Atop a southern Dallas freeway, families are set to celebrate. After years of planning and construction, the area’s new deck park is opening in May.
The opening ceremony for Halperin Park, May 9 at 9 a.m., will kick off a weekend filled with festivities, according to the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation, which manages the park. Visitors will see live performances, kids’ activities, yoga and fitness classes.
Halperin Park, over Interstate 35E and beside the Dallas Zoo, is the second deck park in the city’s park system, after Klyde Warren in Uptown. Halperin includes a playground, community building, amphitheater, water features and parking for food trucks.
At the site, trees are leafing as workers add finishing touches. Spring signals a time for new things, said April Allen, president and CEO of the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation.
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“It’s fun to see everything really coming to life, both literally and then figuratively, in terms of this park that’s been so long in the making,” Allen said.
The new park is at the end of the first of two phases. Allen said the foundation is still seeking about $15 million, which will fund the park and an operating reserve. Once finished, the park is estimated to cost about $300 million, stretching from South Ewing to South Marsalis avenues. More than $200 million has been raised.
An amphitheater at Halperin Park, a new deck park in Oak Cliff, on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Dallas.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
The park will be a space for people to gather and to teach the rest of the city about Oak Cliff, Allen said. “It’s a broader opportunity just to create a point of pride,” she said, adding that she and her team are Oak Cliff residents.
“We’re really proud to be residents here,” Allen said. “I think it is one of the most culturally, socioeconomically mixed parts of Dallas. That’s something that, unless you live here, you wouldn’t understand.”
In a news release, Arun Agarwal, president of the city’s park board, said he was excited for the park.
“It is a wonderful example of the amazing things we can do in this city when government and private organizations work together for the greater good,” Agarwal said in a statement.
As the foundation plans to open the park, it’s a time of excitement and anxiety, Allen said. Last month, the nonprofit got official approval from city leaders to operate the park. Now, the foundation’s staff is growing from six people to about 40.
April Allen, president and CEO of the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation, talks about various projects throughout the deck park on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Dallas.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
The park is expected to see about two million visitors annually. Staff will include people who handle facilities, security, horticulture, events and programming. The park has a community event scheduled for the summer, when North Texas will host nine FIFA World Cup matches.
The May celebration is presented by Amazon, according to the foundation, with the company providing both financial support and giveaways for visitors.
“Halperin Park represents the kind of community-centered innovation that creates lasting impact,” said Vickie Yakunin, Amazon’s head of community affairs for Texas, in a statement.
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Allen said the park, which is envisioned as bridging neighborhoods separated when the highway sliced through Oak Cliff, wouldn’t exist without the community.
“There are community members from both sides of the freeway that came up with the idea for the park, and have been integrally involved in the design phase, the programming and now the opening weekend.”
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.