Texas Tech University and the 'Celebrate Cotton' campaign is set to host its sixth annual event in recognition of the cotton industry on Saturday (Sept. 16) when the Red Raiders take on the Arizona State Sun Devils at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock. The game, which currently has a start time of 7 p.m., is a partnership between Texas Tech Athletics, Plains Cotton Growers and several area agribusinesses.

Game day festivities will celebrate the cotton industry in West Texas and its deep connections to Tech.

Officials with Plains Cotton Growers said the event puts the High Plains cotton industry on a national stage. Cotton will be prominently featured before and throughout the game, from displays around the stadium to promotion, special graphics and cotton facts during the game. Special gameday T-shirts will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis, and cotton bales will line each entrance to the stadium, each with signage talking about what the cotton in that bale can make or how it impacts the economy.

Here in the Cotton Capital of the United States, the connections run deep to Texas Tech. Cotton is represented in the university seal and is studied intensely in research labs across campus, said Steve Fraze, Interim Dean of Texas Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Cotton is the featured material in the university's Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute, in addition to several ongoing research programs focusing on cotton in Tech's Department of Plant and Soil Science.

During the past decade, West Texas cotton has experienced a dramatic transformation through new transgenic cotton varieties and advanced technology. During that time Texas Tech researchers have worked on a number of projects to enhance fiber quality through genetics and create new value-added cotton products.

Other activities associated with the game include:

• Saturday, Sept. 9; Cotton: The Natural Choice; Celebrate Cotton Runway Show; 1 p.m.; South Plains Mall

• Wednesday, Sept. 13; West Texas Agricultural Chemicals Institute Annual Conference; 8 a.m.; Bayer Museum of Agriculture

• Wednesday, Sept. 13; Texas Independent Ginners Association, Texas Cotton Association

• & Lubbock Cotton Exchange; "Celebrate Cotton" Golf Scramble; The Rawls Course, Texas Tech

• Thursday-Friday, Sept. 14-15; Texas Cotton Association Flow/Marketing Meeting; Overton Hotel and Conference Center

CONTACT: Steve Fraze, Interim Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or steven.fraze@ttu.edu

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