..to compete with SFOT, but on a smaller scale:

...They want to convert the State Fair midway into a year-round amusement park that officials say will compete with Six Flags Over Texas, though on a smaller scale and at about half the ticket price. A roller coaster is planned, as is a 500-foot space needle ride and a high-speed water ride....

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...k.172edd26.html

Fair Park's Year Round Plans Need Testing, Time:

http://www.nbcdfw.com/around_town/the_scen...sting-Time.html

...McKoy sees the new State Fair amusement park stealing some of the thunder from Six Flags Over Texas. That idea, said a Six Flags spokeswoman, is "comical."

"I know how theme parks work," said McKoy, who worked for Six Flags for 20 years before becoming chief of the State Fair in 1987. "I certainly know how they think."

A Dallas Morning News review of the State Fair's finances found that McKoy's plans hang almost entirely on the economy....

http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/news...n2.4c042b0.html

A rare aside from Terpy...anyone who worked in the business for 20 years more than 20 years ago and thus thinks they know how "they" think, especially at Six Flags then as opposed to the business now, is either a wide-eyed wonder or sadly and badly mistaken. Although the fair business is an allied business, it is a very different business from the amusement park/theme park business. You can start with sources of funding, attendance and season differences and go from there...

http://www.the33tv.com/news/kdaf-year-roun...0,5755876.story

The year round operations proposal, along with building a coaster, continues...and now, plans for a greenhouse (!?) on the midway?

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark...air_preside.php