Fair Park

On Fair Park Fund Audit, Were You Going to Mention the Missing Five Million Dollars? Ever?

The city auditor's new bad report on a 27-year-old economic development fund in black South Dallas talks about technical problems with paperwork and mumbles on about the need for better "performance measures." Yeah, yeah, yeah. But when, Mr. Auditor, were you going to tell us about the missing five ... More >>

After Delays, Fair Park Bike Share Will Be Ready by September. Or Maybe November.

On Tuesday afternoon, with summer vacation on the wane, a sparse a handful of families could be found at Fair Park's entrance at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, en route to the aquarium or the Texas Discovery Gardens. Further into the park, there was a man sitting on a bench overlooking the lagoon ... More >>

When the Twilight Gleams, Head to Fair Park

Unleash the Fun

Introducing Cold Beer Company, the Neighborhood Pub That Will Be Intoxicating You Soon(ish)

Have you ever noticed the small, vacant building on the triangle of earth framed by Main Street and Exhibition Avenue near Fair Park? It's been abandoned for years, so for the most part it's not much to look at, but in a way it does have a bit of character. It exudes what real estate agents love to ... More >>

Imagine Fair Park Without the Fair

Oh, Go to Hell

Dallas' New Strategy For Revitalizing Fair Park: Bike Sharing

Whatever "dramatic ideas" Dallas' new task force will propose to revitalize Fair Park now that the summer amusement park has gone belly up are still months, if not years, away. In the meantime, the city is moving forward with smaller initiatives aimed at attracting visitors to the park. Key among t ... More >>

Fair Park's Summer Amusement Venture Is Dead. Is Anyone Surprised?

Wait. The State Fair of Texas spent $30 million to start up a new summertime amusement park at Fair Park. It ran one season -- two months plus a week -- last summer. Now they're giving up already? No second season? What is this, Broadway? You put in $30 million, and it's such a bust from the get- ... More >>

Calm Down. Pet A Dog.

C'mon, Get Tappy!

Textual Relations

OK, So Don't Bulldoze Fair Park. Let's Re-imagine It -- In a Better Neighborhood.

All right, maybe it wasn't enormously helpful of me to suggest last July that we bulldoze Fair Park, the 277-acre dilapidated wasteland one mile southeast of downtown that once housed 1936 Texas Centennial Exhibition. But, c'mon. Why would we just let it just sit there and molder into the ground? ... More >>

Tickets to Big Texas Beer Fest on Sale Now

Chad Montgomery, the organizer of the Big Texas Beer Fest, says tickets to this year's event are now on sale. Brewers from Austin, Houston and other parts of the state will be on hand this go around, in addition to the Dallas-based brewers who participated last year. Ten local food trucks, Scardell ... More >>

Unsilent Night - Fair Park - 12/1/12

Unsilent Night Fair Park's Centennial Hall Saturday, December 1 Against my better judgment, I decided to review this year's Unsilent Night Festival at Fair Park. It's not that I had anything against the bands. I'd spent the previous night watching Machine Head ignite the crowd at the House of Blues ... More >>

Plus, It’s Got A Ferris Wheel

A Plan for Fair Park: Bulldoze It

Over at The Dallas Morning News uniblog, my former colleague Robert Wilonsky has an item keeping us up to date on plans to turn Fair Park in South Dallas into a year-round commercial amusement park, an idea about which I have no personal objections or, for that matter, especially strong feelings. B ... More >>

More Art Than You Can Shake a Paintbrush At

Girl, You Are a Woman Now

Tomorrow, the Museum of the American Railroad Begins Rolling Some Pieces to Frisco

​Couple of months back we noticed that the Museum of the American Railroad hadn't pulled out of Fair Park as planned -- or as stipulated by its agreement with the city of Dallas following the resolution of the lawsuit brought by the city in January 2010. Still not sure when the trains roll out -- ... More >>

How to Rev Fair Park's Economic Engine: Bring on the Scrapyards

State Rep. Eric Johnson, Democrat of southern Dallas and Mesquite, has an essay on the op-ed page of The Dallas Morning News today describing Fair Park as a "powerful economic engine" and a "jewel of our city" whose economic power should be harnessed to improve life in surrounding poor neighborhoods ... More >>

You Look So Beautiful With Those Wings in Your Teeth

As Fair Park Gets Its Big Award, Mayor Says City Needs to Find a Way to "Leverage" Historic Site

You may recall that back in October we told you Fair Park had been named a Great Public Space by the American Planning Association. Well, during the council's lunch break today, just after he got emotional about the children, Mayor Mike Rawlings gathered with the city council, Parks Board chair Joan ... More >>

Charging Up City Hall: They're Plugging in Electric Vehicle Charging Stations All Over

​A couple of months back we noted that as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's $115-million EV Project, which will spend a few years analyzing if and how much folks actually charge their rides, San Francisco-based ECOtality will be plugging in electric vehicle charging stations at a handful of ... More >>

Following in Pheidippides' Footsteps

Fair Park Rings in the Season

It's Not Exactly the Return of the '84 Dallas Grand Prix. But Close. Only, Much Smaller Cars.

A couple of days back a Friend of Unfair Park shot me a note: "Thought you might want a look at this, seems pretty exciting!" Below was this link, which takes you to something called the Texas Lone Star Grand Prix scheduled to take place March 17-18 at Fair Park -- which some of you may recall was t ... More >>

Like We Need to Tell You: Fair Park Named As One of the "Great Public Spaces in America"

​Talk about your good timing: Last night, Dallas City Hall sent word that the American Planning Association yesterday released its list of the Great Places in America, which is divvied into three categories -- Great Neighborhoods, Great Streets and Great Public Spaces. It's the latter with which w ... More >>

Fair Park Railroad Museum to Take Baby Step Tomorrow Toward Moving Up to Frisco

​Speaking of lawsuits involving the city ...It's been two months since we learned of a likely resolution in the city's case against the Museum of the American Railroad at Fair Park, which the City Attorney's Office sued to remove in January 2010 so it could reclaim the land for State Fair of Texas ... More >>

Your First Look at Those Proposed Interpretive Signs of the Times Meant for Fair Park

​Early last month, Leslie dropped by the Landmark Commission's Fair Park Task Force meeting during which Friends of Fair Park President Craig Holcomb introduced us to the cell-phone tour signs that'll be planted around Fair Park -- 60 of 'em, looks like. That's from the Landmark Commission's agend ... More >>

How'd He Get That Shot? The Fireworks Over Fair Park, From Both Sides of the Lens.

Photo by Justin Terveen​There were no Fair Park Fourth-goers to be found in the Esplanade Fountain this year, not like last year. All was calm and orderly as thousands marched into the Cotton Bowl, save those who didn't want to ditch their baby strollers. And, yet again, the great Justin Terveen w ... More >>

Happy Fair of July

Don't Be Stupid at Concerts: Before Heading To Warped Tour, Remember These Safety Tips.

​Fair Park has been the venue of choice for several youth-friendly summer music festivals of late, and gee whiz, those darn kids can certainly raise a ruckus. Two fans died at this past week's Electric Daisy Carnival in spite of seemingly some fairly intensive preparation on the part of the festiv ... More >>

On Saturday's Electric Daisy Carnival at Fair Park: Things Seemed To Be Going Smoothly...

[Editor's Note: We originally sent city columnist and noted curmudgeon Jim Schutze out to Fair Park on Saturday night on something of a lark. We knew he'd be a fish out of water, sure. But we also knew that, in some ways, covering the event would be right up his alley -- a chance for him to see one ... More >>

City Hall Offers Blow-By-Blow Recap of Events at Electric Daisy Carnival at Fair Park

Photo by Kevin Todora​This morning, Frank Librio, spokesman for the city, called to say that at 10 this morning, officials with the city, the Dallas Police Department and Dallas Fire-Rescue were meeting to review the events leading to the likely drug overdose of 19-year-old Andrew James Graf and t ... More >>

City Officials Investigating Events Leading to Death, Hospitalizations During Electric Daisy Carnival at Fair Park Saturday Night

Photo by Kevin TodoraThe scene in the Esplanade Fountain at Fair Park last night during Electric Daisy​Shortly after 11:30 last night, not long after an infinitesimally small amount of Dallasites elected a new mayor, the calls and email began pouring in, all saying more or less the same thing: Cha ... More >>

Time To Time Step

Tower of Power: Fair Park Crawls Closer to Becoming Year-Round Destination

Photos by Leslie MinoraThe Observation Tower Ride will fill this 30-foot hole behind the Cotton Bowl. Don't worry, they're covering it up for the State Fair.​There is a big hole in Fair Park. Finally. Eventually the crater will be filled with a 500-foot pole surrounded by a doughnut-shaped slowly ... More >>

Tribune Company Is Now Selling More Archival Photos From Texas Centennial Exposition

Tribune Photo ArchivesThe original Tenor and Contralto statues over the Esplenade Fountain, which have since been recreated and returned to their original positions​Speaking of Fair Park ...The very week we -- and only we, for whatever reason -- commemorate the June 6, 1936, opening of the Texas C ... More >>

Celebrate 75th Anniversary of Centennnial Expo With Footage From 1961 State Fair of Texas

​From the extremely loud to the completely silent ...Yesterday was a momentous anniversary that passed without any notice whatsoever: It was the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Texas Centennial Exposition at Fair Park. Coincidentally, though, one YouTuber marked the occasion by posting some ... More >>

The News Has a Hissy Fit Over Poison Soil. Maybe It Should Dig Into Its Own Dirt.

​Yesterday The Dallas Morning News published an editorial written in a style that I, as a journalist and one-time editorial writer, could only describe as screaming hissy fit The newspaper is incredibly pissed off because a recycling yard they've been trying to run out of business for the las ... More >>

Electric Daisy Carnival Returns to Fair Park on June 18 with Paul Van Dyk, Diplo, Many Others

The Lek BrothersMoby performing at the 2010 Electric Daisy Carnival at Fair Park​Last year, you may recall, the Electric Daisy Carnival -- after 14 years in Los Angeles, a handful of years in Denver and just one in Puerto Rico -- made its Dallas debut with a pretty phenomenal showing at Fair Park. ... More >>

City to Spend Some Fair Park Marketing Money to Keep TicketCity Bowl Through 2018 Game

​The Cotton Bowl Classic, of course, is no longer played at the Cotton Bowl -- hasn't been for two years, when the bowl game decamped for Arlington, thus making it a very unhappy New Year 'round Fair Park at kickoff time. Then came along the TicketCity Bowl -- Texas Tech vs. Northwestern to start ... More >>

Landmark Would Like State Fair Vendors to Pick Up After Themselves at Fair Park

Some of the displays around Hall of State and the lagoon that remained after the State Fair of Texas​The 7-year-old who lives in my house and I have spent the last two weekends at Fair Park while he wrapped a school project; so -- sniff -- proud. And somewhere between walking around the Cotton Bow ... More >>

City Auditor Finds South Dallas/Fair Park Trust Fund Still Needs to Be Fixed. Still.

Illustration by Craig LaRotonda​Six long years ago I wrote about the dysfunctional South Dallas/Fair Park Trust Fund, the now-23-year-old program intended to put money into businesses and nonprofits and you-name-its intended to bring new life to the Fair Park area. By '05 it had doled out more tha ... More >>

First Look at Fair Park's 500-Foot-Tall "Observation Tower Ride" Meant for Midway

Click to enlargen this look at Errol McKoy's 500-foot erection proposed for Fair Park.​It's been almost two years since State Fair of Texas President Errol McKoy began talking about his plans to take a bite out of Six Flags' business by erecting his own monster Top of Texas Centennial Tower on the ... More >>

Sure, Gene Simmons Was At His Fair Park Party Last Night. But So Too Were Burton Gilliam, Randy Travis and Other Familiar Faces.

Photos by Danny HurleyBurton Gilliam with some of the many soldiers invited to attend the Aces & Angels fund-raiser at the Fair Park Centennial Building last night​Our Danny Hurley skated down to Fair Park last night for Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed's Aces & Angels poker tourney, concert ... More >>

Passion Tent

Macho, Macho Bowl

Run, White Rock, Run