‘Like a movie’: Foreign World Cup tourists embrace Texas culture at Stockyards
The FIFA World Cup was expected to bring roughly 3.8 million people to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and quite a few of them have already found their way over to the Stockyards to get an authentic taste of Texas culture.
Walking into the National Historical District was like stepping into a movie, Nikola Petrović said Tuesday afternoon. He’s in town from Split, Croatia, and wasn’t left wanting after witnessing the parade of longhorns directed by cowboys on horseback.
Petrović came to Texas with another soccer fan, Stefano Tolomeo from Milan, Italy. Tolomeo’s country didn’t qualify for the World Cup, so he printed “World Cup Tourist” on his Italian jersey. The look was made complete by the pair’s matching cowboy hats.
From first impression, Petrović said everything is bright and big in Texas.
“Like from the cars, to the portions, everything, which I’m simply not used to,” he said.
Petrović’s key takeaway from his time in Texas so far is classic cowboy vernacular like “Howdy” and “Thank ye,” both of which he pronounces with an extra syllable at the end.
The only complaint Petrović has had is not being able to walk around with a beer in his hand due to the Texas open container laws.
Lewis Howchin, from Yeovil, England also learned about Texas laws when he and his buddy took a seat on the songbirds surrounding Deep Ellum’s The Traveling Man sculpture. A police officer came by to ward them off.
After experiencing the Dallas night scene, Howchin said he was looking forward to taking a turn into Billy Bob’s for some line dancing. He packed his cowboy-patterned button up specifically for his day trip to Fort Worth. A deal too good to pass up, Howchin bought a cowboy hat that came with a free beer while exploring the Stockyards.
A native of the Netherlands and loyal to his team, Adeie Koert said he wouldn’t be purchasing a cowboy hat unless it was Dutch orange.
Another die-hard Dutch fan, Michiel Van Wijk, came from Utrecht, Netherlands, to accompany the Dutch Orange bus across the United States. Van Wijk serves on the Dutch Orange Bus Association board.
In 2004, a group of friends got the idea to paint a 1980 bus bright orange, put a bar in it and drive the Dutch Orange Bus to Portugal for the Euro Cup.
“The idea was to leave it there, but then it was, it was a hit, actually, and they said, well, let’s, let’s take it back and take it for another tournament, and another one, another one, another one, another one,” Van Wijk said. “So it started off as a joke, but now it’s like a global thing, and we take pride in it.”
Van Wijk has traveled all over the world with the vibrant automotive, but he has been especially heart warmed in Texas at the mammoth crowd in Arlington before the June 14 game and the enthusiastic drivers who honk and cheer on the interstates.
Texans have proven to be generous and welcoming, Van Wijk said.
In order to have a “proper adventure,” Englishman Tom Williams is gallivanting all across the U.S. Williams flew over to New York City and stayed there a few days before making his way to Texas.
Next, he’ll head to Memphis and Nashville, then Boston and back again to New York before going back to his hometown of Shrewsbury, England.
So far, the slogan “everything is bigger in Texas” has rung true, Williams said. The only exception is the beer prices, which he was glad about.
“We literally just got out the taxi and walked down here [to the Stockyards], but it’s very nice so far,” Williams said. “Thank you for welcoming us to your town, your house, your city.”
This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 11:21 AM.