Streets were lined up with hundreds of people who came with their families and loved ones to see the parade.
By Suryatapa Chakraborty
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Christine Vo / Staff Photographer
Hundreds gathered around downtown Dallas Saturday morning to witness the holiday parade on a cold morning as dense fog engulfed the top halves of the high-rise buildings in the city.
Children mounted their parents’ shoulders, bundled up in warm winter clothing, and watched eagerly as sets of performers marched down the streets of downtown. Some came with their families, and others with friends and loved ones.
The foggy weather did not deter Tesha Fisher from attending the holiday parade with her loved ones.
“We were here in the rain last year … we’ll take this,” she said with a laugh.
Christine Vo / Staff Photographer
Fisher, who grew up in Dallas, said it was her second time attending the parade, and for her, the best part of coming to the parade is getting to spend some time with family.
Audiences lined the streets, cheering from the benches placed on either side of the road as marchers and performers walked by.
Some came prepared with camping chairs. Others came wrapped up in blankets. Vendors walked up and down the streets selling cotton candy and Mickey Mouse-shaped balloons. The smell of fresh hot dogs wafted down Main Street Garden Park from the intersection of Commerce and South Hardwood streets.
Parade-goers watched in awe as the huge inflatable saying “Dallas Holiday Parade,” as well as other Christmas-themed balloons, floated down the streets of downtown to the beats of a marching band.
Karina Hernandez, of Dallas, said she has been attending the holiday parade ever since she was an 8-year-old kid in the 2000s.
Hernandez, now in her 30s, said it has become somewhat of a family tradition to attend the holiday parade with her children and her parents.
She said in almost two decades of coming to the parade, not much has changed, except that there might be more people showing up for the festivities now.
“It’s just how I remember it,” she said.
Suryatapa Chakraborty is a Breaking News Reporter at The Dallas Morning News. She graduated from Boston University in 2025 with a Master of Science in Journalism. She has previously completed internships at the Boston Globe Media and the Cape Cod Times.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
