Life is always a bit brighter with friends — just ask Darryl Sunberg and Andrea Salazar.
After going their separate ways following high school graduation, the former Lampasas High School dance teammates have reunited to open The Market on Third, a cozy boutique featuring local artisans, vintage finds, scrumptious baked goods and more.
Sunberg and Salazar opened their joint venture along Third Street in May. The marketplace contains over two dozen different vendors, including Sunberg’s Sun-kissed Sundries and Salazar’s Drea Marie Cakery. So far, the pair has been overwhelmed by the community’s warm support.
“Very pleased,” Sunberg said. “Everyone’s been very kind, very welcoming, very supportive, and we’ve had a lot of repeat customers already.”
FROM PARIS TO LAMPASAS
With many of his friends on the Flames dance team, Sunberg opted to give it a try his senior year in high school. After graduating in 2009, Sunberg attended Trinity Valley Community College for two years on a dance scholarship.
He returned to Lampasas in the summer of 2011. While working as a Certified Nursing Assistant, Sunberg weighed his options for a four-year university to pursue a degree in physical therapy. In his other war, Sunberg’s father recommended he apply for the Disney College Program – a paid, semester-long internship at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
After hesitating to submit his application, Sunberg let it fly. He quickly was rejected, but he soon received a call that would change his life.
“They [Disney] called me, and they’re like, ‘Hey, we see you have some dance background. Would you be interested in auditioning for us?’ We grew up going to Disney,” Sunberg said. “Like I’m not blind to the Disney ways, but I guess I was naive in the sense that I never thought that people auditioned for Disney.”
Sunberg made the cut after auditioning at the Austin Ballet. At Disney World, he would perform for the thousands of park visitors in various shows and parades. After six years in the Sunshine State, Sunberg took his talents across the Atlantic Ocean to Disneyland Paris in 2018.
At the theme park in Paris, he embraced the roles of Aladdin, Prince Naveen from “The Princess and the Frog” and characters from many other Disney classics. Sunberg admitted his experience at Disney was not just smiling and waving at park attendees, but making his characters come to life.
“It’s so much more than that to the guests that come into the park and spend thousands of dollars maybe to go to the park one time in their life,” he said. “It really is a responsibility. If you are mean to someone or rude to someone or whatever, that could ruin their whole day that they’ve just spent thousands of dollars on.”
Although Sunberg only planned to spend one year in Paris, it was hard to say no to leaving.
“I remember I was, like, standing at the hub of Disneyland, Paris, and watching this new show going on,” he said. “And it was just beautiful – beautiful colors, great energy, like really fun. And I was like, I think I’m not done with Disneyland and Paris. Like, I think I’m not done performing.”
Sunberg’s decision to extend his stay in the “City of Love” was the right choice. He’d go on to feature in various Disney commercials and advertisements while collecting the Walt Disney Legacy Award – a lifetime achievement award less than .01% of Disney cast members receive.
Sunberg was drawn back to Lampasas after the passing of his brother, John Maldonado Jr., in July 2022. After returning to France, a few months later he was notified his mother, Maria Aurora Sunberg, had been diagnosed with cancer, leading him to return home indefinitely.
“The longer I stayed [in Lampasas], I was like maybe I’m not going back, maybe that was it,” Sunberg said. “It was a nice, clean sever because I had a reason to leave and didn’t have enough time to panic and be sad.”
Sunberg was able to enjoy nearly two years with his mother before her death in November 2024. During that time, he launched Sun-kissed Sundries, a small business offering digital designs, custom logos, branded merchandise, vintage clothes and unique jewelry.
BECOMING A BAKER
While Sunberg’s path took him halfway across the world, Salazar molded her skills in Central Texas. Upon graduating from LHS in 2011, Salazar had plans of becoming an EMT. For a year, she went to EMT school during the day and worked overnight at an H-E-B bakery.
“That [becoming an EMT] was something that I had a passion for at the moment,” she said. “I thought that medical was the route that I was gonna go, become a paramedic and all that, but I ended up really loving the bakery.”
Salazar said her “big heart” made it hard to focus on her work as a paramedic, as she became too emotionally attached to patients. After a year in EMT school, she ended up securing a full-time role with H-E-B – which was perfect timing as she was pregnant with her first son, Tripp.
“Being in the bakery scene felt like it was a little bit better for me,” Salazar said. “I fell in love with baking and just being involved in the bakery, learning different styles of baking, the breads, the pastries and the cakes.”
Salazar worked two years as a regular baker before becoming a shift leader. She advanced her way up the ladder, participating in the grocery store’s business management program and a bakery development program, and eventually working her way up to assistant department manager.
“I had Tripp when I started at the Lampasas H-E-B, and then two years later I had Ivan,” Salazar said. “That is when I started moving around and doing the management stuff. Right when I became a manager, Ivan was about 3. We started figuring out he was having some issues and ended up finding out he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.”
Salazar left H-E-B in 2020 to focus on her son’s illness but admits she hit a rough patch.
“I got really depressed and wasn’t really sure what was going to happen,” she said. “I had no idea. But with my family and stuff, you know, we came together and worked through that time.”
Salazar shifted into bartending for more flexible hours, working at the Leander Beer Market two days a week and focusing on her children at home as a single mom. Shortly after having her third son in 2024, Salazar, with motivation from Sunberg, created her own business: Drea Marie Cakery.
“Darryl ended up coming back home and doing his thing with his business adventure,” Salazar said. “I kind of jumped on with, ‘Hey, I want to get back into baking. You know, I love baking.’ And he was like, ‘Do it, do it, do it.’ So he kind of pushed me into doing it.”
Salazar’s bakery includes items like cake pops, cupcakes, brownies, chocolate bark, muffins and more. Salazar believes she wouldn’t be in the position she is now without the help and motivation from her high school friend.
“He’s been there for me through all of my life changes; he’s been there with me through everything,” she said. “All the ups and downs that I’ve experienced since graduation.”
LAUNCHING MARKET ON THIRD For nearly two years, Sunberg and Salazar took their small business pop-ups to markets and events across Copperas Cove, Harker Heights, Georgetown, Cedar Park, Leander and Lampasas during Spring Ho. The dream was always to get their own permanent location.
“For the past two years, we’ve been like, all right, let’s get a brick and mortar,” Sunberg said. “Everybody at these markets is like, ‘Where’s your shop? Where can we find you guys?’ We’re like, this is getting real.”
In January, Sunberg received the keys to their location at 215 E. Third St. After getting the store ready for a couple months, the pair had a soft opening last month. The duo plan to have a grand opening in the near future.
The Market on Third has 24 different vendors that each bring their own distinctive products such as fresh baked goods, pickled veggies, dog accessories, handmade pottery, men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, self-care items and more.
The market is open Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. No matter what it is, the Market on Third has a little bit of everything.
“Obviously everyone has different needs, but I truly do feel like we have something for everybody,” Sunberg said.