fair park

On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council voted to take the reins on […]

Artist Theo Ponchaveli and volunteers painted a mural in South Dallas commemorating the area's Black history and culture, featuring vibrant orange letters and elements like the Dallas Skyline and Cotton Bowl arena.

From notes by Dallas Documenter Brianna Patt As the city […]

The Dallas Free Press has created a visual story to simplify the complex South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan and a roundtable discussion between three of South Dallas' new arts leaders, both of which can be found on their YouTube channel.

South Dallas' arts and cultural institutions are preparing for next summer's FIFA Fan Festival at Fair Park, with the African American Museum of Dallas mounting a Nelson Mandela exhibit and Forest Forward looking to maximize the opportunity to tell stories and build relationships.

Three newcomers to Dallas recently arrived on the scene at […]

Park and Recreation board members questioned the future of South […]

Long overlooked and plagued by safety concerns, the MLK DART Station has seen little of the investment poured into nearby Fair Park. Now, three commercial property owners — two Black, all local families — control 27 acres around the station. They have benefitted from a grassroots business coalition led by Hank Lawson and believe transit-oriented development could revive local businesses and draw long-overdue attention to South Dallas — even after a recent proposal fell through.

The City of Dallas approved a long-awaited area plan to […]

Six candidates attended a forum to discuss public safety, affordable housing, economic growth, and more, with four of them declaring their support for a historic district in the Queen City neighborhood and an authorized hearing for the South Dallas/Fair Park Area Plan.

Fair Park First has announced an $8.65 million federal investment for the 10-acre community park, which will replace a portion of the parking lots in Fair Park, and has pledged to include amenities such as a 1-acre playspace and a historical marker, while also providing easy access to the surrounding neighborhoods.

KERA and Dallas TRHT have released a series of documentaries highlighting the history of civil rights and social justice activism in South Dallas and Fair Park, with plans to build curriculum around it to educate youth on the topic.

With the few grocery stores and continuing food apartheid in South Dallas, community organizers have established urban farms and community gardens. While the projects have fostered a sense of community, to what extent have they improved food access?

South Dallas is defined by its residents as zip codes 75210 and 75215, and a small portion of 75223 and 75226, and is a 14-square-mile area immediately south of Downtown, but immediately north and northeast of Oak Cliff.

Tucked inside the Innercity Community Development Corporation (ICDC) offices off […]

The community is excited about the new amenities and upgrades to their Park South YMCA, but permit delays leave them without their Y until the end of 2024 or early 2025.

As Dallas works to create the city's first comprehensive land use plan, South Dallas neighbors ask how their input will be considered.

This content originally was a newsletter Dallas Free Press emailed […]

On August 28, Fair Park First CEO Brian Luallen presented plans for a community park and parking garage, seeking input from South Dallas.

Here is a list of Back to School events happening in your community that will have backpack and school supplies giveaways, health and family resources and other services for students.

“Fair Park has a lot of historical significance,” Moore says as he describes the panoramic painting in the courtyard of the South Dallas Cultural Center.  He chose to paint a chronological display of Fair Park’s role in promoting the understanding and awareness of Juneteenth.

Desiree Powell hopes that the food park can be a living example of Black excellence and history in South Dallas. That’s one of the reasons she decided to partner with Fair Park First.

Tabitha Wheeler-Reagan, the co-chair of the South Dallas/Fair Park Area Plan Task Force, says the neighborhood’s PD 595 deters new businesses from coming into South Dallas. PD 595’s initial goals were to police alcohol sales and prevent gentrification, she explains, but she and the task force believe the zoning needs to be updated — still protecting the community, but encouraging local entrepreneurs, too.

John Spriggins, manager of the South Dallas Cultural Center, launched the Juanita J. Craft House Artist in Residency to provide artists with studio space to create work that “capture[s] the immediacy of the moment where historical neighborhoods are rapidly changing due to socio-economic shifts."

“I’ve never seen the marquee light up before,” noted Elizabeth […]

Dallas Free Press recently asked questions about the South Dallas Fair Park PID to try to understand how these tax dollars are benefitting the neighborhood, and how COVID might be impacting the work.