From Friends of Fair Park to Trinity Commons Foundation, former Councilman Craig Holcomb has big visions, goals for Dallas’ city parks
 |
| SHINING ACHIEVEMENT | ‘The Contralto,’ a re-creation of a statue erected in Fair Park for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition, shines in the sun over the head of Friends of Fair Park Executive Director Craig Holcomb. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice) |
Workers this week began assembling the arch on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge that extends Woodall Rodgers Freeway over the Trinity River. The bridge is the first step in the Trinity River development.
Perhaps no one in the city of Dallas has had more to do with park development — including the Trinity River Project — in recent years than former Dallas City Councilman Craig Holcomb.
Holcomb founded the Trinity Commons Foundation and serves as its president. And a project intended to turn thousands of acres of forest into land for public use is a natural for Holcomb, who has also been the executive director of Friends of Fair Park since 1990.
His group is credited with putting together more than $200 million that helped fund a variety of projects. Under his leadership, Friends of Fair Park has helped coordinate money from various sources that helped fund the African American Museum, The Women’s Museum and the IMAX Theatre in Fair Park.
Four other buildings have undergone major restoration and 17 frescoes that had been painted over after the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition have been restored with money Friends of Fair Park put together.
Holcomb’s interest in the city’s parks began during his tenure on the City Council. He represented East Dallas and Oak Lawn — approximately the district now served by Angela Hunt — from 1983 to 1989.
When he was first elected, Holcomb was married to a woman. By the time he left office, he was already living with his partner, Hector Garcia.
Even before he came out, Holcomb was known as the honorary gay council member.
 |
| BRIDGE WORK | Workers use a crane to lift a third column into place on Thursday, June 3 as they begin work on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. (david Taffet/Dallas Voice) |
"When I ran, I was one of very few who went to DGA [now Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance] in a back room at Crossroads Market," he said. "I was interviewed and got the endorsement."
He recalls that he and Ricardo Medrano were the only two who were elected to the council that dared seek the endorsement of a gay and lesbian group.
He said that Al Calkin and Peter Brooks, both active with the Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby of Texas and the Dallas Gay Political Caucus, would call and say, "Oh, you were spotted at Lucky’s having lunch with so-and-so."
But Holcomb laughs and said his being gay was an open secret at City Hall. He said he never held a press conference to announce coming out, but in his third and final term on the council, everyone knew.
But even before he came out, Holcomb championed gay issues on the council. He served before equality ordinances were proposed and even before Micah England challenged the police department’s discriminatory hiring practice.
"I remember clearly early in my first term going with a city staffer and sitting in a parking lot," he said. They watched police harassing patrons of a gay bar in Oak Lawn.
"We agreed it needed to stop."
Holcomb left the council because of the three-term limit. But while most former council members returned to private life, Holcomb joined a new nonprofit organization that had been formed while he was serving on the council.
Friends of Fair Park was a natural fit for him and he has been involved in park development ever since.
"I just love parks," Holcomb said. "I became a believer and advocate for parks" on the council.
Holcomb was excited about the new bridge’s arch beginning to rise over the Trinity this week because, he said, people will finally see some of their bond money at work.
Next, he said, construction should begin on one of the three planned lakes. The first to be dug will flow under the bridge, which will reflect in the water. He described it as an Olympic-sized rowing lake.
A hiking, biking and horse trail through the Great Trinity Forest is funded and should begin construction soon. It will run from the Trinity River Audubon Center on South Loop 12.
Holcomb said competing interests have made design of the trail difficult. For instance, horse riders want branches cut higher and a different surface than joggers or bike riders.
And limited funds prevent building separate paths.
While progress in the 6,000 acres of Trinity River bottoms goes slowly, Fair Park is as busy as ever.
In December, reproductions of two statues and a column were placed on the Esplanade. "The Contralto" and "The Tenor" were designed for the 1936 Centennial and were apparently removed and destroyed after the exposition.
Holcomb put together funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Dallas Foundation and the city, along with additional funding from Friends of Fair Park, to recreate and install the pieces.
Another long-held goal of Holcomb’s was having a DART station at the main entrance of the park. He saw that goal achieved last September when the Green Line began service to Fair Park just before the 2009 State Fair.
Future plans include returning a skating rink to the Coliseum building, and Holcomb said a group is proposing a vintage car museum. He’s hoping in a year or two, the Midway it would remain open all summer. In addition to the Texas Star, he said they’re looking at a space needle and a speedboat ride, among others, and lots of vendors and booths.
And they want to keep everything reasonably priced.
Although the Cotton Bowl football game is no longer played at the Cotton Bowl stadium at Fair Park, Holcomb said that the stadium remains viable.
"The economic impact of the Texas-OU and the Prairie View-Grambling games are enough to maintain the Cotton Bowl," he said.
Next year a third college game, between Baylor and Texas Tech, will be added during the State Fair that they hope will become a new annual tradition.
Holcomb said he has two big projects in mind for Fair Park for the future.
During the 1936 Centennial, he said that where Grand Place now stands was the Ford Building. He’d like to reproduce the art deco glass structure that overlooked the lagoon to house a technology center during the fair.
His other goal is structured parking that would replace some of the surface lots. He said that the space between the African American Museum and the Music Hall would become an area for outdoor performances.
He has also worked to bring several events to Fair Park that had been held elsewhere in the area. The White Rock Marathon will begin and end at the park instead of the American Airlines Arena this year. City Arts and Taste of Dallas move from Downtown.
"Taste of Dallas will be held in the Esplanade area," he said. "It’s an incredibly beaut
iful area with grass and trees that creates a festive atmosphere."
And the park can handle crowds, he said, without closing off streets and inconveniencing a lot of people.
"We can handle 75,000 people easily," he said, referring to the number that participate in the marathon as runners, volunteers and spectators.
While his vision for Fair Park seems sharper, much of what will become of the Trinity River project will be determined by engineering reports on the levees and a final report on environmental impact due in 2013.
Whether or not the toll road is built, Holcomb foresees the river bottoms becoming a major attraction for the city that thousands of people will use recreationally. He said we should soon see several attractions in addition to the bridge and the first lake.
"The white water feature is supposed to be done later this year," he said.
Kayakers will paddle against white water waves but will stay in place. That will be located somewhere near downtown, he said, and the city was about to let the contract on it.
The course of the river itself will be altered to meander more as it did 100 years ago before it was channeled between the levees.
"This audaciously exuberant project we’ve planned for Dallas is going to happen," Holcomb said as the arch on the bridge began to rise.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 04, 2010.
Leave it to the gays to turn Dallas into a world-class city.
Congratulations to Craig – and a big thank you from someone who first met him back in his Top Hat – Lakewood Boulevard days…Fair Park is our jewel unique in the world.
Glad to know there are still plans for at least one of the Trinity Lakes (although I imagine none of it can be dug up until the city fixes our failing-grade levees in a couple of years).
As for Fair Park, I really hope the “space needle” (Top of Texas Centennial Tower) gets fast tracked. How cool would it be to get one 400-foot structure built shortly after the Margaret Hunt Bridge’s 400-foot arch?
It is wonderful to be reminded of Craig’s contributions. We are fortunate to have many gay altruists like him in Dallas.
‘During the 1936 Centennial, he said that where Grand Place now stands was the Ford Building. He’d like to reproduce the art deco glass structure that overlooked the lagoon to house a technology center during the fair.’
Please write more from Craig Holcomb regarding the Ford pavilion reproduction project. What is the status of this project? How can we help get this accomplished?
Thanks for highlighting Craig’s accomplishments. As a former neighborhood leader and elected official I have to say Craig was not only a mentor to me, but to many others. His many individual contributions are impressive, but his footprint of civic involvement is multiplied many times over by those he has helped, mentored, and partnered with in our community.
I serve under Craig on the Friends of Fair Park. It is such a delight to work with someone who has such depth of knowledge about how the city really works. The subtexts to the accomplishments noted in the article and in the comments are not because he is gay, but because Craig is focused yet passionate about the focus of his work. Bless you Craig from a grateful city.