Safety news

State Fair of Texas prevails and opens '24 season with ban on guns

The State Fair of Texas, Texas Star Ferris Wheel

There are no guns allowed at the State Fair of Texas in 2024.

Photo by Kevin Brown/State Fair of Texas

The State Fair of Texas opened on Friday, September 27 under a new firearms ban, having withstood weeks of pressure from Republicans who had charged into a public rift with one of the state's most beloved institutions.

Organizers put the ban in place following a shooting last year that injured three people and sent some fairgoers running and climbing over barriers to flee. By the time thousands of visitors began streaming through the gates in Dallas on Friday — greeted by the roughly five-story tall cowboy “Big Tex” — the state's highest court had rejected a last-minute appeal from the Texas attorney general, who argued the ban violated Texas' permissive gun rights.

Corey McCarrell, whose family was among the first inside the sprawling fairgrounds Friday, expressed disappointment that he couldn't bring his gun to make sure his wife and two children were protected.

“It was a little upsetting,” said McCarrell, who has a license to carry in Texas. “But it didn’t prevent us from coming.”

Millions of visitors each year attend the Texas fair, which is one of the largest in the U.S. and runs through October 20. When the fair announced the gun ban last month, it drew swift backlash from dozens of Republican legislators, as well as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's lawsuit.

Paxton said Friday that he wasn't giving up, even after the Texas Supreme Court's opinion Thursday that criticized the state's argument as lacking.

“I will continue to fight this on the merits to uphold Texans’ ability to defend themselves, which is protected by State law,” he said in a statement.

Tensions over gun laws are recurring in Texas, where a commanding GOP majority in the state Capitol has succeeded in loosening restrictions over the last decade.

Texas allows people to carry a handgun without a license, background check, or training.

Not long after the fair opened Friday, Janie Rojas and her best friend quickly snatched up one of the fair's famous Corny Dogs. She said she had been coming to the fair longer than she can remember and was glad to see the ban in place.

“I’d rather nobody carry on the premises with all the kids and everybody here,” she said.

The fair previously allowed attendees with valid handgun licenses to carry their weapon as long as it was concealed, fair officials said. After announcing the ban, the fair noted over 200 uniformed and armed police officers still patrol the fairgrounds each day. Retired law enforcement officers also can still carry firearms.

The State Fair of Texas, a private nonprofit, leases the 277-acre (112-hectare) fairgrounds near downtown Dallas from the city each year for the event. Paxton has argued the fair could not ban firearms because it was acting under the authority of the city. But city and fair officials say the fair is not controlled by the city.

In August, a group of Republican lawmakers urged fair organizers to reverse course in a letter that argued the ban made fairgoers less safe. The letter said that while the fair calls itself “a celebration of all things Texas,” the policy change was anything but.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has not spoken publicly about the ban and a spokeswoman did not return a message seeking comment. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a Republican, said this week that he trusts the fair to make sure visitors are safe.

For Gabrielle Fass, her annual fair visits adhere to a routine: Grab a corndog, gush at the baby farm animals at the livestock show, and go for a ride on one of the largest Ferris wheels in the country. The 36-year-old from Dallas, who has been going to the fair since she was a child, supports the ban.

“In large gatherings like that, if the organization feels that it's best that people don't bring their guns, I agree. That makes me feel safer,” she said.

politics state fair

Movie Review

Long-awaited Wicked movie adaptation lives up to the hype

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera in Wicked.

The musical Wicked is indisputably the biggest Broadway smash of the 21st century, having grossed more $1.6 billion in New York alone and achieving the rare feat of running for over 20 years. All of which is to say that the long-awaited movie adaptation of The Wizard of Oz prequel will most likely be a massive success whether it lives up to what longtime fans envisioned or not.

Part one — yes, this 2 hour and 40 minute film is merely the first act of the musical; part two arrives a year from now — introduces Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the green-skinned witch who goes on to become Dorothy’s nemesis, and G(a)linda (Ariana Grande-Butera), the pink-garbed “good” witch, as they meet at Shiz University in Oz. Glinda is the ultra-popular one with sycophantic hangers-on, while Elphaba is shunned by almost everyone, sometimes including her disabled sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode), who’s desperate to make her own space away from Elphaba.

Her mistreatment by others leads Elphaba to get angry, which manifests itself in uncontrollable magic. Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) notices this and takes a personal interest in her, giving her one-on-one instruction in hopes of harnessing her power. In the meantime, Elphaba and Glinda attempt to go from forced roommates to actual friends, although Glinda’s entitled personality is more of an obstacle than anything else they encounter.

Directed by Jon M. Chu and written by original book writer Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, the film does a great job of distinguishing itself from the stage version while still remaining true to what made it so beloved. As Chu showed in his last film, In the Heights, he has an innate feel for how to tap into the essence of the source material while expanding it into something befitting the scope of a blockbuster movie.

In this case, he finds a way to give even greater emphasis to the bigotry that Elphaba faces simply because of her green skin; the fact that she is being played by a Black woman drives home the point even more. The story remains light and fluffy for the most part, but the ostracization/otherness that Elphaba feels is delivered in a powerful way, as is her empathy for talking animals like Dr. Dillamond (voiced by Peter Dinklage), who are facing their own persecution.

Of course, the highlight of the film is Stephen Schwartz’s music, and while not all of the songs are equal in impact, they still make for a cohesive whole. The number of songs and order they appear in the first act is identical to the stage musical, with the standouts remaining “The Wizard and I,” “Popular,” and “Defying Gravity.” While there is some superfluous action and cutaways added to certain numbers, it’s not enough to distract from what makes the songs effective.

Oddly, the progression of the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda works better on stage when the timeline is accelerated, but Erivo and Grande-Butera make up for this slight lack with their fantastic performances. The emotion each brings to their characters fits them almost perfectly, and there’s simply no denying the strength of each of their voices. Bode, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, and more make for a solid supporting cast.

The well-known ending of the first act of Wicked is a huge high point that is so good that it almost makes up for the fact that audiences won’t see the second film for a long time. But if part one is any indication, part two should turn out to be another great musical theater adaptation in a decade that has already seen its fair share.

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Wicked opens in theaters on November 22.

movies film