Texas Promenade Walkway honors, remembers hundreds.
Here’s the simplest way to step into Texas history: buy a personalized brick on the Texas Promenade Walkway at Fair Park. For just $35, you can honor or remember any special person, a favorite pet, grandchildren, wedding anniversary, husband, you name it. Bricks allow up to three lines of inscription, 12 characters per line.
Started in the mid-80’s by the Friends of Fair Park, the Brick program has commemorated governors, immortalized actors, celebrated teachers and given many more folks timeless recognition. “Altogether there are 16,000 personalized bricks available,” states Craig Holcomb, Executive Director of Friends of Fair Park.
Follow the Fair Park brick road.
Bricks stretch from the main walkway to the Leonhardt Lagoon. There are even special brick sections available for a small additional cost. Near the Old Mill restaurant is Big Tex Circle. Some bricks are planted near Texas Discovery Garden. There’s even a rousing Texas/OU section near the Cotton Bowl. Says Mr. Holcomb, “For $250, your Texas shaped brick gets Lone Star treatment: it is surrounded with bricks to form a map of Texas.”
Money raised from bricks supports the preservation of our city’s greatest park…its historic art deco art and architecture (the largest collection of its type in the nation), as well as Fair Park murals, museums and events throughout the year.
Memories are also laid out.
Some stories behind the bricks are quite moving, according to Craig Holcomb. “One Lubbock couple got engaged at Fair Park at State Fair time. Every year they return to Dallas for the Fair and buy a brick. They’re been married 25 years now, so that’s a nice path of bricks.”
The Southwest Transplant Alliance started a program several years ago to encourage recipients of new organs to buy a brick in memory of their donor. Each spring, a stirring ceremony is held in Fair Park. “For some families of recipients and donors,” says Mr. Holcomb, “this is the first time they’ve ever met.”
Typically you’d spend thousands of dollars to get someone’s name on a Texas landmark. Fair Park bricks honor or memorialize them at a much lower cost, says Mr. Holcomb. “One year I bought bricks for my whole family. And they have been thrilled ever since.”
For more information on the Texas Promenade Walkway brick program, contact 214-426-3400.
