In an area of the US which boasts one of the most rapidly growing urban areas in the country (I understand it competes with San Diego for that dubious honour) not only are places like Frisco and McKinney keeping some grip on their heritage but so too downtown Dallas where Fair Park retains most of the buildings erected for the 1936 Centennial Exposition. The outskirts of the park are akin most others on fair day – everyone trying to sell you variations on sugar, kids everywhere (why are they not in school?) and tense parents braced for craziness even as they push through the turnstiles. But once you break through those outer layers you are presented with a fabulous collection of art deco design and statues. Even the 1932 centrepiece Cotton Bowl is an art deco delight. I enjoyed the 1930’s stone and concrete parade but was not quite so taken by the tall, talking cowboy(Big Tex), all 15 metres of him and not quite in the same cultural class as the stone mannequins in whose company he could only be embarrassed.
