Step by step, Fair Park is reclaiming its potential as a source of civic pride. Early this month, the Dallas Park and Recreation Board enthusiastically endorsed hiring Visit Dallas to provide turnkey sales, booking and marketing services for Fair Park. Dallas City Council members are set to vote on that agreement Wednesday, and we hope they approve it.
The agreement, technically an amendment to a larger, existing contract with Visit Dallas, should help Fair Park attract multi-day events and festivals that would bring in hundreds or thousands of visitors. Those events would produce much-needed revenue to help cover the expenses of maintaining the park’s historic buildings, fountains and grounds.
Of course, the city’s now-canceled contract with OVG, a venue management company that operates major sports and concert facilities, was also expected to result in a generous stream of income. It didn’t. The company laid much of the blame on the pandemic, which canceled most in-person events for more than a year, but it’s clear in hindsight that OVG overpromised and council members were insufficiently skeptical of the company’s claims.
OVG recently accused the city of Dallas of breach of contract and is seeking $5 million in damages.
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After the OVG contract fell apart, the park department adopted a new approach to managing Fair Park: partial privatization. The city will maintain the grounds and buildings and oversee contracts for services such as parking and other functions, like event sales.
The new agreement with Visit Dallas aligns with that strategy. Visit Dallas will receive about $1.2 million annually to cover additional staff, marketing research and materials, media strategies and other services needed to promote Fair Park. Visit Dallas would like to have a physical presence on the grounds, which seems like the right approach.
The city, in turn, would receive 100% of the revenue from event bookings sold.
There are still significant issues to negotiate, such as minimum revenue and attendance targets. We hope the city will be ambitious but realistic with expectations. The agreement states that existing cultural institutions at Fair Park, such as the African American Museum and the Children’s Aquarium, are responsible for their own marketing.
Fair Park is a beautiful but quirky and complicated property. It includes independent institutions that are open year-round, one massive event that takes over the entire fairgrounds for more than three weeks and many structures that are designated as landmarks. It needs expert, nationally connected sales and marketing help.
A local organization, one with Dallas in its name, is the right partner for that work.
“We …would be honored to potentially help steward and elevate a place that means so much to our city,” Visit Dallas officials wrote in an emailed statement.
We hope it receives that chance.
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