6 May 14 - 20, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents The Time is Now The community park will sit on land cur- rently occupied by lots 10A and 10B inside Gate 11. Once, the land was home to about 300 houses comprising a sprawling residen- tial neighborhood in a historically Black community. Parking lots are a symbol of South Dallas’ complicated relationship with the fair- grounds. Even after Black residents were able to attend the State Fair outside of desig- nated “negro days,” Fair Park has failed to be a catalyst for vibrancy in the area, where some residents see a story of broken prom- ises behind once-locked gates. As previously reported by the Observer, between 1999 and 2014, property values in the whole city in- creased four times faster than values near Fair Park. Adam Bazaldua represents the South Dallas area as a City Council Member. The fairgrounds were part of the reason he de- cided to run in 2018, and he said the history isn’t lost on him. “For people to tell us that we’re going to invest in certain parts of the city and it’s go- ing to trick my constituents,” Bazaldua said. “That’s not how this works. My constituents have waited long enough — the investment needs to come to their community, and we need to have policy that is driving that con- versation and actually paving a way for what that future can look like. I refuse to accept that we’re going to continue to wait.” He campaigned strongly for progress on the community park, which residents have been waiting on for over a decade. At the council meeting where the agreement was approved, he said that there is “an unneces- sary level of scrutiny when it comes to hav- ing a project like this being shovel-ready” in South Dallas. Along with most of his fellow members of the Parks, Trails and the Environment Committee, Bazaldua supports the plan pro- posed by staff. He said he wants small busi- nesses from his district to be involved in the development, and believes South Dallas must benefit from the next steps. As proposed by staff, developers would have to provide reports on local hiring, workforce development and economic ben- efit in the community. Bazaldua said open- ing a hotel “is something that’s going to provide job opportunities here” and that he wants more livable wage jobs in his district. If the plans to build a multi-use district come to fruition, the surrounding area is likely to see renewed investment and a rise in real estate values. Those prospects often raise alarms of gentrification, but Bazaldua said he thinks the area won’t lose its character. “I don’t want South Dallas to be Bishop Arts 2.0, and I don’t want South Dallas to be Trinity Groves 2.0,” he said. “I believe that South Dallas can thrive and still have an identity of being South Dallas, one that is prideful for black Dallasites of many generations that feel like the growth that they see in their community is one that came for them.” That growth is already occurring in South Dallas, and has been for years. In 2019, the Observer reported that home val- ues in certain parts of the area had increased by 110% since 2014. Bazaldua said he felt the need for change is urgent, given the growth, and added that “you miss every shot you don’t take.” “This is the moment for South Dallas,” Bazaldua said. “I think that it is absolutely critical for many reasons. One is the mo- mentum that’s been built. And I think that speaks to that skepticism, we have momen- tum behind us, and if we aren’t going to take advantage of the wind that’s in our sail, then we’ve missed a huge opportunity because it hasn’t been presented to us in this way ever in the past.” ‘It Needs To Be More’ At 73-years-old, Delphine Ganious has seen just about everything south of I-30. She’s a third-generation South Dallas homeowner living in the house where she used to pick up her grandmother for shopping trips. Ganious remembers avoiding the fair- grounds when she was in school because she thought the food had been deep-frozen from “maybe the year before or something.” “As I grew older, I had a girlfriend that used to own a turkey stand at the Fair Park, and she told me all the requirements and how the food had to be fresh,” Ganious said. “So I still go sometimes just to walk around and eat.” She said she’s heard proposal after pro- posal to the fairgrounds, but still doesn’t feel there’s enough of a draw to bring people in. “They need stuff there that we can attend year-round,” she said. “And they’ve been talking about for many years, but nothing’s happening yet, as far as I know, and like I say, they need a marquee billboard or some- thing to tell you what’s going on at the fair- grounds, because I have no idea.” Ganious still prioritizes fresh food and said she wants to see more restaurants at Fair Park — namely a cafeteria— given South Dallas’ classification as a food desert. Ac- cording to the U.S. Department of Agricul- ture, virtually all of the census tracts surrounding Fair Park are considered low-income and low-access, meaning that at least 500 people and/or 33 percent of the population live more than 1 mile from the nearest supermarket, supercenter or large grocery store. Overall, she said, Fair Park should — and needs — to be a more vibrant part of South Dallas’ footprint. “It needs to be more,” she said. “It needs to offer something for the community and the surrounding areas for people to enjoy year-round, every day.” ▼ CITY HALL ALL’S NOT FAIR AS MANY SOUTH DALLAS CONCERNS REMAIN, OFFICIALS TACKLE FAIR PARK CONCERT NOISE. BY AUSTIN WOOD T he city of Dallas is taking steps to ad- dress concert noise in Fair Park after wide-reaching EDM beats caused disturbances as far as Northwest Highway. Some Lakewood and East Dallas resi- dents found themselves too close to the stage — even though it was miles away — on the evening of April 10. In parking lots sur- rounding Dos Equis Pavilion, the Break- away Music Festival was kicking off a two-night stint in Fair Park with perfor- mances by Polish EDM trio Łaszewo and Angrybaby, a DJ months removed from a set at Coachella. Residents in Lakewood, the M Streets and Casa Linda heard the thuds of the sub- bass. Even as far north as Northwest High- way, a little over five miles from the stage, Nextdoor posts complaining about vibrating walls began to mount. Sunny Nunan lives in the Casa Linda neighborhood. She said she hadn’t heard music blast residential neighborhoods as the April festival did in her 13 years living in the neighborhood. “I thought literally that the neighbors across the alley were having a ranger,” Nunan said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my god, their teenage son must be having a massive party.” The Issue Fair Park hosts many concerts each year at Dos Equis Pavilion, with none in recent memory generating the level of public back- lash seen this spring. In an April 17 memo, Dallas Park and Recreation Director John Jenkins attributed at least part of the distur- bance to the configuration of the festival’s two stages. As opposed to the permanent music venue, which projects sound toward noise barriers like the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park, both temporary festival stages had been roughly positioned facing north in lots 10A and 10B. Without structures to mitigate sound, the surface lots became “a reflective surface,” according to the memo. But the lots also hosted Breakaway in 2025 under an existing two-year deal signed with OVG, the former Fair Park operator ac- cused of misusing close to $6 million in do- nor funds. A similar stage configuration was used in 2025, and complaints were fewer. Park department officials have attributed the year-by-year difference to atmospheric conditions — namely, low-hanging cloud cover and high moisture levels. “It’s kind of ridiculous. “I mean, what I was thinking was, if it’s that loud here, how are these concertgoers not leaving with bleeding eardrums? The decibel level had to be insane,” Nunan said. “So it was definitely frustrating.” According to its website, the concert was supposed to wind down before 11 p.m. Rudy Karimi, who represents parts of Lakewood on the Park and Recreation Board, said the noise continued well past that time on April 10. “Folks said, ‘Hey, this is unacceptable. This is an absolute disruption. It’s going be- yond midnight.’ And they were right,” Karimi said. “It certainly did go beyond mid- night. I don’t know how far after midnight, but it was certainly past the 11 p.m. shut- down that we try to enforce in our parks.” Complaints decreased on April 11. Follow- ing the prior night’s uproar, park department staff worked with event organizers to lower decibel levels, although the stages could not be repositioned, Jenkins’ memo states. Karimi said that he didn’t “know if they’ll [Breakaway] come back” and said there needs to be more review of event plans be- forehand. “We were kind of in a trial by error, trial by fire. And we learned,” he said. “So all of these lessons learned now have become best prac- tices that will be enforced moving forward.” Jenkins memo listed several action items to mitigate noise at Fair Park going forward. What Officials Are Doing At a meeting of the City Council Parks, Trails and the Environment Committee Monday, park department staff expanded on plans to prevent similar disruptions. Staff told council members that stages at future concerts will face inward toward Fair Park’s structures and away from residential neighborhoods in the future. The city will begin requiring decibel limits in all new mu- sic agreements and sound monitoring will take place at upcoming events in Fair Park. The monitoring will take place at the near- est adjacent property line as mandated by city code, Fair Park General Manager Brett Wulke told the committee. Some neighborhoods in South Dallas, Kursza A 2026 Dallas stop for the Breakaway Music festival caused an uproar over noise. A Fair Future from p4
