Reimagine State Fair of Texas

The State Fair of Texas is a unique and important cultural asset to the City of Dallas. However, the logistics of its three-week operation require months of setup and takedown, which leaves the highest-quality parts of the park unavailable for year-long use. For this reason, the 277-acre Fair Park, despite a collection of extraordinary assets, is underutilized. In addition, numerous dead ends and visitor exposure to “back of the house” areas (such as shipping/receiving) make the user experience less pleasurable than it could be.

The not-for-profit Foundation for Community Empowerment (FCE) brought on ASH+LIME to propose a comprehensive redesign of the Fair’s layout. The purpose was to free up the lagoon and historic Esplanade area, create gathering spaces that could be used year-round, and offer a higher-quality, more profitable Fair experience.

ASH+LIME conducted extensive research on a variety of best practices for theme parks and other “immersive environments.” Based on this research, we made the case that the Fair could operate more efficiently and profitably on a more compact footprint, while creating both active and passive spaces which would enhance guests’ visits. This plan is an illustration of our team’s ability to synthesize complex information from many sources to create a large-scale, well-reasoned plan which focuses on how people experience a place. 

Although numerous firms have created plans for Fair Park, ASH+LIME’s was the most detailed and rooted in research. Based on our analysis of other fairs, our team is confident the redesigns, if implemented, will offer the highest-quality state fair experience in the United States.

the state fair of texas

3921 Martin Luther King Jr., Blvd.