During the late spring and summer, you will find the place packed on the weekends as parents bring their children down here to buy fruit for the week. As a child, it was a weekly trip during May and June.

I recommend you walk the different buildings first before you start to buy. Each vendor prices their goods differently. One may sell a flat of strawberries for $10.00 and others sell them for $8.00. And they both look the same.

Ask to try a piece if you question whether it is good or not. Also bring plenty of cash as credit cards and checks are not accepted by most vendors.

They have a huge selection of all fruits, vegetables, and vegetable and decorative plants and flowers. They all look fabulous. It looked like watermelons and asparagus were in season during our visit (April 2001). I didn't see any great deals, but if you are looking for quality and freshness, this is the place. If your not looking for anything, you can enjoy a day out, and see lots of local color. As far as I could tell, prices were comparable to supermarkets (tip: go right before closing for the best deals). The merchants provided us many tastes of their fresh fruits.

The fruit and vegetable stands are set-up under 4 huge pavilions out of the hot Texas sun. The decorative plants and flowers merchants are outside the pavilions where there is plenty of sun, and they do a great job raising them. It is neat seeing so many plants in bloom at the same place. There is one enclosed pavilion that has mostly furniture and home accessories. Next to Pavilion 2 is the Caesar Chavez Plaza, which has food and drink vendors.

Dallas Farmers Market is situated on 12 acres in downtown Dallas, at the corner of Harwood and Marilla streets. You can't miss it. There are other farmers markets around the metropolitan area that are closer and more convenient, but this market is much larger, and it has restrooms, ATM's (tip: bring cash) and other conveniences.