Most people do the State Fair of Texas the same way every year. Say hello to Big Tex, ride the Texas Star, find this year’s fried oddity, grab a corny dog, and head home full and sunburned. That is a perfectly good day. But Fair Park is 277 acres of Art Deco buildings, gardens and museums, and a lot of the best of it sits a few steps off the Midway, where the crowds never seem to look. With the Fair running through October 18, here is where to wander.
Start with the Hall of State, the limestone and gold showpiece at the end of the Esplanade, built for the 1936 Texas Centennial. Most fairgoers walk right past it. Step inside the Great Hall and you will find soaring murals of Texas history and a hush that feels miles away from the Midway. It is free with your Fair admission, and on a hot afternoon it may be the best seat on the grounds.
The African American Museum is also included with your ticket and stays open daily during the Fair until 7 p.m. It is devoted to African American art, culture and history, and its collection of paintings, sculpture, photographs, letters and rare books traces Black life and achievement from the 1500s to today. Give it an hour. You will not regret it.
When the noise starts to wear on you, head to Texas Discovery Gardens near Gate 6. It sits in the old Hall of Horticulture, another Centennial building, and the 7.5 acres of native and adapted plants are about as calm as Fair Park gets. The real draw is the Rosine Smith Sammons Butterfly House and Insectarium, a two-story tropical greenhouse where thousands of butterflies drift past your head. Downstairs, look for the Emergence Chamber, where chrysalises hang in glass waiting to hatch, and stop by the snake exhibit on the way out. The butterfly house is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily during the Fair and requires a separate ticket. While you are there, find the Centennial House, a concrete “house of the future” built for 1936 and the last one of its kind still standing.
The Creative Arts Building is where the Fair still feels like a Texas county fair. Thousands of Texans enter its contests every year, and the blue-ribbon quilts, cakes, pickles and jams on display are a reminder of what this whole thing was built on. Watch home cooks go head to head in the Competition Kitchen, or catch a live cooking demo. One note this year. The famous butter sculpture is taking a year off while its display space gets repaired, so the building is showing off “United We CAN” instead, an American flag made from hundreds of jars of home-canned goods representing every state. It is a fitting tribute for America’s 250th birthday, and a pretty great one.
For something nobody expects, look for the paddle boats on Leonhardt Lagoon. They are back this year after a long absence, and drifting under the Art Deco skyline with a lemonade is as relaxing as the Fair gets. The lagoon is also one of the best spots for photos, especially late in the day when the buildings start to glow.
And if you need a real meal, the Old Mill Inn is open again inside Fair Park. The restaurant was once the second-oldest in Dallas, and it sat empty for years before a Fair Park concessionaire brought it back to life this season. It is a welcome break from eating on your feet, in a building with more history than most of the food stands combined.
Now, the food. The Fair quietly made eating cheaper this year, and most people have not noticed. Fair coupons are still $1 each, but more than 200 food and drink items now cost 10 coupons or less under the new Every Day Values program. Look for the Every Day Value sticker on the front of a stand. Some of the best deals are the simplest. Cotton candy is six coupons, and bottled water runs as little as a coupon or two at select stands.
Watch for Howdy’s Value Menu, which offers smaller portions of Fair favorites for fewer coupons. It is the smartest way to try more things without hitting the wall by noon. And if you can go on a Thursday, do it. Thrifty Thursdays bring reduced prices and mini versions of signature items from participating vendors, and only two are left, October 8 and October 15. Seniors 60 and up also get in for $7 on Thursdays.
The best bargain on the grounds may belong to a man better known for the opposite. Abel Gonzales Jr., the Fair’s Fried Jesus, won the very first Big Tex Choice Award in 2005 with his Fried PB&J and went on to give the world Fried Butter and Fried Coke. Last year, tired of hearing that the Fair had gotten too expensive, he opened Cheap Eats on the Funway under his Vandalay Industries banner, and it is back this year. The rule is simple. Everything on the menu costs less than 10 coupons. Look for hot dogs, burgers, fries, egg rolls, pizza, funnel cakes, churros and lemonade, all at prices that feel like a different decade. His original Vandalay stand on Nimitz is still frying the wild stuff, so you can do both in one afternoon.
Two more worth knowing. The commemorative 2026 drink cup costs 13 coupons and refills for four all season, so it pays for itself fast if you are coming more than once, and there is a kids’ version for 10 coupons with five-coupon refills. And the GO TEXAN Pavilion is handing out free chocolate milk. Leftover coupons never expire, so stuff any extras in a drawer for next year.
One more deal, and it is a big one if you are driving. On Friday, October 9, parking at the official State Fair lots is free for the day, courtesy of DraftKings. It saves you $25 a car, and the Fair says it is the first time it has ever offered free parking. Spaces go first come, first served, so get there early. The lots open at 9:30 a.m., the gates open at 10, and the quickest route is Exit 48A off I-30. Saturday is the Texas-OU game, so Friday is your window.
A few tips to make the most of it. Weekday mornings are the quietest time to see the museums and gardens. Most exhibit buildings close at 9 p.m., so save the Midway for after dark. And bring comfortable shoes, because the gems are spread out. The State Fair of Texas runs through Sunday, October 18. If you have not gone yet, there is still time to see it a little differently.
