These Boots Were Made for Walking
Mercedes is the boot capital of Texas. Cowboy boot that is. Boot manufactures have called Mercedes home for many years including the Rios of Mercedes Boot Company which has been in business since 1853. In an effort to draw attention and to be sure it continued to be known as the boot capital, the city invested $58,000 in a public art project consisting of 30 handcrafted 5 1/2 foot tall cowboy boot statues dispersed throughout the city.
The cowboy boot statues are constructed of aluminum and welded by hand. Each is painted with the colors and logos of colleges and universities in the United States and Mexico with the majority of boots depicting schools from the State of Texas. There is also a boot representing the Mercedes High School.
Taking the Mercedes Boot Walk and locating all the statues was a challenge we couldn’t turn down. We were able to find 29 out of 30 statues on our first attempt. The Harvard University boot eluded us on this visit!
Update!
We missed one of the boots on our first try so we just had to go back and locate it. Here is the missing boot from Harvard!!!