Located just two miles east of Downtown Dallas, Fair Park is the largest historical landmark in Texas and boasts one of the nation's largest collections of 1930s art and architecture. The 277-acre campus is home to the State Fair of Texas, museums, Cotton Bowl Stadium, an outdoor amphitheater, Music Hall at Fair Park (Broadway shows, ballet, opera), and over one thousand events each year.
In January 2019, Fair Park First, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, assumed management of Fair Park from the City of Dallas in partnership with OVG360. As an organization, Fair Park First’s primary goals are to improve this world-class park, entertainment, and cultural campus, and the community’s access to it by upholding our four pillars:
Fair Park First's Four Pillars:
History - It is our duty to uphold and promote the historic integrity of Fair Park, a National Historic Landmark. We are diligent to preserve and build upon that rich legacy and create something meaningful for future generations.
Community - The community shows a deep appreciation for those directly impacted by the work being done, as well as sensitivity towards the wants, needs, and concerns of the surrounding South Dallas neighborhood and DFW metroplex.
Activation - Activation speaks to your mission to restore the energy of Fair Park outside of the State Fair and bring events year-round to the Fairgrounds.
Culture - Cultural institutions have always called Fair Park home. We are sensitive to the needs of existing institutions but are looking to bring in more innovative partnership opportunities.
To learn more about Fair Park, visit fairparkdallas.com.
To learn more about Fair Park First, visit fairparkfirst.org.
We're leading the charge to restore and revitalize this National Historic Landmark by implementing transformative and sustainable improvements to the campus like added greenspaces, new daily uses, new events and tenants, and significant infrastructure upgrades.
Our inaugural capital project is transforming the largest parking lot on the campus into a 18-acre Community Park that will break ground in early 2023 and open in the fall of 2024. The Community Park’s major features and elements include ecological gardens, picnic areas, a community stage and pavilion, multiple play areas, a dog park, a market grove, water elements, and an abundance of outdoor rooms to relax and gather.
The new Community Park, which is the first step to putting the ‘Park’ back in Fair Park.
This Park will also serve as a positive transformative point in our history. This is the beginning of a decades-long process to revitalize a part of an area the city bulldozed in the early 1970s to make way for parking, erasing a community of homes and businesses belonging to Black families. This is an opportunity to give this space back to the community. The Community Park will include requested amenities from the surrounding residents, such as WiFi, spacious green belts with fountains, splash parks, performance areas, natural Texas landscapes, and more. Please join us in delivering this long-awaited 40+-year promise to the community.
Please help us reach our goal of $25,000. Together, your donation will help us put the 'Park' back in Fair Park.
Organization name
Fair Park First
Causes
Arts, Culture & Humanities, Community Improvement, Environment & Conservation
Operating Budget
$10,000,000 or more
Counties Served
Dallas
BIPOC Serving
Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx
BIPOC Leadership
Board Chair
Address
3809 Grand Avenue