DashOffOn... Twin automator applications to turn the Dashboard off and on.
Dashboard is, in fact, part of the Dock application and Apple's Dashboard.app (in Applications folder) merely shows the Dashboard as opposed to launching or quitting it. Your open widgets still work when they are hidden and utilise memory/CPU. If your Mac is running slow you may wish to temporarily turn Dashboard off in order to free up space, so double click on the TurnOffWidgets application.
Don't worry, I've included a turn Dashboard back on application too. Double click on TurnOnWidgets.app and you'll find that Dashboard is back as usual and the widgets you had open on the Dashboard are exactly as they were before.
O5220803 A very nice, clever, pair of applications for toggling the Dashboard, with an attractive interface! Well-written, stable, fast and simple to use. The DashOnOff application set uses negligable memory and system resources The author has done a thorough and competent job with the design and development of these Automator tasks. Try them and you'll use them. Well worth a donation to the author! (Version 1.0)
PERSON1229 No offense, but I'm not sure it's worth a donation. Anyone can make an Automator application, and seeing as this person made four yet keeps them separate I'm guessing they're not much of a real code-based developer. (Version 1.1)