Paisano Pete

Fort Stockton, Texas, United States

Animals and creatures

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Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Paisano Pete is a fibreglass roadrunner statue, 11 feet tall and 22 feet long, at the corner of Main Street and Dickinson Boulevard in Fort Stockton, Texas. Sources date it to 1979 or 1980, and Texas Highways says it was billed as the world's largest roadrunner when erected.

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Paisano Pete

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Approximate location · 30.891° N, 102.885° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Fort Stockton's mascot is a roadrunner far larger than any real one. Paisano Pete stands at the corner of Main Street and Dickinson Boulevard, 11 feet tall and 22 feet long from beak to tail, according to Texas Highways. "Paisano" is a nickname for the roadrunner, meaning "countryman" in Spanish, the magazine notes.

The statue is fibreglass. KMID/KPEJ reported in 2023 that it was bought from a company in Wisconsin and that a "Name the Roadrunner" contest was held to name it. Texas Hill Country called the statue the brainchild of Fort Stockton Mayor Gene Cummings. The date varies: KMID/KPEJ says Pete has been in the town since 1979, while Texas Highways says he was erected in 1980.

He was billed as the world's largest roadrunner until 1993, when, Texas Highways says, a roadrunner twice his size appeared near Las Cruces, New Mexico. KMID/KPEJ gives that bird as 20 feet tall and 40 feet long. Claims differ: in January 2025 the Big Bend Reporter ran Pete under the headline "The World's Tallest Roadrunner", while Texas Hill Country calls him the second largest.

Pete has long been the town's emblem. KMID/KPEJ notes that Texas Highways named him a "Town Mascot" in its September 2011 issue, and the Fort Stockton Pioneer reported in June 2025 that he and the Historic Fort Stockton arch had received a bold new look in a public art revitalisation project.

Texas Hill Country described the corner in 2017 as a busy intersection and advised parking nearby and walking over to take a photograph.

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PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

An outdoor statue on a downtown street corner. Texas Hill Country described the spot in 2017 as a busy intersection and advised parking nearby and walking over. The Fort Stockton visitor bureau lists Paisano Pete among its things to do.

ACCESS

Stands at the corner of North Main Street and East Dickinson Boulevard in downtown Fort Stockton, Texas, a busy intersection (Texas Hill Country, 2017). Park nearby and walk over.

COMMUNITY