Latest / GO TEXAN THE Truly Significant / Truly Significant Texans in Agriculture Honors Darryl Dean- 27 years supporting the Texas State Fair

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Truly Significant Texans in Agriculture Honors Darryl Dean- 27 years supporting the Texas State Fair · GO TEXAN THE Truly Significant

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Truly Significant Texans in Agriculture. I'm sitting
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  Speaker 1: by the one and only Daryl Dean.
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  Speaker 2: And I had the opportunity of getting to talk to
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  Speaker 2: Bob Flowers earlier. And he told me some of the
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  Speaker 2: great stories about the two of you sitting out on
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  Speaker 2: a rocking chair, watching big techs go in parks down
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  Speaker 2: the street. And I laughed so hard about that. I
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  Speaker 2: just love that. So it's an honor to get to
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  Speaker 2: meet you. Well, appreciate it. And Bob's a wonderful asset.
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  Speaker 2: I've enjoyed working with him every minute we had here.
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  Speaker 2: A true friend, coworker, team. But yeah, we had some
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  Speaker 2: good times in those rocking chairs. My dad's traveling out
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  Speaker 2: again tonight before I leave. It's got your name on it.
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  Speaker 2: He said that the only way he can tell that
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  Speaker 2: one is his is because the screws on one of them.
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  Speaker 2: He's got double mess up on the drill or something
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  Speaker 2: like that. So tell us about yourself and where you're
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  Speaker 2: from originally and the years that you spent at Texas Department.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, yeah.
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  Speaker 4: So Daryl Dean, I grew up around agriculture, come from
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  Speaker 4: a farming and ranching family. spent my entire career in agriculture,
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  Speaker 4: did some time with Texas A & M before coming
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  Speaker 4: to Texas Department of Agriculture in 2004. So, you know,
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  Speaker 4: the highlight of that job description, it said extensive periods
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  Speaker 4: of time at the State Fair of Texas. I thought, man,
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  Speaker 4: I've been to the fair, every year, as far as
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  Speaker 4: I can remember, you know. And this pavilion here was
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  Speaker 4: a hotspot, you know, the food and fiber, that's what
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  Speaker 4: we did. We got food and fiber, we got a
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  Speaker 4: Fletcher's Corny Dog, we got some Jack's French fries and
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  Speaker 4: watched the parade, and we had a fair, you know.
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  Speaker 4: So it was an honor to be able to work
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  Speaker 4: here and do that. And then everyone that came along
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  Speaker 4: with it, the team, to learn and address things, to
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  Speaker 4: spend the last 22 years here doing it has been
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  Speaker 4: a thrill.
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  Speaker 2: Congratulations on all that time, and People who have never
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  Speaker 2: been to this state fair really don't understand it. How
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  Speaker 2: would you describe it? What does it mean to you now?
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  Speaker 4: Well, you know, they say it's the, the great, the
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  Speaker 4: great state fair, greatest state fair there is as the
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  Speaker 4: Texas state fair of Texas. And, uh, You know, for
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  Speaker 4: what we do here, promoting agriculture, you see all aspects
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  Speaker 4: of it. You know, like I say, when I was
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  Speaker 4: a kid and would come there, there was a lot
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  Speaker 4: of education. You know, there were still some commodities giving
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  Speaker 4: stuff away. And we didn't have the store back then.
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  Speaker 4: Store's been around since 2002. So now we have a
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  Speaker 4: store full of. value-added products. So it extends that education
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  Speaker 4: piece to the general public to see the great things
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  Speaker 4: Texas has to offer, the products that are produced here,
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  Speaker 4: grown here. Some people think of this cows, plows, sows,
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  Speaker 4: the commodities of things. And that's how it was years ago.
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  Speaker 4: You had a tomato grower, you had an onion grower
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  Speaker 4: and a pepper grower, and they promoted those commodities.
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  Speaker 3: Well, that makes a great salsa. And there's a lot
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  Speaker 3: of good salsa made in Texas.
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  Speaker 4: And General Store here at the fair is able to
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  Speaker 4: showcase some of that, of those Texas products. But all
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  Speaker 4: in all, the education piece, the camaraderie, these Texas producers
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  Speaker 4: working together, learning from each other, it's a beauty to see.
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  Speaker 2: It is indeed. I started coming to the state fair
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  Speaker 2: in 1960.
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  Speaker 4: And we.
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  Speaker 2: In Sherman, the big event was when the new cars
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  Speaker 2: would come out. And there used to be a new
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  Speaker 2: car pavilion. And I'll never forget seeing the first electric car.
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  Speaker 2: And we're going, when's that going to come out? The
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  Speaker 2: reason I bring that up is because over the course
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  Speaker 2: of our lifetime, there's been so many changes. But what
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  Speaker 2: has not changed has been the friendliness of the Texas
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  Speaker 2: State Fair and all the things that you can see,
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  Speaker 2: especially as a kid. And so that's, I think it's
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  Speaker 2: a very special place that you've helped create and we're
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  Speaker 2: appreciative of all the work and nobody really knows about
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  Speaker 2: all the hard work, do they?
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  Speaker 3: They don't.
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  Speaker 4: You know, this pavilion, you know, for 22 years, this
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  Speaker 4: was home away from home for September and October. And,
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  Speaker 4: you know, we were here day in, day out, setting
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  Speaker 4: it up. You know, I tease people, it took us
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  Speaker 4: three weeks to build it roughly. And at one time
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  Speaker 4: we was tearing it down in four days. I don't
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  Speaker 4: know what that correlation is, the stuff that we hustled
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  Speaker 4: back in four days to sort through the next year.
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  Speaker 4: But it is quite an undertaking, you know, and not
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  Speaker 4: just in Pavilion, but the whole fairgrounds as a whole.
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  Speaker 3: It's a big deal.
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  Speaker 4: You mentioned the timeline of, you know, the electric car
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  Speaker 4: and some of that. I watched the video last week
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  Speaker 4: and it was in the 50s, the 50s over the fair.
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  Speaker 4: And it's a documentary that someone put out. And they
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  Speaker 4: came in this building. And out in the front flower bed,
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  Speaker 4: there's a sign out there that we still say, you know,
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  Speaker 4: then it said Agricultural Pavilion. It says Go Texan Pavilion now.
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  Speaker 4: But that sign is in the same spot in that
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  Speaker 4: flower bed that it has been since the 1950s. I
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  Speaker 4: never would have thought that.
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  Speaker 2: How about that?
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  Speaker 3: A lot of history here.
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  Speaker 2: I just love that. I just met your son. Do
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  Speaker 2: you have other children besides him?
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  Speaker 4: I've got an older son. He's in Colorado this week
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  Speaker 4: on his anniversary. You know, they got married last year
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  Speaker 4: during the fair. And I told him, I said, you know,
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  Speaker 4: there's a little thing I do every September and October.
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  Speaker 4: Have you forgot that? And he said, well, the bride
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  Speaker 4: wanted a fall wedding in September.
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  Speaker 3: That's when it was.
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  Speaker 4: I said, well, you're a smart man. But he couldn't
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  Speaker 4: be here tonight. But it's a good friend. My mom's
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  Speaker 4: here tonight, my son. So, yeah, it's quite an honor
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  Speaker 4: to be here.
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  Speaker 2: Your mom's here?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yeah. What? Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So she's... What is the greatest life lesson that mom
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  Speaker 2: taught you?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, be good to people. Do unto others.
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  Speaker 4: You know, the golden rule, you know, just treat others
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  Speaker 4: the way you want to be treated and things will
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  Speaker 4: work out. And I've lived that way and I truly
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  Speaker 4: believe that myself. You know, a lot of good people
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  Speaker 4: out there and I want to do unto them as
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  Speaker 4: they do unto me.
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  Speaker 3: So... There you go.
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  Speaker 2: That's fantastic. So on this night that you're being honored,
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  Speaker 2: Who would you like to thank besides, I know your
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  Speaker 2: wife is very special, your mother, anybody else?
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  Speaker 4: Well, you know, the family. But, you know, my colleagues
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  Speaker 4: at the Department of Agriculture, they've been true. You know,
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  Speaker 4: they've put a lot of weight saying I was important,
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  Speaker 4: and I do appreciate that. But, you know, we couldn't
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  Speaker 4: have done it without the team of people we have.
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  Speaker 4: They're outstanding. It takes a whole group of us to
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  Speaker 4: put this on year after year. And then all of
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  Speaker 4: our Go Texan partners. you know, I mentioned earlier tonight
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  Speaker 4: that they're like family, you know, I got to have
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  Speaker 4: a little snapshot into their life, you know, there's been failures,
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  Speaker 4: you know, I've seen the sad, I've seen the good,
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  Speaker 4: the successes, and I've seen their kids grow up, you know,
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  Speaker 4: so it's just an extension of family, got my family,
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  Speaker 4: immediate family that I love dearly, but my co-workers and
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  Speaker 4: our Go Texan partners are a true family to me too,
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  Speaker 4: and that's that was, uh, that was one of the
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  Speaker 4: highlights of my career, being able to spend time with
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  Speaker 4: those folks.
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  Speaker 2: Fantastic. What, what are some of the things that you
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  Speaker 2: learned from working with Aggies over the years and in
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  Speaker 2: Texas A & M' s connection?
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  Speaker 3: Well, there you go. There you go.
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  Speaker 4: Well, you know, I'll tell you a funny story on that. I, uh,
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  Speaker 4: I went to Tarleton for a couple of years, which
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  Speaker 4: is A & M affiliate. And then, uh, I moved
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  Speaker 4: back home here in North Texas, and I graduated from
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  Speaker 4: East Texas State University, which is now Texas A &
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  Speaker 4: M Commerce.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, then it changed to East Texas A & M
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  Speaker 3: at Commerce, I believe.
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  Speaker 4: Changed names, but the story I want to share is
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  Speaker 4: when they first went to that A & M affiliate,
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  Speaker 4: they sent me a letter and said, for $ 25, we'll
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  Speaker 4: send you a new diploma with A & M on
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  Speaker 4: it instead of East Texas State University.
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  Speaker 3: So.
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  Speaker 4: Of course, I've worked for A & M, got a
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  Speaker 4: lot of good Aggie friends. So my joke to them
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  Speaker 4: is for $ 25, I can become an Aggie.
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  Speaker 2: That's a way of minimizing it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, but yeah, great organization, you know, A & M system.
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  Speaker 4: We partner with them a lot on some of our
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  Speaker 4: education pieces. We do a lot of outreach at Department
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  Speaker 4: of Agriculture and, you know, AgriLife Extension agent. They were
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  Speaker 4: my lifeline. you know, if somebody was showing up at
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  Speaker 4: a table or even state fair with a weed, what's this?
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  Speaker 4: I'm like, we need to go down there and see AgriLife.
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  Speaker 4: So we do, we got some aggie presence here and,
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  Speaker 4: you know, been a true, true benefit for sure.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think people understand the extent of AgriLife and
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  Speaker 2: we're trying to get to the, down into the weeds,
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  Speaker 2: so to speak. We talked to Dr. Jay LaFry the
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  Speaker 2: other day, who's, coordinates 8,000 master gardeners in Texas alone
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  Speaker 2: across 115 counties. And of course, Mr. Curious Aggie says, well,
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  Speaker 2: what about the other 130-some-odd, 40-some-odd counties?
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  Speaker 3: What are you doing there?
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  Speaker 2: But 8,000 crazy gardeners. You know the finesse.
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  Speaker 4: It's a big deal, you know. And being here in
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  Speaker 4: the Metroplex, I got to see a lot of that,
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  Speaker 4: you know, the Master Gardener groups. just because we had
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  Speaker 4: some promotional pieces, educational pieces. I'd go out, you know,
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  Speaker 4: I always felt like a dummy in the group because
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  Speaker 4: they're into it. They're trained for that program and a
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  Speaker 4: wealth of knowledge to see. You know, I've seen them
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  Speaker 4: do some gardens, community gardens in different areas, just beautiful places.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, they're fun to be around and a good
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  Speaker 4: group of people with a lot of knowledge. I didn't
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  Speaker 4: know none of them was that big though. That's huge.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and then Those 8,000 influencing hundreds of thousands, maybe
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  Speaker 2: millions of people on how to amend the soil and
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  Speaker 2: grow the better tomatoes. I think that we're obsessed. Somebody
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  Speaker 2: called us a cult the other day, the Aggies, and went, well,
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  Speaker 2: don't watch the football thing. Maybe our enthusiasm for life
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  Speaker 2: and Mother Earth and doing the right thing, maybe that's
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  Speaker 2: what they're talking about.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a great one to be a part of,
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  Speaker 3: I tell you. It is.
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  Speaker 2: I want to present you this book, Truly Significant, because
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  Speaker 2: you are, okay? And congratulations on your time and all
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  Speaker 2: the things that you contributed to this organization.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I do appreciate it, and thank you for taking
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  Speaker 3: the time to visit.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, sir, and I do want to ask you one
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  Speaker 2: final question. We're getting old. We're on version 7.0, otherwise
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  Speaker 2: known as 70. And I'm wondering when you're 75 or
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  Speaker 2: 80 years old someday and you have grandchildren, I bet.
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  Speaker 2: And one of them says they're at your knee and
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  Speaker 2: they say, grandpa, who did you become? How would you
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  Speaker 2: answer them? I think I would say I've become my
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  Speaker 2: grandpa over the years. I truly believe that. I had
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  Speaker 2: good mentors there, and I hope I'm the same to
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  Speaker 2: my grandkids as my grandfather was to me.
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  Speaker 4: Again, the agriculture has been a part of my roots.
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  Speaker 4: It was his roots. He was a farmer here in
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  Speaker 4: Dallas County. Still got family that farms in Dallas County.
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  Speaker 4: So it's been a big part of my life, and
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  Speaker 4: I want those kids to know, You know, became him,
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  Speaker 4: did my little part for agriculture that I could do.
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  Speaker 4: You know, I'm not in the tractor doing the tillage
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  Speaker 4: and all that, but I want to be out there
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  Speaker 4: to promote that agriculture. I've raised my boys that way.
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  Speaker 4: They're both very involved in agriculture. And, you know, it's
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  Speaker 4: just a part of the family and a way of life.
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  Speaker 4: And so I hope I can do the same for
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  Speaker 4: them that somebody before me did.
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  Speaker 3: God bless you, man. Appreciate you. Thank you.
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  Speaker 4: You bet.
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  Speaker 1: Big hearted Texans found across our state. Pride is how
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  Speaker 1: we're looking. Risk it is on our plate.
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  Speaker 3: Boots, it's what we're wearing.
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  Speaker 1: Horses, yeah, we may ride. Farming is so rewarding.