Not far southeast of Deep Ellum, Fair Park , a gargantuan
Art Deco plaza bedecked with endless Lone Stars, was built to house
the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936, and hosts the annual State
Fair of Texas, the biggest event of its kind in the US. Among its
plethora of fine museums are the Dallas Museum of Natural
History (daily 10am-5pm; tel 214/421-DINO, ; $6.50), which
boasts reconstructions of the 20,000-year-old "Trinity River
Mammoth" and a lagoon nature walk; the hands-on Science
Place (Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm, Sun 11.30am-5.30pm; $7.50; tel
214/428-5555, ), which sets out to teach kids and adults about
physics and dinosaurs and the like, hosts lively lavish temporary
exhibits, and has its own IMAX screen ($6.50); and the Dallas
Aquarium (daily 9am-5pm; $3; tel 214/670-5656, ).
The Women's Museum (Tues 10am-9pm, Wed-Sun 10am-5pm; $5),
is the latest addition to a collection of museums in Fair Park.
Young girls will likely benefit the most from the rah-rah attitude
on display, from the Electronic Quilt - a video project
highlighting achievements in women's history - to the Wall of
Words, featuring inspirational quotes from female leaders. The
nearby African-American Museum (Tues-Fri noon-5pm, Sat
10am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; suggested donation $2; tel 214/565-9026)
features a superb collection of folk art in its permanent
collection,complete with detailed biographies of the artists
responsible. These include Clementine Hunter, a Louisiana field
hand who used materials left over by artists visiting the wealthy
plantation where she worked; Charles Williams, known as Artist
Chuckie, from Shreveport, Louisiana, who was "discovered" in 1989
when a neighbor's house burned down and he refused to leave his
mother's home until his 700 paintings were brought out; and the
real stand-out, Bessie Harvey, who died in 1994. She worked with
found pieces of wood, spray-painting them and sticking on other
materials to produce scenes such as the extraordinary Jonah and
the Whale and Two Heads Are Better Than One . Changing
exhibits here focus primarily on African art.
The centerpiece of the park, however, has to be the magnificent
Hall of State Building , an Art Deco treasure of bronze
statues, blue tiles, mosaics and murals, with rooms decorated to
celebrate the different regions of Texas. The park also holds the
Cotton Bowl stadium (tel 214/638-BOWL, ), home of the annual
college football classic, while for three weeks in October, Fair
Park spills over with more than three million revelers enjoying the
riotous State Fair (tel 214/565-9931, ) itself.