from tractors to taffy are sold every day of the Stock Show.

Luck was on the side of Rule and Horner because they were assigned to the exhibits hall on their first appearance. They both noted that they have great locations to hawk their wares.

“I had somebody walk up to me and say, ‘How did you end up with this great location?’ ” Horner said. His business, Shorty’s, is almost right in the middle of the exhibits hall. “I just shrugged my shoulders and said, ‘I don’t know.’ ”

Horner has been selling his handcrafted wood wares for two years in Canton and McKinney. He makes end tables, rustic wooden stars and benches from reclaimed or reused lumber.

The name Shorty’s comes from his grandfather, who owned a country store in Georgia.

“I figured if it was successful for him, then I’d also use the name,” Horner said.

It’s been a hectic month. Horner had just four pieces of handcrafted art on hand in December when he learned he would be coming to Fort Worth. Working almost nonstop, he produced 190 pieces for the Stock Show.

“Let’s just say most of Christmas was spent in my shop,” Horner said.

The Stock Show is nothing new to Rule, who has been a visitor or participant for the last 25 years. She has shown Brangus cattle and brought her daughter to compete in barrel racing.

She’s also not new to operating a booth with trendy clothes and jewelry, having been a vendor at the Houston Livestock Show and at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

“When I was told I would be here, they said unfortunately it was going to be a smaller booth than what I wanted,” Rule said. “But I didn’t care — I was going to make it work.”

Just before the Stock Show started, however, officials told her that an adjacent booth had opened up.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Rule said. “I took it, and the show has been great.”

Rule plans to be at her booth almost every day.

“I have a friend who will be here one day,” Rule said. “But I’m not going to miss many days. I wouldn’t miss it.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 2:21 PM with the headline "At Fort Worth Stock Show, rookie vendors excited to be there."