Mayor Leppert Declares, "On Monday, July 5, Fair Park's the Place to Be to Celebrate July 4!"

Mayor Tom Leppert just stopped down the city council's meeting to announce that, yes indeed, Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and Ron Natinsky and Friends of Fair Park's Craig Holcomb have managed to resurrect the Fair Park Fourth ... on July 5. And they've done so with the donations of title sponsor Dr Pepper Snapple Group -- and Neil and Kenny Goldberg, the brothers who run Gold Metal Recyclers on S. Lamar. (Full disclosure: Those guys used to play basketball with my father at the Jewish Community Center.)

Leppert wouldn't say how much they ponied up, only that it was "a significant investment." (Fair Park Fourth costs some $100,000 to put on.) The announcement comes one day after Fair Park exec general manager Daniel Huerta told me that last-minute efforts to resurrect the Fair Park Fourth "fizzled out" after last week's "disappointing" announcement.

"We're a city on the lead, and it's something for us to be able to make sure the city, the region, they're all looking at us," Caraway told the council chambers. "We have the responsibility to make sure we have the celebration. We put out the cry, and key people heard our cry. Thanks to Ron Natinsky. I give him a lot of thanks. He rolled up his sleeves and found corporate people, but he didn't have to look too far."

"Dallas is a can-do city," said Natinsky. "You pick up a telephone and call the Goldbergs and get things done." Leppert said the Dallas Wind Symphony will also be there. But "we need to make sure all of us come out and support the event." And, hey, the Esplenade fountain won't be in historic mode, neither.

Council's now in recess till 7 p.m. Still to come: that pesky wet-dry local option election vote!