Fair Park Community Park: $93 Million Vision Nears Groundbreaking With Millions Still to Raise

The Fair Park Community Park is on track to break ground in late Summer 2026 and open to the public in early Fall 2027, according to the timeline announced by project partners — but the roughly 10-acre South Dallas park still needs millions more in philanthropic giving to fully realize its vision. The project carries a $93 million philanthropic funding goal, and as of April 2025 its remaining fundraising need stood at approximately $8.77 million.

Fair Park Community Park: A Vision for South Dallas

The Community Park is the signature capital component of Phase 1 of the 2020 Fair Park Master Plan Update, and its primary goal, as the Rees-Jones Foundation describes it, is to create access to greenspace for residents of the neighborhoods surrounding Fair Park. For decades, those neighborhoods have had limited access to quality greenspace despite sitting adjacent to one of Dallas' most recognized public assets.

"We have been focused and diligent in delivering on a promise made to our neighbors in providing a Community Park accessible to all and open year-round," said Darren L. James, president of Fair Park First, the nonprofit contracted to build the park. He described the park as "a true community asset and a direct investment in families."

The project is also part of a decadeslong effort to repair damage from the city's decision to raze homes to build the fairgrounds' parking lots, which the planned park would replace near Exposition and South Fitzhugh avenues.

Fair Park Community Park: Key Milestones and Funding

Pulling together announcements from the city, the project's funders and its builders, the park's path from planning document to construction site looks like this:

The sequence shows a project that gathered philanthropic momentum in 2025, cleared its administrative hurdles in early 2026, and added its largest single corporate foundation gift weeks before its scheduled groundbreaking.