Staff Reports
The city of Grand Prairie did the right thing by canceling a privately organized “Muslim-only” Eid celebration at the taxpayer-owned Epic Waters indoor waterpark after Governor Greg Abbott warned the booking could cost the city roughly $530,000 in state grant money. This controversy laid bare a simple rule: public facilities paid for by all taxpayers should not be used to host events that shut some taxpayers out. The episode also added an odd, small-detail twist — the event organizer runs an early-learning center whose website once spelled “learning” as “learing.” That typo became a comedic footnote to a serious fight over public space and religious exclusion.
Governor Abbott stepped in — and for good reason
Governor Greg Abbott called the booking what it was: religious discrimination at a city-owned venue. He cited the law he signed that bars municipal support for projects that exclude people on religious grounds and warned Grand Prairie it could lose public-safety grant money if the event stood. After the governor’s public push, city officials said the event was canceled “after further review and in the best interest of the City of Grand Prairie.” That was the right outcome. When a park or waterpark costs millions and is built with local sales tax dollars, it belongs to everyone — not to one faith group.
Epic Waters is a taxpayer-funded facility — that matters
Epic Waters is no private backyard pool. It’s an 80,000-square-foot indoor waterpark financed partly by a voter-approved sales tax. That makes the booking of a “Muslim-only” celebration far more than a private decision. Taxpayer facilities should have clear rules against excluding people for religion or other protected traits. If organizers want an all-Muslim or faith-specific event, they can rent private venues. But municipal venues are public places. Public money should not help pay for events that tell some families, “You’re not welcome.”
The odd detail: the organizer’s website typo
The controversy brought more attention when reporters noticed that Dr. Aminah Knight — the organizer of the DFW Epic Eid celebration and owner of a local early-childhood center — had the word “learning” misspelled as “learing” on her program’s about page. It’s a small thing, sure, but it raises a question about professionalism. If you run a childcare operation and design curricula, you might want to proofread your own “about us” page. The typo doesn’t prove anything sinister, but it’s fair to expect basic competence from people who care for children or ask to book taxpayer property.
How to avoid this mess in the future
Cities need stricter, clearer rental policies for taxpayer-owned venues. The policy should say who can book, under what terms, and that any event cannot lawfully exclude people based on religion. Plain rules and plain language would have prevented this flap. Organizers can still host faith-based gatherings at private sites. That preserves religious freedom while protecting public assets and taxpayer dollars. And for city leaders: if you want to avoid political blowback and threats to funding, follow the common-sense rules that keep public spaces open to all.
At the end of the day, this was a test of principle. Governor Abbott used the law on the books to defend taxpayers. Grand Prairie backed away from a bad decision. Minor side stories — like a misspelled web page or awkward event language about “modest dress” — make for good headlines, but the main point remains: municipal facilities must stay neutral and accessible. That’s how public trust survives, and it’s how cities should behave when public money is on the line.
