Shop Jolly

Dallas Farmers Market overflows with local gifts everyone will love

With more than 250 local, family-owned businesses, the Dallas Farmers Market makes it easy to shop local this holiday season. If your "nice list" runs the gamut from family to friends to business colleagues and beyond, you can find exactly the right gift for everyone, all in one place (and stop for a meal, snacks, or drinks while you're shopping).

Because the Dallas Farmers Market is known first and foremost for its delectable food items, expect to discover tasty gifts for every palate — and hope that your recipients share.

Abundantly Aromatic
Give the gift of relaxation through natural handmade soaps, candles, scents, fragrances, shea butter, salt scrubs, sugar scrubs, bath fizzies, beard products, and, of course, gift vouchers.

Baskets and Quilts by Bless
Preserve your memories with love through 100-percent handmade quilts, unique T-shirt quilts, and more. The must-see baby quilts that are one of a kind, and monogramming is available upon request.

Carter Mill Soap Company
These handcrafted body treats are made with skin-loving fruit and nut oils — such as sweet almond oil, rice bran oil, and avocado and hemp seed oils — as well as nourishing butters like shea, kokum, and mango. All the products are made 100 percent by hand from raw, wholesome ingredients, using carefully crafted formulas. They never use pre-made bases or harmful or harsh chemicals.

Charming at The Market
You can't go wrong with flowers, especially festive floral arrangements and fresh wreaths and garland. Find field-to-vase bouquets, cool gifts, creative workshops, and event planning and florals at the Dallas storefront, which is bursting with everyday floral, easy-to-grab gifts, and charming boutique items — all locally sourced.

Dallas Antique Company
Show your Lone Star pride with Texas souvenirs and jewelry, along with European antiques, vintage and rustic decor, unique accessories, and more.

Des Patisseries Bakery
This family-owned and -operated business uses the finest, freshest ingredients to create delicious French-inspired pastries from scratch.

Eko Deko
Eko Deko's roots began with a desire to build woodworking projects in the most sustainable way possible. The majority of the lumber used to make the shelving, furniture, accent pieces, or wood art is hand-milled from trees knocked down after storms, or salvaged from old barns and buildings. The other items and vintage scores in the shop have been personally hunted and selected to complement each other, or to be that perfect finishing touch.

Folklore & Tradition
A family-owned company that is devoted to handmade artisan jewelry and clothing, they use organic fabrics and embroider jewelry by hand.

Lone Chimney Mercantile
This little shop features over 300 bold and colorful images from Dallas, Austin, Waco, Houston, Oklahoma, and many other hot spots, with the option to frame them in 100-year-old window frames. Scope out wares from local makers along with cute succulent displays, handmade jewelry, graphic prints, and more.

Mama Ida shopping bags
Available on the weekends at the DFM information booth for $35, this durable, waterproof bag is great for picnics, farmers market expeditions, and more — and it's just the right size for a kid to carry, too. This bag is resilient and reusable, so you can help keep single-use bags out of landfills; plus, it's made of natural jute fiber, which generates more oxygen.

Mudhen Meat & Greens
Swing by for a holiday gift box that includes Mudhen preserves, hot sauce, candles, holiday gifts for hosts (who could resist a "turnip the beet" apron?), and more, or contact events@mudheninthe.net to order in advance or design your own custom creation.

Native Trashion
At least one component from each of this brand's designs is made from recycled material that is collected or donated, such as wine corks, tree branches, paper, and metal. The other components (chains, clasps, etc.) are purchased from jewelry wholesalers or handmade within the company.

Scardello Artisan Cheese
Be a cheese rock star this season with a gift box that comes in several different styles, sizes, and filling options, meaning you're sure to find the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for (or easy-to-buy-for) friend or loved one. Shipping and delivery are also available.

Urban Farmhouse Designs
The popular Oklahoma City purveyor of reclaimed wood home furnishings and decor recently opened its first location in Texas at the Dallas Farmers Market. Shopping there is an event for the whole family, as it's dog-friendly and boasts a two-story play area for the kids.

These are only a few of the fabulous finds from the Dallas Farmers Market. Head here to glean more inspiration from the complete gift guide, and don't forget about ordering a fruit basket from the Market itself.

You can't go wrong with flowers from Charming at the Market.

Photo by Ashley Tobar

You can't go wrong with flowers from Charming at the Market.

promoted holidays shopping

Park news

New I-35 deck park in southern Dallas moves closer to spring 2026 debut

Courtesy rendering

Renderings for Halperin Park.

A massive deck park spanning Interstate 35E in southern Dallas is set to open in late spring 2026. Called Halperin Park, the five-acre community space has been under construction since 2017 and will be completed in two phases:

Phase One (finishing in late spring) will include the section from Ewing Avenue to Lancaster Avenue and will feature a pavilion, amphitheater, playground area, interactive fountains, a second level overlooking the Dallas Zoo and the highway, and a large event room for every dining and special events.

Phase Two (to be completed over the next five years) will add the park section toward Marsalis Avenue, with an additional pavilion and extra gathering space.

The project is being developed by the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation and built by the Texas Department of Transportation. Funding comes from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, as well as the private Halperin Foundation, which donated $23 million in 2024 and secured naming rights.

In January, the Dallas City Council approved spending up to $8 million to complete Phase One for spring completion.

The public-private initiative will create $1 billion in economy impact over the next five years, according to a study by UNT Dallas.

Rendering of Halperin ParkCourtesy rendering

A park with purpose
Developers say the park aims to integrate the west side of Oak Cliff, which was somewhat segregated with the construction of I-35 in Oak Cliff in the 1960s, leading to low-income communities and generational poverty.

The project started nine years ago, when the Texas Department of transportation planned a reconstruction of I-35 and began gathering neighbors’ feedback. The result was a plan to widen bicycle and pedestrian lanes in the service roads alongside the highway, and to build a deck over the highway between Ewing and Marsalis avenues, adjacent to the Dallas Zoo. (Similar Klyde Warren Park's "deck park" concept.)

While the project faced some skepticism at first, it later gained momentum as private supporters continued to join.

“Forty percent of the Dallas population lives in South Dallas, yet this segment only accounts for 15 percent of the tax base,” says April Allen, President and CEO of the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation, citing the opportunity to address the economic equality in the area through the development of the park and all the business it can bring.

Rendering of Halperin Park.Courtesy rendering

Neighborhood pride
For Allen, this project is personal. The Toronto-born executive first moved to Dallas 22 years ago to work at Neiman Marcus, after getting her engineering degree in Canada and her MBA at Harvard. Oak Cliff felt like the right place for her as an intown neighborhood, with a confluency of cultures, local pride and an entrepreneurial spirit, as she describes it. Her first Realtor told her Oak Cliff was “not the right place for her." Instead of choosing a different neighborhood, Allen chose a new Realtor.

She has lived on the same street in North Cliff since, now raising her two kids with her husband, an Oak Cliff native, whom she credits for her further understanding of the neighborhood, its roots and civic dynamics.

Under Allen’s leadership, Halperin Park is focused on a community-first approach that provides support to the neighbors through programs around health and wellness, after-school activities, local food trucks and markets, and educational workshops to help expand homeownership and financial acumen.

To highlight the history and culture of Oak Cliff, they will feature an annual Walk of Fame, lifting up the stories of those who contributed to Oak Cliff history, with the first one happening as part of the inauguration of the park, organizers say.

They will provide their own 24-hour security team to ensure a safe place for families and kids, with clean and well-lit crosswalks.

Given their proximity with the zoo, parking will be available on the East side of the park at the zoo site, with a walkway to the park. They are working on parking options for the West side.

“We want to create a space for community growth and more business in the area," says Allen. "We are already seeing this come to life with projects such as East Dock, and we are excited for future investment that the park will bring."

parks

Shop Jolly

Dallas Farmers Market overflows with local gifts everyone will love

You can't go wrong with flowers from Charming at the Market.

Park news

New I-35 deck park in southern Dallas moves closer to spring 2026 debut

New restaurant Dallas Spicy Chinese Cuisine does it for real in Plano

H-E-B to host mass hiring event for newest store in Dallas-Fort Worth

Dallas ranks 4th for most financially distressed residents in America