The Great Pumpkin(s)

NorthPark Center presents a pumpkin patch with a purpose

CenterPark Garden will be transformed into a fairytale fall destination.

Photo courtesy of NorthPark Center

A big perk of fall is seeing pumpkins everywhere, but NorthPark Center is giving gourds an even greater purpose from October 11-November 3.

With its inaugural NorthPark Pumpkin Patch, CenterPark Garden will be transformed into a fairytale fall destination, filled with thousands of pumpkins, autumn plantings, a wishing well, a gnome village, and more. And it's all to benefit Community Partners of Dallas.

NorthPark Pumpkin Patch Enter a land of fall whimsy.Photo courtesy of NorthPark Center

Since 1989, Community Partners of Dallas has ensured safety and restored dignity and hope to abused and neglected children by providing crucial resources and support to the caseworkers of Dallas County Child Protective Services. Community Partners of Dallas provides items such as winter coats, diapers, formula, holiday gifts, school uniforms, personal hygiene products, food, and more to send the abused children in our community the message that someone does care.

Designed by Harold Leidner Landscape Architects and NorthPark’s renowned landscape team, the NorthPark Pumpkin Patch will give visitors photo opportunities, hot apple cider, story times with Bookmarks (a Dallas Public Library space located within the shopping center), and whimsical scavenger hunts.

“Providing seasonal, interactive experiences for families has always been important to us at NorthPark, and the Pumpkin Patch is a new way to give back to our community,” says Nancy A. Nasher, president of NorthPark Management Company. “We are honored to support Community Partners of Dallas through this festive celebration and help raise important funds for abused and neglected children.”

NorthPark Pumpkin Patch Just head outside to the CenterPark Garden.Photo courtesy of NorthPark Center

The first Pumpkin Patch is chaired by former NorthPark Ambassador Andrea Nayfa.

The fall fun kicks off with CPD’s Change is Good fundraiser on Sunday, October 13, from 3-6 pm. This year, Change is Good is chaired by Tina Lalangas and Gavin Minnis with their children Phoebe and Tessa, and Maria and Dino Sideris with their children Yioula and Georgia. Madison and James Strode, with their children Stella, Silvie, and Trip, will serve as honorary chairs.

This annual family fundraising event encourages children to collect change to help change the lives of abused and neglected children through the important work of CPD.

Participating children will collect coins and bills in adorable jars, and even “virtual change” online throughout the fall, and will turn in the funds raised at the event for a chance to win prizes and the title of top fundraiser.

“We are absolutely thrilled to partner with NorthPark Center as the beneficiary of the magical, extraordinary Pumpkin Patch. This is such a beautiful gift to our community! Not only will CenterPark be an amazing venue for our annual fundraiser, Change is Good, but the Pumpkin Patch will also serve as the ultimate spot for families to gather this fall,” says Joanna Clarke, president and CEO of Community Partners of Dallas.

Throughout the event, all change collected by the wishing well in the Pumpkin Patch, the Dillard’s Fountain, and the Neiman Marcus Fountain inside NorthPark will be donated to CPD.

NorthPark Pumpkin Patch Find photo opps galore.Photo courtesy of NorthPark Center

The Pumpkin Patch will be free and open to the public. Check NorthPark Center's website for an up-to-date list of events and activities.

halloween fall decorations shopping mall nonprofits promoted

Good as gold

Dallas gymnast Skye Blakely wins gold at 2026 world championships

Day 7 - Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Rotterdam 2026

Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images

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ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — American Skye Blakely soared to the women's all-around gold at the world gymnastics championships on Friday, putting together four stellar routines as other top competitors faltered.

The 21-year-old's total of 55.733 included a dazzling set on uneven bars and a stoic and steady performance on balance beam and no major form breaks or falls, giving the Dallas native a moment of redemption after bids to make the 2020 and 2024 U.S. Olympic teams ended due to injury.

Blakely was born in Dallas and lives and trains in Frisco, at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA); she's also a student-athlete at the University of Florida.

Blakely broke into tears when she walked off the podium at the end of her floor exercise in the final rotation, her long and painful journey with an unforgiving sport hitting a high note that seemed far away during lengthy rehabs that taxed both her mind and her body.

Liudmila Roschina earned silver at 55.199. Ke Qinqin of China took bronze at 55.032.

Algerian Kaylia Nemour's bid to become the first gymnast from Africa to win an all-around title at worlds ended with a fourth-place finish. The 19-year-old's finals got off to a rough start in her first rotation when her feet didn't land squarely on the springboard while vaulting, forcing her to do a simpler vault that cost her valuable points.

While Nemour recovered spectacularly thanks in large part to an uneven bars routine that is one of the hardest routines done on any apparatus by any gymnast — male or female — in the world, it wasn't quite enough to reach the podium.

American Claire Pease's hopes of joining Blakely on the medal stand ended when she hopped off beam on her way to a seventh-place finish. Pease, a Sunnyvale native, also trains at WOGA in Frisco.

Blakely and Pease were competing two days after the U.S. saw its long run of gold medals in the team finals at worlds end with a second-place finish to resurgent China. That up-and-down night included Blakely failing to get credit for a connection during her beam routine that cost the Americans nearly a point in a meet where they missed out on gold by a fraction of that.

There were no such issues this time around. Blakely headed to beam atop the leaderboard after an excellent start on vault followed by a bars routine that's pretty good in its own right.

Still, beam is something different. And this time there were no missed connections and barely a wobble. Her score of 14.200 kept her in front and turned her floor exercise largely into a victory lap.

The tears after she saluted the judges were real. So were the ones when her spot atop the sport became official about 15 minutes later.

Blakely then draped the American flag over her back while posing for the cameras becoming the ninth U.S. woman — and sixth this century — to win a world all-around crown.

While the picture figures to get considerably more crowded in the next two years ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, Blakely's perseverance and talent have thrust her back into the conversation.

gymnastics olympics sports

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Good as gold

Dallas gymnast Skye Blakely wins gold at 2026 world championships