Greenville Ave News

Dallas Mavericks' Mark Cuban saves St. Patrick's Day Parade — again

Greenville Avenue St. Patrick's Day Parade in Dallas

Revelry returns to Greenville Avenue.

Photo by Jerry McClure

A sigh of relief crosses Greenville Avenue with the return of the annual St. Patrick's Day celebration. The Dallas Mavs St. Patrick's Parade & Festival, presented by the Dallas Mavericks, will commence at 11 am on March 17.

As presenting sponsor, the Dallas Mavericks will have two floats; the Mavs Express bus; Mavs dancers; mascots; and ManiAACs.

And there's more Mavs still: The Mavs Corner will be located at the CVS corner of Lovers Lane and Greenville and will showcase food trucks, exhibitors, a Mavs Retail Shop, and Mavericks' entertainers.

Much Mavs. But isn't that how it should be? Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban saved the parade from dying in ~~2017~~ 2012. Who would begrudge him a teensy, tiny bit of Mavs promotion?

The parade route starts on Greenville Avenue at Blackwell Street and ends at SMU Boulevard at Central Expressway.

Parade-goers are encouraged to ride DART as parking is extremely limited; you can get off at Mockingbird Station, Lovers Lane Station, or Park Lane Station.

Featured event spaces are open from 9 am-3 pm and include:

The Exhibitor Zone (sponsored by Buyers Barricades) will be situated at 5111 Milton St. (Office Depot/CVS) and will feature food trucks, exhibitor booths, sponsor exhibits, family friendly activities, and a VIP tailgate area.

Brew Fest will be located in the Office Depot parking lot. Presenting sponsor Good Neighbor Brews will be pouring select products on tap. Entrance to Brew Fest is free and will also feature food trucks, exhibitors, and a DJ station.

VIP Tailgate section. Access pass is available at dallasstpatricksparade.com – click VIP Tickets. Includes curbside parade route seating.

VIP Brew Fest. Access pass is $45 at dallasstpatricksparade.com and includes 2 complimentary drinks, VIP area with port-a-pots.

Don't forget the Greenville Avenue Area Business Association, which was formed in 1987 to help unify area businesses and promote the Greenville Avenue region. Its first objective is and always will be the presentation of the annual Dallas St. Patrick's Parade & Festival.

Block Party
The Greenville Commerce Association will host the companion Lower Greenville Avenue St. Patrick’s Day Block Party from 9 am-6 pm in Lower Greenville between Vanderbilt and Vickery.

The party has been a tradition on Lower Greenville for over 30 years.

Entry is $12 and includes access to three music stages located near the sponsoring bars, and wide selection of 20+ beers. Participating bars include Stan's Blue Note, The Grape, Terilli's, Dodie's Reef, Blue Goose Cantina, Halcyon, Slater's 50/50, and Dallas' oldest Irish pub, The Dubliner.

Guests must be 21 and older, and are encouraged to dress in green.

Anticipate various street closures in the area between 9 am-8 pm. Travel to the event will be provided by a free shuttle and, new this year, Lyft. The shuttle will run 11 am-5 pm from the Mockingbird DART Station directly to the block party.

For new users, Lyft will offer $5 off three rides with New User Code: SPBP, or else 25 percent off a single ride to the block party for existing users with code: SPBLOCK18.

greenville-avenue holidays

family values

Dallas sees Texas' biggest one-year jump in cost of raising kids

Courtesy of SmartAsset/iStock

Raising a child in Dallas will cost parents over $23,000 this year.

Raising a child is not an easy or inexpensive feat, and a new study has determined Dallas parents are saddled with the second-highest costs for childrearing in Texas, with expenses jumping higher than any other metro statewide since 2025.

SmartAsset's latest report, "Cost of Raising a Child in Major U.S. Metros – 2026 Study," calculated year-over-year changes in the annual cost of raising a child (factoring in childcare, additional housing costs, food, transportation, medical costs and other necessities) in the 48 largest U.S. metro areas. MIT's Living Wage Calculator was used to compare the living costs of a household with two working adults and one child to that of a childless household with two working adults.

Childrearing costs in Dallas-Fort Worth have grown 4.5 percent since last year, totaling $23,340 for a family of three in 2026. That's over $1,000 more than what it took to raise a child in 2025, and it's $1,414 higher than what it took in 2024.

This is how SmartAsset broke down the cost for raising a child in Dallas:

Cost of childcare: $10,736
Cost of food: $1,826
Other expenses: $10,778

Though Dallas has the second-steepest costs for raising a child in Texas, the metro is actually much more affordable than most other places in the U.S.: DFW ranked 39th in SmartAsset's national list of cities with the highest childrearing costs in 2026, making it the 10th most affordable U.S. metro for raising a family.

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont in California topped the list with the highest childrearing costs in the U.S., at $43,171. The cost for raising a child in this California metro soared nearly 11 percent higher since last year.

Memphis, Tennessee ranked dead last as the most affordable U.S. metro for raising a child in 2026. Families will spend less than $20,000 to raise a child in Memphis, only 3.24 percent more than what was needed in 2025.

Raising a child in other Texas metros
It may come as no surprise that Austin is the most expensive place to raise a child in Texas, and it appeared as the 31st most expensive U.S. metro for families. Parents will spend nearly $25,000 to raise a child in the state's capital city, which is $703 higher than it was a year ago.

Meanwhile, San Antonio-New Braunfels is the most affordable metro in the Lone Star State for raising a family, and it's the third-most affordable place for raising a child nationwide. San Antonio parents will spend $21,393, or $448 more than last year, on their childrearing costs.

Houston also ranked among the top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for raising a child, landing in 7th place nationally, with childrearing costs adding up to $22,605 in 2026. That's only $737 more than last year.

The top 10 most affordable U.S. metros for raising a child in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Memphis, Tennessee ($19,922)
No. 2 – Nashville, Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee ($21,216)
No. 3 – San Antonio-New Braunfels ($21,393)
No. 4 – Birmingham, Alabama ($21,684)
No. 5 – Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, Virginia ($22,314)
No. 6 – Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia ($22,470)
No. 7 – Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands ($22,605)
No. 8 – Richmond, Virginia ($22,658)
No. 9 – Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky ($23,270)
No. 10 – Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ($23,340)

family dallas fort worth arlington smartasset reports livability