THE STORY OF A PARK

It’s been more than 10 years since former Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings formed a Fair Park Task Force. The task force made two foundational recommendations: 1) Select a nonprofit/for profit team to manage the city-owned park and 2) encourage the new management team to build a community park on the east side of the 277-acre campus.

The first recommendation was fulfilled when the city selected a new management team in 2019. And six years later the city cancelled the managers’ contracts after the nonprofit Fair Park First (FPF) accused for-profit operator Oak View Group (OVG) of mishandling some qualified donor funds FPF raised to build the Community Park. Also, the Park and Recreation Department was critical of OVG’s poor maintenance record that arguably left Fair Park in worse shape than before OVG took over daily operations.

Unfortunately, no ground was broken to fulfill the task forces’ second recommendation – build the Community Park – before the city dismantled the public/private experiment.

Five months after the city took back management control, the city approved on February 25, 2026, a hard-fought development agreement for FPF to use funds it raised to build the 10-acre park. The nonprofit had begun the process and completed the design phase before its contract was pulled.

All of this is to take place on an existing parking lot that once was a neighborhood. The transformation from a Black neighborhood into a giant surface parking lot in the 1960s and 1970s is an enduring stain on the City of Dallas and the State Fair of Texas. The State Fair encouraged the city to clear that neighborhood to build the giant lot that fills up once a year for the State Fair of Texas’ 24-day run.

Building the community park may be a symbolic atonement for displacing hundreds of neighboring families and businesses but it doesn’t erase the ugly history. It is, however, a step toward restoring Fair Park and the surrounding South Dallas community that has been systematically underserved by the city. Restoring trust, if there ever was any, between Fair Park and the State Fair and its neighbors, is as important as preserving the revered, but crumbling, Texas Centennial-era art and architecture.

But building it isn’t just about repairing historical wrongs. It’s also about looking ahead.

Not just ahead to trees, walking trails and playgrounds. But ahead to reimagining Fair Park as a place that draws in scores of people daily – not just during the State Fair and other one-off big events.

What’s Next?

The design phase is complete and working-drawing production is next. Because there is a lack of confidence by some city officials that FPF can complete the project on time and with a small staff, there are stipulations on the timing and the process.

From the time of agreement execution, the project must be completed within 24 months. Construction cannot begin until after the World Cup and the corresponding FIFA Fan Fest concludes. The Fan Fest will be the last act for that section of the vast parking lot before it turns from concrete into plants and trees. The Community Park construction is scheduled to begin in August 2026 with completion by year-end, 2027.

In addition, FPF will have higher-than-usual city oversight as Park Department staff will review design and construction documents. FPF is required to deliver quarterly updates to the City Council Finance Committee and allow a city audit.

Also, there is still money to raise but FPF has secured more than $30 million toward the $40 million it is estimated to cost. FPF’s fundraisers express confidence that the estimated $9 million needed to complete the fundraising is a reasonable goal now that the project is officially approved.

Delivering the park on time and on budget will be a big job, but construction will not be the final marker of success. Declaring “job done” only after building it would be a big mistake the city can’t afford to make.

The agreement with FPF is only to build it. Once built, the city must make someone responsible to maintain it and manage the programming required to deliver on the promises of organized community events, marketplaces and other activities. Without that organization, maintenance and security it will be another expensive, unkept promise.

There are critics who say that it would be better sited closer to more active areas of Fair Park such as near the lagoon or the African American Museum. The chosen site is not only full of symbolism but also is closer to the residential neighborhoods, the community-oriented South Dallas Cultural Center and a planned Fair Park Loop Trail that will branch off from the south end of the Santa Fe Trail at Parry Avenue.

The planned loop trail will create an access point into the community park for bikers, runners and walkers. Perhaps the most important access point is from the other side of Fitzhugh Avenue that borders the community park site. Here it will be vital to accommodate neighborhood pedestrians with safe and attractive access to the community park. Crossing the wide and busy South Fitzhugh Avenue will require traffic mitigation near the park site to be pedestrian safe.

Making the new park accessible and safe for pedestrians should be a high priority.

But first it has to be built. Here we will tell the story of this long-awaited community park. We’ll start with the site’s history and the planning and politics that got us to this point. We’ll introduce you to the community leaders, historians, city officials, park planners, fundraisers and the people who live beside the storied site.