A Personal Focus on Fair Park

Watching parts of historic Fair Park in Dallas fade over the years has inspired me to wonder how a place that was built with so much Texas grit and audacious imagination could be decaying like this once-revered old Leica camera my dad left behind when he died.

Using my dad’s long-ago photography lessons, I peered through the lens of my modern camera and focused on Fair Park – its past and its future. What I documented was no longer the majestic jewel of the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition but the unwanted patina a public treasure might acquire during decades of neglect: The fissures in concrete; the faded murals; the peeling paint. Elements that create decay’s perverse beauty.

The photos also captured evidence of periodic attempts at restoration that have become the gauzy film of hope that emerges when city leaders manage to find resources that they hope will keep the buildings from crumbling. The photographs here document both the deterioration and the limited restoration in Fair Park.

The intent is to emphasize the Park’s importance and why revitalizing it is essential. The park’s 100-year-plus history is richer than just the acclaimed art and architecture created for the Centennial. Its history also includes the story of a destroyed neighborhood, the exodus of cultural institutions and the home for the nation’s largest state fair. The complicated history of the world-famous fair is inextricably woven into the fabric of its home, Fair Park, owned and protected by the City of Dallas and its taxpayers.