Spring Lake Park Fairgrounds

Spring Lake Park Fairgrounds. City of Texarkana, Texas. , In 1950 the first permanent building, the Merchant Building, became home to the Four States Fair and Rodeo. The foundation for the Fine Arts building was laid the following year and completed in 1952. It is the only surviving building from the Four States Fair and it has led a rich double life. Throughout the year, it was home to Dot's Roller Rink, named for the daughter of owners Jack and Pauline Halbert. But for one week each year it was transformed from roller rink to entry point and exhibit hall for the fair. Fairgoers brought their prize winning livestock, artwork, and locally grown produce through this building as they entered the fairgrounds. Carnival rides and games were plentiful and foremost in the minds of children, but the rodeo was the focal point for most of the week's festivities. , Over the next four decades that the fair operated at Spring Lake Park, the grounds were substantially altered. In 1967, the completion of Interstate 30 bisected the park grounds, substantially reducing its acreage. The fairgrounds continued to change until the Four States Fair and Rodeo's lease on the fairground property expired in June 1984. , The fair was then relocated to its present location in Texarkana, Arkansas. This left a large part of Spring Lake Park open for other attractions to develop, such as a splash pad, a dog park and quality baseball fields. T-ball, youth baseball and college baseball have provided competition and excitement for players and spectators of all ages.