Does Arlington's Founders Plaza Make Arlington The Top Downtown In America?

The past week or two we seem to have been inundated with propaganda puffery pieces from Fort Worth's Ministers of Propaganda.

Top Downtown in America. Sundance Square Plaza is an award winning novelty, which towns across America should emulate. Panther Island Pavilion is a huge success drawing thousands to festival after festival.

I have blogged about my various perplexations on these subjects in several bloggings, such as...

Did The Prophet JD Granger Foresee The Irving Music Factory Making Panther Island Pavilion Look Like A Hillbilly Mudpit? and The Futile Search For The Missing Pavilion, Island & Panther At Fort Worth's Panther Island Pavilion and Elsie Hotpepper Helped Me Learn How Fort Worth Became The Top Downtown In America.

I'd come to terms with the fact that there is no island or pavilion in Panther Island Pavilion. I'd already sort of addressed the fact that the music events that take place at the erroneously named Panther Island Pavilion are not as "special" as Trinity River Vision Boondogglers, like J.D. Granger, propagandasize.

But what has been nagging me in the back of my memory is the thing where the Fort Worth Ministers of Propaganda spew the propaganda that Sundance Square Plaza in Sundance Square, a square which suffered for decades without a real square, is anything all that special.

And then it came to me what has been nagging my memory.

The repetitive pattern of the Fort Worth propaganda.

I think the first time I was burned by Fort Worth propaganda was when I read, over and over again, in the main propaganda spewer, the Star-Telegram, that a new enterprise in Fort Worth, the Santa Fe Rail Market, was going to be the first public market in Texas, and was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market and public markets in Europe.

Well, you can go to the webpage I made about being appalled about various aspects of this Sante Fe Market propaganda and see quite clearly why it clearly aggravated me. That being the propaganda that this totally lame group of "stores" was the first public market in Texas and was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market, with both claims being not even remotely legit.

What further aggravated me was just a short distance to the east, in this town called Dallas, there is a public market which every single one of my visitors from the Pacific Northwest have opined reminded them of Pike Place Market, that being the Dallas Farmers Market.

Okay, now let's switch to the subject of this little plaza that downtown Fort Worth's propaganda spewers are currently touting is drawing thousands of visitors a week.

There are a couple plazas in Dallas which actually do draw a lot of visitors. One is called Dealey Plaza. The other is called Pioneer Plaza. Dealey Plaza is known world-wide in a way I seriously hope Fort Worth's plaza never is. I have been in Dealey Plaza at an event, along with several thousand people, many more people than I think can cram into Fort Worth's Sundance Square Plaza.

But it is not in Dallas where the plaza is located that I finally remembered and realized came along before Fort Worth's, and is very similar to Fort Worth's. And is bigger.

The little town of Arlington, sandwiched between Dallas and Fort Worth, at its city center, you will find Founders Plaza. Founders Plaza has an actual pavilion, called Levitt Pavilion. There is no imaginary island surrounding Levitt Pavilion.

That is a screencap of the Founders Plaza Levitt Pavilion website at the top. Below  is a screen cap of a lot of people in Founders Plaza enjoying one of the 50 free music events held at Levitt Pavilion annually.

A description from the Founders Plaza website informs us that it has every feature you will find in the Fort Worth plaza. And more. Did the Fort Worth plaza people copy Arlington, I am wondering?

The Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts is inside Founders Plaza, a city park in the heart of Downtown Arlington at 100 W. Abram St. on the corner of Center and Abram streets directly across the street from City Hall. Founders Plaza is the crown jewel in the revitalization of Downtown Arlington and has become a favorite place for an impromptu picnic lunch, community gatherings and celebrations. The park includes a spacious lawn, walkways, seating walls, beautiful trees and flower beds, an interactive water fountain generously donated by the Junior League of Arlington, public art, a history garden and the Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts.

Inside Founders Plaza, visitors will find two special areas: the History Garden and the Meditation Grove. The History Garden, near the northeast entrance to Founders Plaza directly across from City Hall and the library, features historical markers about Arlington and its founders along with native plants. The Meditation Grove, nestled in the southwest corner behind the Junior League fountain, offers a tranquil area for reflection.

I have been to an event at Founders Plaza, several years ago. I remember, also years ago, when the Super Bowl took place in Arlington, with ESPN setting up on a downtown Fort Worth parking lot, wondering why they did not use that plaza in downtown Arlington.

And then I forgot about that plaza til today.

So, did those who make what little happens in downtown Fort Worth get Green with Envy, years ago, upon seeing what Arlington had done, plaza-wise, and finally decide it was time to add a square to Sundance Square?

Modeled after the square in Arlington?

We all know how Fort Worth likes to model things after other things, like Pike Place Market. Only this time they did a good job of modeling. The similarities between the two plazas really are striking, however, with Arlington having a real stage, more landscaping, trees and a lawn.....