FORT WORTH, Texas — The Bill Pickett Rodeo in the month of May is happening during one of the busiest rodeo weekends in North Texas.
It's also when Fort Worth rodeo fans can be the first to experience the Bill Pickett traveling museum.
"There's never been a museum that we know of that's been done like this," said Margo Wade-Ladrew, "and it's covering 38 years of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, which is the only nationally recognized black rodeo in the world."
Margo Wade-Ladrew serves as the Bill Pickett national sponsorship director. Not even she had seen the finished traveling museum before its debut in Cowtown.
Wade-LeDrew has been part of the team to help make it a dream come true. Bill Pickett Rodeo partnered with PBR to feature the traveling museum outside the Cowtown Coliseum.
What started as a bucket list idea years ago is now a real-life education project on wheels.
Wade-Ladrew said, "It's about preserving culture and giving families and kids something that they can be proud of."
One of Pickett's sponsors is also behind them getting the history on the road across the country. When Toyota heard about the dream, the big automaker stepped in right away.
It comes as no surprise to Jim Austin of North Texas. He is all about western culture history.
As the co-owner and operator of the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum located in the Stockyards, Austin hopes it's just the beginning of people around the United States learning about cowboys and cowgirls of color.
Austin believes the traveling museum helps highlight the western history already on display in Cowtown, especially for children.
"Me, as a little boy growing up, we played cowboys and Indians," said Austin, "And I always thought the West and cowboys was all white. And it wasn't until I turned 45 years old and discovered and found out that the West was multicultural."
Although the traveling museum starts in Fort Worth, it's scheduled to roll into other major cities around country.
"We'll be in Oakland, Los Angeles, we go to Atlanta, and then we go to D.C.," said Margo Wade-Ladrew.
You can see the exhibit in the Fort Worth Stockyards starting Friday. More details are provided here.
The BPIR is also hosting shows Friday night and Saturday night. Tickets can be purchased.
Rodeo fans can see the exhibit in the Fort Worth Stockyards starting Friday.