Dallas leaders are debating whether the embattled nonprofit, Fair Park First, should go forward with creating a long-promised 10-acre community park after it lost its contract to manage the fairgrounds.
Earlier this year, the city ended its agreement with Fair Park First and venue management company Oak View Group after more than $5 million in misspent donor funds were revealed. Tensions between the city and OVG have become evident as the company ended its management role and left Fair Park last week.
Fair Park First has more than $30 million raised to create the green space, which has been expected to start construction after the World Cup next year and open in 2027. Without a new agreement for the community park, plans sit in limbo for a space that has been envisioned as undoing historic harm in the community.
“We keep promising that community stuff, and it’s always something,” said Bo Slaughter, a city park board representative for southern Dallas.
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The community park’s price tag is only expected to grow with delays. On Thursday, several park board members were briefed on the status of the park and said they needed time to assess Fair Park First and explore alternatives. If the nonprofit isn’t offered a new agreement solely to build the green space, the funding it raised could be in jeopardy.
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“It would be very challenging to find another entity that could take this on because there are existing donor agreements directly to Fair Park First,” said Ryan O’Connor, deputy director of the park department. He added that the nonprofit had less than $6 million left to raise to reach its goal of about $39 million.
While some park board members said the community didn’t deserve to see yet another delay on the project, others said the choice felt rushed. They are waiting to receive a completed audit of how money was spent at Fair Park. Others said that they needed to gain insight on legal vulnerabilities, considering how the previous contract with Fair Park First ended.
Arun Agarwal, park board president, said the desire from the community and donors means having “due diligence.”
“I don’t think there’s one person in this city who is going to say to not build this community park,” Agarwal said. “It is deserved. … We need to give it to them, but we need to do it the right way. We don’t have a second chance.”
He added that there were other partners to explore and questioned why the board should move forward without an audit amid “all this nonsense happening.”
In June, Dallas officials ended the city’s contract with Fair Park First and OVG360, which was brought on as the day-to-day operator. The separation followed a 2024 audit revealing $5.7 million of restricted private donor funds were improperly spent on park operations.
Across Fair Park, which is owned by the city, the park department director earlier this year accused OVG of not making basic repairs and century-old buildings had fallen into disrepair.
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Tensions between the city and OVG became evident as the company ended its management role at Fair Park. The company exited the park last week, but officials have said the company didn’t turn over key information in the handoff.
On Thursday, O’Connor listed measures Fair Park First has taken to provide financial transparency, including bringing on the Dallas Foundation to oversee restricted funds. He said the nonprofit had assembled a credible and committed team to create the park as board members asked about the organization’s finances, experience and what happens next.
Several park board members were hesitant, wanting to avoid potential issues and deliver on the park’s promise.
Scott Goldstein, a park board representative, said he wasn’t placing blame, but he wasn’t comfortable with getting into another agreement so quickly. He said he finds it important to look at the future of Fair Park’s overall management before deciding on smaller components like the community space.
“I don’t know why we’re rushing into this,” Goldstein said. “We just got out of a really messy divorce with this and another entity.”
Vana Hammond said she wanted to ensure the partnership wouldn’t be putting responsibilities on the organization that it can’t handle.
“Nothing against the people that are running the organization, great people,” she said.
Jason Brown, Community Park project chair and Fair Park First board vice chair, speaks during an event announcing the funding for the community park, on Friday, June 27, 2025, at Fair Park in Dallas.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
Jason Brown, the nonprofit’s board chair, said the nonprofit is focused on how it delivers on its promise to the community, which he’s from. He said as he was leaving that the nonprofit was still hopeful. The questions will allow the organization to shore up any issues and continue working.
“I don’t like the process,” Brown said. “It’s like, what are we doing? Are you really ensuring that we’re doing our due diligence or are you exercising your power?”
Several people were in support of moving forward with the nonprofit, pointing to its record of raising funds and commitment to the park. Tim Dickey, who is departing the board, said that now that Fair Park First has come out of the “nightmare” situation and is no longer involved in the fairground operations, its focus is on finishing the park.
Dickey said to change course now would be to “change horses toward the end of the race.” He added that developing the park had already been a years-long ordeal.
Daniel Wood, who represents District 7 where the park is located, said the park has already been delayed for generations in South Dallas.
“I hear it often that South Dallas doesn’t get this, and South Dallas doesn’t get that … I would hate to see a delay of any sort,” Wood said.
The community park is part of the city’s vision to undo the harm and neglect caused by municipal policies, including razing homes of Black residents using eminent domain to expand parking for the State Fair of Texas. There have been hundreds of community meetings, along with changes in the park’s design to reflect feedback and include amenities.
The exterior of Fair Park’s newly remodeled Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
O’Connor said at the meeting that Fair Park First put together a credible team for the community park as he answered questions around the organization’s ability to handle the project. Several board members asked about potential legal issues that could arise, like with bringing the nonprofit back to Fair Park after removing OVG.
John Jenkins said there are risks both with moving forward or the potential for future dissolution of the nonprofit. A mere development agreement allows the city to manage or mitigate some of the risk, he said, lending a year or two to see how Fair Park First progresses.
If the nonprofit doesn’t follow through, the board can cancel the contract, and the project would fall back on his department to figure out how to deliver the park, he said.
“I have to be very honest,” Jenkins said, adding that he doesn’t want his department to be responsible for developing or running the community park.
“Our hands are going to be big enough full just focusing on Fair Park and the Cotton Bowl,” he said.
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Jenkins said he understood the concerns, but he needed direction from the board on whether the community park’s development should be paused. Thursday was a time for board members to be briefed and give feedback, meaning no vote had been planned on the matter. Jenkins added that more discussion around Fair Park is expected in October.
According to the current timeline, a groundbreaking for construction is expected in August next year. It would then take about 15 months for the park to be ready.
The park could see a ribbon-cutting as soon as November 2027. It’s unclear if that timeline will remain.
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.