You're Still the One

Dallas Cattle Baron's Ball celebrates 50 years with iconic gala starring Shania Twain

The word “Iconic” proved the perfect theme for the 50th anniversary Cattle Baron’s Ball. From record-breaking auction items to headliner Shania Twain, the 2023 edition of Dallas' ultimate Western-glam party was one for the ages.

More than 3,400 patrons packed the grounds of Southfork Ranch on October 14 for the big bash benefiting American Cancer Society. Co-chairs Isabell Novakov Higginbotham and Andrea Cheek guided a committee of more than 100 hard-working baronesses (clad in gold boots for CBB's golden anniversary) and countless more volunteers to pull together the sold-out, epic event.

Attendees donning all the rhinestones, sequins, feathers, fringe, and leather in DFW filed out of party buses, limos, and ride-shares. Saddled-up cowgirls and smiling, waving Kilgore Rangerettes welcomed them to the famous grounds of the TV show Dallas, site of the first Cattle Baron’s Ball in 1974.

An exclusive VIP party, presented by Anne Davidson inside the Southfork Ranch Event and Conference Center, got the evening off to a rollicking start. Mistress of ceremonies, NBC 5's Deborah Ferguson, gave a hearty welcome and introduced Texas country-rock giant Randy Rogers Band to the stage.

Early arrivals got the first chance to sip the night's signature “Iconic” cocktail, featuring Grey Goose Essences Watermelon Basil, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, and Topo Chico; and to nibble hors d’oeuvres like applewood bacon-wrapped apricots, bacon-wrapped quail, and smoked ancho pulled work with sweet apple chips and sweet potatoes.

At 7 pm, the masses arrived and the ball officially began. It was a picture-perfect fall evening to take a Ferris wheel ride at sunset, ride the mechanical bull, or mug for cute photos and videos at several different booths outside.

Cattle Baron's Ball 2023 The cowbell ringers got a workout during the live auction.Photo by Ashley Gongora

Most of the action took place inside the Conference Center, where each room was abuzz with activity. The main event was the massive silent auction. Bidders browsed and bid via smartphones for hundreds items from local retailers, restaurants, exquisite jewelry and fashion, trips, home decor, sports and music memorabilia, and more.

The casino room was unusually busy. Not only were folks trying their luck at the gaming tables, but the room was home to some of the best cocktails of the night: fan-favorite espresso martinis featuring White Rhino coffee, and seasonally appropriate apple cider old fashioneds with Angel’s Envy Bourbon.

Inside the dining hall, Vestals Catering served up a "Flavors of Texas" buffet as big as the Lone Star State: prime beef brisket, smoked chicken thighs, cheese enchiladas, Mexican corn, mac & cheese, cole slaw, vegetables, and rolls and corn bread with Dallas honey butter.

A parade of cowgirl bell-ringing baronesses signaled it was time for the live auction to begin. This year's jaw-dropping prize packages and fantasy trips included an Orlando getaway with use of an entire JSX plane (sold for $37,500); a Libertine fashion experience (endorsed onstage by co-chair Higginbotham, sporting a custom Libertine Cattle Baron's 50th jacket; the package sold for $50,000); and an "Ultimate Tailgate" with Troy Aikman and chef Kent Rathbun (sold for $100,000).

Cattle Baron's Ball 2023 Chef Dean Fearing spurs on the crowd to bid for a chefs' dinner.Photo by Ashley Gongora

Each year, one of the most coveted auction items is a wine dinner prepared by some of Dallas' finest chefs — including Kent Rathbun, Dean Fearing, Nick Barclay, and Richard Chamberlain. In a poignant moment, Fearing told the crowd of his son’s recent battle with leukemia. After wild cheers and applause at the news that he's now cancer-free, two dinners were sold for $135,000 each, bringing in a record-breaking total of $270,000.

For the first time, a Cattle Baron’s “paddle raise ambassador” took the stage to help inspire direct giving. Ava Danuser, 17, of Highland Park, battled with a rare form of bone and tissue cancer called Ewing Sarcoma. After an emotional video, she emerged onstage and waved as patrons gave from $1,000 to $100,000. If the total (including matching funds) reached $1 million, a special fund would be named in her honor. The goal was reached.

Finally it was time to head into a sprawling tent for headliner Shania Twain. Making their way across the grounds, patrons picked up “concert snacks” including Frito pie in bags, popcorn, and “Texas trash” snack mix.

“I wore my party dress tonight,” said Twain, fitting right in with the CBB crowd, in her silver sequin minidress and black platform boots.

Cattle Baron's Ball Dallas 2023, Shania Twain Shania Twain swept through her biggest hits.Photo by Ashley Gongora

VIP patrons packed the standing-room area beneath the stage to fill their social media feeds with close-up pictures and videos. (A last-minute and unevenly enforced security measure, however, prohibited credentialed press photographers from shooting photos near the stage - a bummer for this story presentation.)

Fresh off a sold-out show at Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena on her “Queen of Me” tour the night before, Twain swept through the biggest hits of her decades-long career without missing a beat. She had the crowd singing along in three-part harmony on “Honey I’m Home;” joining in on the chorus of her new song “Giddy Up!;” and yelling that famous line, "Okay, so you're Brad Pitt" on "That Don't Impress Me Much."

Remarkably, Twain was the first female entertainer ever to headline Cattle Baron’s Ball. She ended the night, appropriately, with “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!,” and cannons of turquoise confetti shot over the crowd.

Photo by Ashley Gongora

Guests try their luck at the casino tables.

Those who wanted to catch early Ubers home ended the night there, while those who wanted to make a late night of it gathered back inside on the dance floor beneath the Live Auction stage, where Jordan Khan's Taylor Pace Orchestra band revved up the after-party until 2 am.

Cattle Baron's Ball 2023 Dallas Sierra Jones poses with the famous Ewing Cadillac in front of a Neiman Marcus vintage CBB fashion presentation.Photo by Ashley Gongora

Among the thousands spotted in the crowd, enjoying the night, were Megan Clark, Catherine Woodall, Jane Humphrey, Vodi Meagher, Tyler Catlett, Damian Wingate, Stephanie Fischer-Wingate, John McCarley, Judith Garcia-Curzio, Alexis Bourn-Lipsett, Ben Lipsett, Abby Muggerud, Ashton Ulrich, Shevawn Barder, Olivia Barder, Bree Dahl, Rachel Haefliger, Micheal Marsh, Chae Marsh, Hillary Hancock, Claire Phillips, Logan Vanderslice, Allie Woldert, Jean-Charles Alvarez, Jessica Jesse, Peggy Panosh, Susan Alvarez, Peter Bowers, Traci Mcguiness, Mary Ellen Young, Janis Crayvens, Katie Kennemer, Alissa Wikert, Mandy Blount, Ese Azenabor, Nipa Nobel, Katy Brooks, Kameron Westcott, Martha Greenberg, Lauren Stewart, Sharon Lee-Clark, Sierra Jones, Ilana Levy, Tina Rich, Kim Resnick, Tanya Davis, Cinthia Everett, Annie Fernández, Courtney Derderian, Jamie Charles, Jacque Wynne, Catherine Fullam, Corky Nix, Jonika Nix, Katherine Wynne, Doug Box, Paris Lovelady, Sierra Hughes, Micheal Simpson, Alley Murchison, Beth Albright, Salvator La Mastera, Austin Phillips, Steven Safra, and Alex Hicks.

Cattle Baron’s Ball is the premier fundraiser for the American Cancer Society in North Texas, and has raised more than $93 million since its inception in 1974. The 2022 event alone raised $4,170,617.

The ball is the largest single-night fundraising event for cancer research in the world.

fundraisers charity concerts celebrities galas

The Rich List

Dallas visionary joins 18 DFW billionaires on new Forbes' richest list

Ben Lamm and George Church, Colossal cofounders

Courtesy of Colossal

Ben Lamm (left) and George Church (right) founded Colossal in 2021.

The richest billionaires in America have a collective worth of $8 trillion in 2026, a staggering $1.4 trillion increase since last year, says Forbes. And the Dallas-based billionaire best known for starting a company to resurrect the long-extinct woolly mammoth has become one of the richest people in America.

Biotech "serial entrepreneur" Ben Lamm, cofounder of Colossal Biosciences, has made his debut as one of the country's richest residents for 2026, according to the just-released Forbes 400.

The annual Forbes 400 list is a definitive ranking of the wealthiest Americans, using interviews, financial data, and documentation provided by billionaires and their companies. In all, 43 billionaires across Texas made it on the 2026 list, and 19 are based in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Lamm, 44, cofounded the Texas-based "de-extinction" company with geneticist George Church in 2021 with the goal to resurrect extinct animals including the mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and the dodo. The company is now worth over $10 billion, and Lamm's own net worth is currently estimated at $5.7 billion.

"Lamm believes that governments, which have long budgeted for conservation efforts, will pay Colossal to reintroduce extinct species or to prevent endangered ones from dying off," Forbes says in Lamm's profile. "In April Lamm spun Astromech out of Colossal. The company, which private investors valued at $3.8 billion in August, uses AI to forecast evolutionary change."

He is tied with Austin billionaire and Tito's Handmade Vodka founder Bert Beveridge as the No. 302 richest person in America.

In nearby Fort Worth, Walmart heiress Alice Walton, 76, who leads as the richest woman globally, still reigns richest woman in America, the third-wealthiest person in Texas, and the richest resident in Fort Worth for 2026.

Walton's net worth has grown by $12 billion since last year, bringing her current net worth to $118 billion. She is the only daughter of late Walmart cofounder Sam Walton, though she focuses her attention on other endeavors like the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville, Arkansas. Forbes still lists her residence as Fort Worth.

Alice Walton in 2026 Walmart heiress and Fort Worth resident Alice Walton is $12 billion richer than she was a year ago.Alice Walton/Facebook

Walton is one of only 62 women billionaires on the Forbes 400 list, making up just 16 percent of the total list.

"Shares of the retailing giant are up more than 10 percent since last year, helping Walton widen her lead over the nation’s second-wealthiest woman, Julia Koch (estimated net worth: $84.6 billion), an heir to the Koch, Inc. conglomerate fortune," Forbes says.

Missing from this year's list is David Dean Halbert of Colleyville. Halbert, 70, earned his billionaire status last year when his diagnostics firm, Caris Life Sciences, went public. He became one of the 400 richest Americans in 2025, but his net worth is currently estimated at $3.7 billion, which — shockingly — makes him one of the 590 American billionaires that are "too poor to make the cut" this year, according to Forbes.

"With the AI and data center boom in full swing and the U.S. stock market near an all-time high, it now takes a record $4.4 billion to rank among the nation’s 400 wealthiest people," the publication said. "That’s $600 million more than last year and $2.7 billion more than a decade ago.

Here's how the rest of Dallas-Fort Worth's billionaires fared on this year's list:

Koch, Inc. stakeholder Elaine Marshall and her family rank No. 34 nationally with an estimated net worth of $32.2 billion. Last year: $28.3billion.
Endeavor Energy Resources chairman Lyndal Stephens Greth and her family rank No. 37 nationwide with an estimated net worth of $30 billion. Last year: $27.4 billion.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones of Dallas sits at No. 49 in the U.S. with an estimated net worth of $23.5 billion. Last year: $19.6 billion.
Money manager Ken Fisher of Dallas ranks 83rd nationally with an estimated net worth of $15 billion. Last year: $13.2 billion.
Banking and real estate mogul Andy Beal of Dallas holds the No. 110 spot nationally. His estimated net worth is $12.3 billion. Last year: $12 billion.
Gas tycoon Kelcy Warren of Dallas ranks No. 170 nationally with an estimated net worth of $9.3 billion. Last year: $7.5 billion.
Hotel and investment guru Robert Rowling of Dallas ranks 187th nationally with an estimated net worth of $8.8 billion, unchanged from 2025.
Oil and real estate titan Ray Lee Hunt of Dallas ranks 199th nationally with an estimated net worth of $8.3 billion. Last year: $6.9 billion.
Real estate bigwig H. Ross Perot Jr. of Dallas ranks No. 233 nationally with an estimated net worth of $7.4 billion. Last year: $6.5 billion.
Oil and investment mogul Robert Bass of Fort Worth ranks 245th nationally with an estimated net worth of $7 billion. Last year: $6.1 billion.
Media magnate and Cost Plus Drugs cofounder Mark Cuban of Dallas ranks No. 255 nationally with an estimated net worth of $6.8 billion. Last year: $6 billion.
Margot Birmingham Perot of Dallas, widow of tech and real estate entrepreneur H. Ross Perot Sr., ranks No. 264 nationally with an estimated net worth of $6.4 billion. Last year: $5.7 billion.
Oil and gas honcho Trevor Rees-Jones of Dallas ranks as No. 269 nationally with an estimated net worth of $6.2 billion. Last year: $5.9 billion.
Airplane leasing industry founder Steven Udvar-Hazy of Westlake ranks No. 336 nationally with an estimated net worth of $5.1 billion. Last year: $4.5 billion.
Oil and gas magnate Ray Davis of Dallas ties for 375th nationally with an estimated net worth of $4.6 billion. Last year: $3.5 billion.
Oil heir Sid Bass of Fort Worth and private equity firm cofounder Carl Thoma of Dallas tie for No. 380 nationally with an estimated net worth of $4.5 billion. Last year: $3.8 billion and $4.4 billion, respectively.

forbes 400 forbes billionaires richest americans dallas