Durham Intermediate School's Holiday Market returns on Friday, Dec. 12, for the fifth year. The unique shopping experience is "a festive holiday event for students, families, friends and the community," according to a recent release by Carroll ISD. The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the DIS large gym.
The Durham Holiday Market began five years ago as a small craft fair with a few parents selling items in the school library, according to co-chairperson Yvette Carmona.
"It has grown over the past few years into something all of our students look forward to because they are given the opportunity to buy gifts for their families and friends," Carmona said.
This is Carmona's fourth consecutive year at Durham and second year as co-chair along with Nancy Dockal.
"It's been great to see firsthand as the market has rapidly grown from just a school fair into a Southlake community event."
More than 600 students and their families along with faculty, staff and community neighbors enjoy this one-day event. Carmona said the event has also rebranded this year, renaming the DIS Craft Fair to the Durham Holiday Market to distinguish it from Carroll High School's Craft Fair. This year, she said, will be its biggest Holiday Market to date with more than 30 vendors participating. In light of that, the event has been moved from the library to the gym.
Vendors from the community and surrounding areas will sell items such as art, jewelry, sweet treats, seasonal crafts, home decor and all types of Dragon spirit gear at the market. Even specialty shops located in Southlake will participate, such as ivivva by lululemon and Three Dog Bakery.
"We truly target vendors that the community and students will want to shop and buy from," Carmona said. "There are different price points as well, ranging from low for our students who bring in their saved chore money to high for the parents and adults with unlimited budgets. There is something for everyone."
Funds raised benefit the Durham Intermediate School PTO, which sponsors the school's many programs.
Infiniti will offer its Drive2Give Test Drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the DIS parking lot. Infiniti will give the Durham PTO $20 per rider/driver for a test drive.
"This is our second year to partner with Grubbs Infiniti and their Drive2Give Test Drive," Carmona said. "This is a great partnership because Infiniti is able to showcase their great cars in front of Durham, thus driving in more traffic to the market. The higher the turnout, the more money is raised and directly benefits the school. It’s a great way to move forward and give back."
Carmona said the hopes for this year's market were to exceed the number of vendors who participated last year. This will increase our profitability to give back to the school, which as of today has been exceeded by more than 50 percent. Another goal is to have a larger selection of products for shoppers.
Durham Intermediate School is located at 801 Shady Oaks Drive in Southlake. For more information, visit dispto.com.