Prison Break at Fair Park

 

Prison Break was a hit show in the 00s that involved a group of guys breaking out of and into various prisons and then being on the run from, and sometimes working for, various government agencies.  It's better than it sounds.  

In season 2, the production moved to north Texas.  With other shows like Chase, The Good Guys, TNT's Dallas, it was a golden age for DFW television production.  In the 18th episode of the second season (2007), they took advantage of the great looking locations in Dallas' Fair Park, starting with "Jumbo," the Mammoth statue:

 The episode's story line involves the Prison Breakers needing to talk to some government dude but also feeling the need to make him jump through lots of hoops in order to make sure he's not bugged, being followed, or any other nonsense.  During the process, we get a pretty decent look at some of the Fair Park facilities.

 

Featured front and center were the weirdo sculptures in the lagoon and the swan paddle boats.  Our beleaguered fed was forced to wade in up to his neck to take care of any pesky electronics he might have one him.  From there he drip dries right into...

 

 

 ...the Women's Museum.  It closed down in 2011 but the building still hosts events and whatnot.  I have no idea if that multi-screen thing is still there or not but it's preserved in posterity in this episode.

After this the cat & mouse game came to a close, we get more brief glimpses of Fair Park, Deep Ellum, and other Dallas locations.  Check out the show if you want to see more of Big D on the small screen.

 

Good to Go Part 2

Previously:  Good to Go Part 1

Let's have another look at some Dallas shooting locations of the unjustly canceled Fox series "The Good Guys." This time our stop is Fair Park!

In episode #4 "The Dim Knight", an out of town chemical supplier meets with his translator right outside Centennial Hall. As they talk you can see the Hall of State in the background. (Later they go get hamburgers in a part of town that is not too far from there.)

In episode #8 "Silvio's Way" a duo of incompetent thieves target pharmacies. For some reason the producers thought that the Coliseum in Fair Park would make a great pharmacy in the episode...and it seems to work. (Later in the episode the thieves try to rob Raven's Pharmacy in south Dallas.)

In episode #12 Little Things" the guys take part in training kids for the police sponsored "Juniors Officers" program. They conduct the exercises at the Leonhardt Lagoon which is behind the Museum of Nature & Science and in front of the Cotton Bowl.

All right Junior Officers, I've only got one more episode of this show to watch so we'll see if our heroes managed to visit any other famous Dallas locations.

Cowboy (Back) Up

Last year we were there when the historic Neon Big Tex came down from his perch at Centennial Liquor on I-35 in Dallas.  It was a roadside highlight along the highway for many years but all good things must come to an end.

But the good news was that our glow-in-the-dark buddy was acquired by the great State Fair of Texas and, just like his historic big brother, will be making yearly appearances at the Fried Food Capital of the World:

You can find him between the Cotton Bowl and the Lagoon during the Fair.  Due to various regulations, he has to come down after the Fair but, rest assured, the plan is to bring him back every year.

So in between corn dogs and Tilt-A-Whirls take some time to visit a little State Fair history in all its bright light glory and feel free to give him a great big "Howdy!"

Secret Fair Park Decoration Graveyard

While tooling around near Fair Park, I recently stumbled upon what can only be described as a Secret Fair Park Decoration Graveyard.  It is behind the park and completely fenced in but I got what pictures I could:

Clearly, there are several leftovers from the Chinese Lantern Festival (which was, in fact, extended it Feb. 17th) but look closely and you'll see some other interesting stuff:

Notice the dinosaur?  Well, there's more.  A few more dino statues, a Santa Claus, some longhorns...a cornucopia of wackiness:

What's the story here?  Are these beautiful things left to rot?  Just being stored temporarily?  Would it be a big deal if I rented a truck and took some stuff?  Questions abound.