Let's After-Party

After the Dallas Holiday Parade, head to Verizon Village for more magic

Keep the party going at Verizon Village.

Photo courtesy of Verizon

Every December, downtown Dallas transforms into a swirl of color, music, and holiday energy as thousands gather for the beloved Dallas Holiday Parade.

This year, all roads lead to one especially sparkling destination: Verizon Village at Main Street Garden, the gold at the end of the parade.

As the parade's presenting partner for the third year, Verizon is once again bringing its signature spirit of community, creativity, and joy to the city’s biggest one-day outdoor event. And if the parade is the heartbeat of the holidays, Verizon Village is where that heartbeat turns into a dance party full of interactive fun, photo-ready moments, and surprises designed to bring families, friends, and entire neighborhoods together.

A holiday tradition that keeps growing

Since rolling down its first route in 1988 — originally celebrating anniversaries for The Adolphus and Children’s Medical Center Dallas — the Dallas Holiday Parade has blossomed into a North Texas institution.

Dallasites now mark their calendars for the first Saturday of December, staking out their favorite spots along Commerce and Houston Streets as floats glide by, giant balloons sway through the skyscraper canyons, and marching bands fill the morning with music.

This year, the parade returns Saturday, December 6, with step-off around 8:30 am and the main event beginning at 9 am.

Once the parade winds its way through downtown, the fun continues just a few blocks away at Main Street Garden, where the New Verizon Village runs from 11 am-3 pm.

This is your chance to explore interactive booths, enjoy live entertainment like the Human Snow Globe, and capture those all-important holiday photos by snapping pics at the AI photo booth or posing with Mr. and Mrs. Claus at the Village's entrance.

Snag seasonal goodies and enjoy snacks from Comeback Cookie, Crunchy Munchy, RU Chocolate, Bakes by Sophia, and a hot chocolate and coffee truck.

Verizon Village is a full-blown celebration on its own that's designed for everyone, from toddlers with sugar-cookie energy to teens hunting for Instagram backdrops to adults who know good holiday vibes when they see them.

Lace up at CultureMap City Rink

As if Verizon Village didn’t already deliver enough good cheer, 2025 brings a brand-new attraction that’s turning Main Street Garden into a winter playground: the inaugural CultureMap City Rink, a holiday ice rink launched in partnership with Verizon and Downtown Dallas, Inc.

That’s right, an outdoor rink (made of real ice!) right in the heart of downtown Dallas, and everyone's invited to lace up. Skate after the parade or just kick back at the Apres Chalet and sip cocoa while taking in the city skyline. It’s the perfect holiday memory-maker, and it's all steps from all the Verizon Village action.

Tips to make your parade day shine

Gather your crew and plan to make December 6 an all-out celebration with these invaluable tips:

The parade is free! Want a guaranteed view? Limit bleacher seats are available to purchase in advance.
Take DART. Street closures and parking congestion come with the holiday territory — public transit makes the morning run a lot smoother.
Bundle up. Or don’t. This is Texas, so it might be frosty or it might be 65 degrees. Who knows!
Bring blankets or collapsible chairs if you’re not in the bleachers.
Plan to stay. The best part of the day happens after the floats finish at Verizon Village and the CultureMap City Rink.

With the Dallas Holiday Parade setting the tone for the season, Verizon Village and CultureMap City Rink turn the day into a true downtown celebration.

dallas holiday parade verizon village culturemap city rink culturemap ice rink downtown dallas ice rink 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.

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