diff --git a/migrations/add_text_to_widgets.py b/migrations/add_text_to_widgets.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..50a40fd914
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migrations/add_text_to_widgets.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from playhouse.migrate import Migrator
+from redash import db
+from redash import models
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    db.connect_db()
+    migrator = Migrator(db.database)
+    with db.database.transaction():
+        migrator.add_column(models.Widget, models.Widget.text, 'text')
+        migrator.set_nullable(models.Widget, models.Widget.visualization, True)
+
+    db.close_db(None)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rd_ui/app/index.html b/rd_ui/app/index.html
index 67cac81ddb..8f5cdcbeba 100644
--- a/rd_ui/app/index.html
+++ b/rd_ui/app/index.html
@@ -109,11 +109,11 @@
 <script src="/bower_components/mousetrap/plugins/global-bind/mousetrap-global-bind.js"></script>
 <script src="/bower_components/select2/select2.js"></script>
 <script src="/bower_components/angular-ui-select2/src/select2.js"></script>
-
+<script src="/bower_components/underscore.string/lib/underscore.string.js"></script>
+<script src="/bower_components/marked/lib/marked.js"></script>
 <script src="/scripts/ng_highchart.js"></script>
 <script src="/scripts/ng_smart_table.js"></script>
 <script src="/scripts/ui-bootstrap-tpls-0.5.0.min.js"></script>
-
 <!-- endbuild -->
 
 <!-- build:js({.tmp,app}) /scripts/scripts.js -->
diff --git a/rd_ui/app/scripts/controllers/dashboard.js b/rd_ui/app/scripts/controllers/dashboard.js
index de388bdc02..b1daba4dda 100644
--- a/rd_ui/app/scripts/controllers/dashboard.js
+++ b/rd_ui/app/scripts/controllers/dashboard.js
@@ -1,13 +1,16 @@
 (function() {
-  var DashboardCtrl = function($scope, Events, $routeParams, $http, $timeout, Dashboard) {
+  var DashboardCtrl = function($scope, Events, Widget, $routeParams, $http, $timeout, Dashboard) {
     Events.record(currentUser, "view", "dashboard", dashboard.id);
 
     $scope.refreshEnabled = false;
     $scope.refreshRate = 60;
-    $scope.dashboard = Dashboard.get({
-      slug: $routeParams.dashboardSlug
-    }, function(dashboard) {
+    $scope.dashboard = Dashboard.get({ slug: $routeParams.dashboardSlug }, function (dashboard) {
       $scope.$parent.pageTitle = dashboard.name;
+      $scope.dashboard.widgets = _.map($scope.dashboard.widgets, function (row) {
+        return _.map(row, function (widget) {
+          return new Widget(widget);
+        });
+      });
     });
 
     var autoRefresh = function() {
@@ -51,39 +54,41 @@
     };
   };
 
-  var WidgetCtrl = function($scope, Events, $http, $location, Query) {
+  var WidgetCtrl = function($scope, Events, Query) {
     $scope.deleteWidget = function() {
-      if (!confirm('Are you sure you want to remove "' + $scope.widget.visualization.name + '" from the dashboard?')) {
+      if (!confirm('Are you sure you want to remove "' + $scope.widget.getName() + '" from the dashboard?')) {
         return;
       }
 
       Events.record(currentUser, "delete", "widget", $scope.widget.id);
 
-      $http.delete('/api/widgets/' + $scope.widget.id).success(function() {
+      $scope.widget.$delete(function() {
         $scope.dashboard.widgets = _.map($scope.dashboard.widgets, function(row) {
           return _.filter(row, function(widget) {
-            return widget.id != $scope.widget.id;
+            return widget.id != undefined;
           })
         });
       });
     };
 
-    // TODO: fire event for query view for each query
     Events.record(currentUser, "view", "widget", $scope.widget.id);
-    Events.record(currentUser, "view", "query", $scope.widget.visualization.query.id);
-    Events.record(currentUser, "view", "visualization", $scope.widget.visualization.id);
 
-    $scope.query = new Query($scope.widget.visualization.query);
-    $scope.queryResult = $scope.query.getQueryResult();
+    if ($scope.widget.visualization) {
+      Events.record(currentUser, "view", "query", $scope.widget.visualization.query.id);
+      Events.record(currentUser, "view", "visualization", $scope.widget.visualization.id);
 
-    $scope.updateTime = (new Date($scope.queryResult.getUpdatedAt())).toISOString();
-    $scope.nextUpdateTime = moment(new Date(($scope.query.updated_at + $scope.query.ttl + $scope.query.runtime + 300) * 1000)).fromNow();
+      $scope.query = new Query($scope.widget.visualization.query);
+      $scope.queryResult = $scope.query.getQueryResult();
+      $scope.nextUpdateTime = moment(new Date(($scope.query.updated_at + $scope.query.ttl + $scope.query.runtime + 300) * 1000)).fromNow();
 
-    $scope.updateTime = '';
+      $scope.type = 'visualization';
+    } else {
+      $scope.type = 'textbox';
+    }
   };
 
   angular.module('redash.controllers')
-    .controller('DashboardCtrl', ['$scope', 'Events', '$routeParams', '$http', '$timeout', 'Dashboard', DashboardCtrl])
-    .controller('WidgetCtrl', ['$scope', 'Events', '$http', '$location', 'Query', WidgetCtrl])
+    .controller('DashboardCtrl', ['$scope', 'Events', 'Widget', '$routeParams', '$http', '$timeout', 'Dashboard', DashboardCtrl])
+    .controller('WidgetCtrl', ['$scope', 'Events', 'Query', WidgetCtrl])
 
 })();
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rd_ui/app/scripts/directives/dashboard_directives.js b/rd_ui/app/scripts/directives/dashboard_directives.js
index c1bc2dde3e..3689070745 100644
--- a/rd_ui/app/scripts/directives/dashboard_directives.js
+++ b/rd_ui/app/scripts/directives/dashboard_directives.js
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
                       row: rowIndex + 1,
                       ySize: 1,
                       xSize: widget.width,
-                      name: widget.visualization.query.name
+                      name: widget.getName()//visualization.query.name
                     });
                   });
                 });
@@ -125,25 +125,37 @@
             value: 2
           }];
 
+          $scope.type = 'visualization';
+
+          $scope.isVisualization = function () {
+            return $scope.type == 'visualization';
+          };
+
+          $scope.isTextBox = function () {
+            return $scope.type == 'textbox';
+          };
+
+          $scope.setType = function (type) {
+            $scope.type = type;
+          };
+
           var reset = function() {
             $scope.saveInProgress = false;
             $scope.widgetSize = 1;
             $scope.queryId = null;
             $scope.selectedVis = null;
             $scope.query = null;
-
-          }
+            $scope.text = "";
+          };
 
           reset();
 
-          $scope.loadVisualizations = function() {
+          $scope.loadVisualizations = function () {
             if (!$scope.queryId) {
               return;
             }
 
-            Query.get({
-              id: $scope.queryId
-            }, function(query) {
+            Query.get({ id: $scope.queryId }, function(query) {
               if (query) {
                 $scope.query = query;
                 if (query.visualizations.length) {
@@ -157,19 +169,21 @@
             $scope.saveInProgress = true;
 
             var widget = new Widget({
-              'visualization_id': $scope.selectedVis.id,
+              'visualization_id': $scope.selectedVis && $scope.selectedVis.id,
               'dashboard_id': $scope.dashboard.id,
               'options': {},
-              'width': $scope.widgetSize
+              'width': $scope.widgetSize,
+              'text': $scope.text
             });
 
             widget.$save().then(function(response) {
               // update dashboard layout
               $scope.dashboard.layout = response['layout'];
+              var newWidget = new Widget(response['widget']);
               if (response['new_row']) {
-                $scope.dashboard.widgets.push([response['widget']]);
+                $scope.dashboard.widgets.push([newWidget]);
               } else {
-                $scope.dashboard.widgets[$scope.dashboard.widgets.length - 1].push(response['widget']);
+                $scope.dashboard.widgets[$scope.dashboard.widgets.length - 1].push(newWidget);
               }
 
               // close the dialog
diff --git a/rd_ui/app/scripts/filters.js b/rd_ui/app/scripts/filters.js
index 0ecb0e4e6f..4e3665e038 100644
--- a/rd_ui/app/scripts/filters.js
+++ b/rd_ui/app/scripts/filters.js
@@ -1,61 +1,67 @@
 var durationHumanize = function (duration) {
-    var humanized = "";
-    if (duration == undefined) {
-        humanized = "-";
-    } else if (duration < 60) {
-        humanized = Math.round(duration) + "s";
-    } else if (duration > 3600*24) {
-        var days = Math.round(parseFloat(duration) / 60.0 / 60.0 / 24.0);
-        humanized = days + "days";
-    } else if (duration >= 3600) {
-        var hours = Math.round(parseFloat(duration) / 60.0 / 60.0);
-        humanized = hours + "h";
-    } else {
-        var minutes = Math.round(parseFloat(duration) / 60.0);
-        humanized = minutes + "m";
-    }
-    return humanized;
+  var humanized = "";
+  if (duration == undefined) {
+    humanized = "-";
+  } else if (duration < 60) {
+    humanized = Math.round(duration) + "s";
+  } else if (duration > 3600 * 24) {
+    var days = Math.round(parseFloat(duration) / 60.0 / 60.0 / 24.0);
+    humanized = days + "days";
+  } else if (duration >= 3600) {
+    var hours = Math.round(parseFloat(duration) / 60.0 / 60.0);
+    humanized = hours + "h";
+  } else {
+    var minutes = Math.round(parseFloat(duration) / 60.0);
+    humanized = minutes + "m";
+  }
+  return humanized;
 }
 
 angular.module('redash.filters', []).
-    filter('durationHumanize', function () {
-        return durationHumanize;
-    })
+  filter('durationHumanize', function () {
+    return durationHumanize;
+  })
 
-    .filter('refreshRateHumanize', function () {
-        return function (ttl) {
-            if (ttl==-1) {
-                return "Never";
-            } else {
-                return "Every " + durationHumanize(ttl);
-            }
-        }
-    })
+  .filter('refreshRateHumanize', function () {
+    return function (ttl) {
+      if (ttl == -1) {
+        return "Never";
+      } else {
+        return "Every " + durationHumanize(ttl);
+      }
+    }
+  })
 
-    .filter('toHuman', function() {
-        return function(text) {
-            return text.replace(/_/g, ' ').replace(/(?:^|\s)\S/g, function (a) {
-                return a.toUpperCase();
-            });
-        }
-    })
+  .filter('toHuman', function () {
+    return function (text) {
+      return text.replace(/_/g, ' ').replace(/(?:^|\s)\S/g, function (a) {
+        return a.toUpperCase();
+      });
+    }
+  })
+
+  .filter('colWidth', function () {
+    return function (widgetWidth) {
+      if (widgetWidth == 1) {
+        return 6;
+      }
+      return 12;
+    }
+  })
 
-    .filter('colWidth', function () {
-        return function (widgetWidth) {
-            if (widgetWidth == 1) {
-                return 6;
-            }
-            return 12;
-        }
-    })
-    
-    .filter('capitalize', function () {
-        return function (text) {
-            if (text) {
-                return text[0].toUpperCase() + text.slice(1).toLowerCase();
-            } else {
-                return null;
-            }
-            
-        }
-    });
\ No newline at end of file
+  .filter('capitalize', function () {
+    return function (text) {
+      if (text) {
+        return _.str.capitalize(text);
+      } else {
+        return null;
+      }
+
+    }
+  })
+
+  .filter('markdown', ['$sce', function($sce) {
+    return function(text) {
+      return $sce.trustAsHtml(marked(text));
+    }
+  }]);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rd_ui/app/scripts/services/resources.js b/rd_ui/app/scripts/services/resources.js
index 621de4f583..429f9c61af 100644
--- a/rd_ui/app/scripts/services/resources.js
+++ b/rd_ui/app/scripts/services/resources.js
@@ -363,6 +363,13 @@
   var Widget = function ($resource) {
     var WidgetResource = $resource('/api/widgets/:id', {id: '@id'});
 
+    WidgetResource.prototype.getName = function () {
+      if (this.visualization) {
+        return this.visualization.query.name + ' (' + this.visualization.name + ')';
+      }
+      return _.str.truncate(this.text, 20);
+    };
+
     return WidgetResource;
   }
 
diff --git a/rd_ui/app/views/dashboard.html b/rd_ui/app/views/dashboard.html
index d881680ac6..b50b6559f3 100644
--- a/rd_ui/app/views/dashboard.html
+++ b/rd_ui/app/views/dashboard.html
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ <h2 id="dashboard_title">
         <div ng-repeat="widget in row" class="col-lg-{{widget.width | colWidth}}"
              ng-controller='WidgetCtrl'>
 
-            <div class="panel panel-default">
+            <div class="panel panel-default" ng-if="type=='visualization'">
                 <div class="panel-heading">
                     <h3 class="panel-title">
                         <p>
@@ -43,7 +43,16 @@ <h3 class="panel-title">
                         <a class="btn btn-default btn-xs" ng-href="/queries/{{query.id}}#{{widget.visualization.id}}" ng-show="currentUser.hasPermission('view_query')"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-link"></span></a>
                         <button type="button" class="btn btn-default btn-xs" ng-show="dashboard.canEdit()" ng-click="deleteWidget()" title="Remove Widget"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-trash"></span></button>
                     </span>
+                </div>
+            </div>
+
+            <div class="panel panel-default" ng-if="type=='textbox'" ng-mouseenter="showControls = true" ng-mouseleave="showControls = false">
+                <div class="panel-body">
+                    <p ng-bind-html="widget.text | markdown"></p>
 
+                    <span class="pull-right" ng-show="showControls">
+                        <button type="button" class="btn btn-default btn-xs" ng-show="dashboard.canEdit()" ng-click="deleteWidget()" title="Remove Widget"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-trash"></span></button>
+                    </span>
                 </div>
             </div>
         </div>
diff --git a/rd_ui/app/views/new_widget_form.html b/rd_ui/app/views/new_widget_form.html
index 10b41b43c6..9ebb9f8fca 100644
--- a/rd_ui/app/views/new_widget_form.html
+++ b/rd_ui/app/views/new_widget_form.html
@@ -6,32 +6,51 @@
                 <h4 class="modal-title">Add Widget</h4>
             </div>
             <div class="modal-body">
-                <p>
-                    <form class="form-inline" role="form" ng-submit="loadVisualizations()">
-                      <div class="form-group">
-                        <input class="form-control" placeholder="Query Id" ng-model="queryId">
-                      </div>
-                      <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary" ng-disabled="!queryId">
-                        Load visualizations
-                      </button>
-                    </form>
+                <p class="btn-group">
+                    <button type="button" class="btn btn-default" ng-class="{active: isVisualization()}" ng-click="setType('visualization')">Visualization</button>
+                    <button type="button" class="btn btn-default" ng-class="{active: isTextBox()}" ng-click="setType('textbox')">Text Box</button>
                 </p>
 
-                <div ng-show="query">
-                  <div class="form-group">
-                      <label for="">Choose Visualation</label>
-                      <select ng-model="selectedVis" ng-options="vis as vis.name group by vis.type for vis in query.visualizations" class="form-control"></select>
-                  </div>
+                <div ng-show="isTextBox()">
+                    <div class="form-group">
+                        <textarea class="form-control" ng-model="text" rows="3"></textarea>
+                    </div>
+                    <div ng-show="text">
+                        <strong>Preview:</strong>
+                        <p ng-bind-html="text | markdown"></p>
+                    </div>
+                </div>
 
-                  <div class="form-group">
-                      <label for="">Widget Size</label>
-                      <select class="form-control" ng-model="widgetSize" ng-options="c.value as c.name for c in widgetSizes"></select>
-                  </div>
+                <div ng-show="isVisualization()">
+                    <p>
+                        <form class="form-inline" role="form" ng-submit="loadVisualizations()">
+                            <div class="form-group">
+                                <input class="form-control" placeholder="Query Id" ng-model="queryId">
+                            </div>
+                            <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary" ng-disabled="!queryId">
+                                Load visualizations
+                            </button>
+                        </form>
+                    </p>
+
+                    <div ng-show="query">
+                      <div class="form-group">
+                          <label for="">Choose Visualation</label>
+                          <select ng-model="selectedVis" ng-options="vis as vis.name group by vis.type for vis in query.visualizations" class="form-control"></select>
+                      </div>
+                    </div>
+                </div>
+
+                <div class="form-group">
+                    <label for="">Widget Size</label>
+                    <select class="form-control" ng-model="widgetSize"
+                            ng-options="c.value as c.name for c in widgetSizes"></select>
                 </div>
             </div>
-            <div class="modal-footer" ng-if="selectedVis">
+
+            <div class="modal-footer">
                 <button type="button" class="btn btn-default" ng-disabled="saveInProgress" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
-                <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" ng-disabled="saveInProgress" ng-click="saveWidget()">Add to Dashboard</button>
+                <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" ng-disabled="saveInProgress || !(selectedVis || isTextBox())" ng-click="saveWidget()">Add to Dashboard</button>
             </div>
         </div>
         <!-- /.modal-content -->
diff --git a/rd_ui/bower.json b/rd_ui/bower.json
index 5f9c86d88b..8302555402 100644
--- a/rd_ui/bower.json
+++ b/rd_ui/bower.json
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@
     "cornelius": "https://github.com/restorando/cornelius.git",
     "gridster": "0.2.0",
     "mousetrap": "~1.4.6",
-    "angular-ui-select2": "~0.0.5"
+    "angular-ui-select2": "~0.0.5",
+    "underscore.string": "~2.3.3",
+    "marked": "~0.3.2"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "angular-mocks": "~1.0.7",
diff --git a/redash/models.py b/redash/models.py
index 44c3138199..a79c48f460 100644
--- a/redash/models.py
+++ b/redash/models.py
@@ -255,11 +255,11 @@ def to_dict(self, with_widgets=False):
         if with_widgets:
             widgets = Widget.select(Widget, Visualization, Query, QueryResult, User)\
                 .where(Widget.dashboard == self.id)\
-                .join(Visualization)\
-                .join(Query)\
-                .join(User)\
+                .join(Visualization, join_type=peewee.JOIN_LEFT_OUTER)\
+                .join(Query, join_type=peewee.JOIN_LEFT_OUTER)\
+                .join(User, join_type=peewee.JOIN_LEFT_OUTER)\
                 .switch(Query)\
-                .join(QueryResult)
+                .join(QueryResult, join_type=peewee.JOIN_LEFT_OUTER)
             widgets = {w.id: w.to_dict() for w in widgets}
             widgets_layout = map(lambda row: map(lambda widget_id: widgets.get(widget_id, None), row), layout)
         else:
@@ -324,8 +324,8 @@ def __unicode__(self):
 
 class Widget(BaseModel):
     id = peewee.PrimaryKeyField()
-    visualization = peewee.ForeignKeyField(Visualization, related_name='widgets')
-
+    visualization = peewee.ForeignKeyField(Visualization, related_name='widgets', null=True)
+    text = peewee.TextField(null=True)
     width = peewee.IntegerField()
     options = peewee.TextField()
     dashboard = peewee.ForeignKeyField(Dashboard, related_name='widgets', index=True)
@@ -339,14 +339,19 @@ class Meta:
         db_table = 'widgets'
 
     def to_dict(self):
-        return {
+        d = {
             'id': self.id,
             'width': self.width,
             'options': json.loads(self.options),
-            'visualization': self.visualization.to_dict(),
-            'dashboard_id': self._data['dashboard']
+            'dashboard_id': self._data['dashboard'],
+            'text': self.text
         }
 
+        if self.visualization and self.visualization.id:
+            d['visualization'] = self.visualization.to_dict()
+
+        return d
+
     def __unicode__(self):
         return u"%s" % self.id
 
diff --git a/tests/test_controllers.py b/tests/test_controllers.py
index 31412991e8..7bdd09d6f0 100644
--- a/tests/test_controllers.py
+++ b/tests/test_controllers.py
@@ -182,6 +182,23 @@ def test_create_widget(self):
                            [rv4.json['widget']['id']]])
         self.assertEquals(rv4.json['new_row'], True)
 
+    def test_create_text_widget(self):
+        dashboard = dashboard_factory.create()
+
+        data = {
+            'visualization_id': None,
+            'text': 'Sample text.',
+            'dashboard_id': dashboard.id,
+            'options': {},
+            'width': 2
+        }
+
+        with app.test_client() as c, authenticated_user(c):
+            rv = json_request(c.post, '/api/widgets', data=data)
+
+        self.assertEquals(rv.status_code, 200)
+        self.assertEquals(rv.json['widget']['text'], 'Sample text.')
+
     def test_delete_widget(self):
         widget = widget_factory.create()