The State Fair of Texas is building a new headquarters in Fair Park. The announcement comes as Fair Park faces hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance.
President of the State Fair of Texas Mitchell Glieber spoke with NTX Now's Miranda Suarez about the fair's investment in Fair Park, and how they're working to make it more affordable this year.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. To hear the full conversation, click the 'listen' button above.
Telling us a little bit about this new headquarters.
The administration building that we're currently in sits right outside the ramp entrance to the Cotton Bowl. It's a beautiful view as I look out my window and be able to see the Cotton Bowl each and every day. This building has been here since 1936 when the Texas Centennial Celebration was held.
We've made it work. We've been in here since 1989. In reality, we just outgrew this building. We have people doubling up in offices. We have one meeting space and it just became a situation several years ago when we started planning for this, that we needed a new building in order to be able to grow and function and have all the amenities that are needed in order have a successful business.
We are excited about it. It's well under construction and we can't wait. It's supposed to be completed sometime in mid to late November, and we'll be moving in at that time.
Fair Park has a dark history. Homes and businesses owned by Black families in the '70s got bulldozed to make way for parking lots. How is your organization thinking about revitalization, as you look to set even more roots down here in South Dallas?
We are setting our roots here. We want to make a statement with this new building that we're here to stay, and that it's important for us that Fair Park succeeds.
When the ideas are thrown out about redevelopment, or the previous idea that is hopefully coming to fruition at some point soon with the community park, the State Fair takes a position of whatever is best for Fair Park. We need Fair Park to be successful. I think Fair Park needs the State Fair to be successful, but we also need other tenants and we need other ways for the park department to be able to drive revenue given some of the budget issues that the city is currently facing.
Any idea that's brought to us, all we ask is that we have a seat at the table. We want to talk about it. If it makes sense and it will lead to the greater success for Fair Park in the future, we can find a way to adapt and that's really kind of been our approach.
Council member for South Dallas, Adam Bazaldua, told the Dallas Morning News, "the State Fair of Texas can tout record revenue years, can continue to prove and grow success, yet that has not mirrored the state of the grounds that has afforded them their success." What is your response to that?
I understand where he's coming from. I think that revenue is one side of the equation. The other side of equation, of course, in any business, is the expense side.
The expenses to put on the State Fair of Texas are extensive, to say the least. Being in a property here that's a historic landmark, we're a little bit different than most fairgrounds who have built infrastructure within their grounds that they don't have to tear down and put up each and every year.
The expense of putting on the fair is substantial. We've been able, over the course of several years, to provide millions and millions of dollars back to Fair Park. Frankly, I don't know of many other institutions that have relationships that actually operate on city property that are providing millions of dollars back to the city and not getting a stipend in return.
So for us, it's all about giving. Of course we want to give more, but in order to give more, we have to make more. It's a business. That's where we are right now. We have a great relationship with council member Bazaldua and we can certainly sit down and talk about it. I think he's very well aware of not only what we invest back into Fair Park, but also what we are doing for this community with our community affairs departments, our scholarship programs, all of the grants that we're providing to nonprofit entities in the South Dallas area.
This is something that really has exploded for us within the last 15 years. It took a while to get there, but finally I think now people are seeing that the State Fair of Texas is genuinely invested in this community and we're putting our roots down and we want to do everything we possibly can to make Fair Park succeed, but also provide a better life for the neighbors and the community around us.
What is going to be different about the fair this year to make it more affordable?
I'm on the record in front of the city council actually stating that our main priority for 2026 is to make the fair more accessible for all. So that's where our focus has been during this past off-season period as we begin planning for the 2026 State Fair.
Our focus was on how can we lower admission prices? How can we lower parking prices? How can we get with the partners who are a very important piece of what the state fair is — a bunch of small businesses that participate, whether it be ride operators or food concessionaires, and we have to make them be a part of that solution.
There aren't a ton of people that were talking about the admission price or the parking price so much as once you get inside the fair, what you're being charged for rides and for food and beverage is important. Now, those people are running small businesses, and you know they need to be able to operate and pay overhead and pay labor to make this happen.
What we're asking of them is look, the state fair is putting skin in the game. We're lowering our prices to the best of our ability. We need y'all to participate. We need to change this narrative the best that we can. That's really where our focus has been.
What are you looking forward to about this year's fair?
I think the main thing is really just seeing how the changes that we're making on those fronts will impact us. We had several things last year that were outside of our control that impacted us. The weather was hot. We had the government shutdown that occurred. We had a lot of rumors about ICE being at the State Fair and having an active role, and none of that was true.
We were fighting a bunch of different rumors last year, so I hope that some of those external factors go away and we can focus on what we can control.
The other thing I'm really looking forward to is we're making some pretty significant programming changes this year that will be announced shortly as well.
Miranda Suarez is a co-host of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
