Scary Good Times
Where to get your spook on this Halloween around Dallas-Fort Worth
Alex Bentley
Oct 24, 2014 | 3:41 pm
With Halloween falling on a Friday this year, parties of all types take place that night. But you have many opportunities to celebrate the season in the days leading up to Halloween, because who wants to limit themselves to just one day of fun?
Even if none of the following events gets you excited, there are always haunted houses to give you a fright and that old standby Six Flags Fright Fest, which runs through November 2.
Halloween at Globe Life Park
Tours of the Texas Rangers home ballpark are extra spooky over the next week, as Trick or Tours (October 25, 30, 31 and November 1) feature special activities, games, stories, trick-or-treating and more. To go even further, you can do the Flashlight Fright tour (October 30, 31 and November 1), during which guests use only flashlights to guide themselves around the park. Who knows what might jump out of the dark? Tours run at multiple times, and they are $10 for kids and $20 for adults.
Dismember the Alamo
Halloween is the best time to watch horror movies, and the Alamo Drafthouse in Richardson screens four horror classics back-to-back-to-back-to-back. The movies remain a secret until just before showtime, but the event, which starts at noon, also has prizes for the best costumes and Alamo's usual bag of tricks. Tickets are $20 per person.
Oak Lawn Halloween Block Party
The annual celebration on Cedar Springs Road is one where you can really let loose, seeing as it takes place in Dallas' predominantly gay neighborhood. It features a Costume Promenade, with live commentary from Edna Jean Robinson, music, food, beer and more. The free party lasts from 7 pm to 2 am.
The Basement Gallery presents The Haunted Gallery
If you feel like getting a little artsy, Oak Cliff's Basement Gallery has you covered with this special Halloween-themed show. The free horror art exhibit, starting at 7 pm, allows visitors to view some of the best local artists and their creepy, horror and Day of the Dead art.
Halloween Bash at Victory Park
This party inside Victory Tavern at Victory Park promises a lot of action, including dancing, performances by Lollie Bombs Burlesque, a fire eater and more. Make sure to bring your A game in the costume department, as the winner gets a $300 gift card to NorthPark Center. Tickets are $10-$50 for this event that runs from 10 pm-2 am.
Haunted Loft Party
Only 400 people are allowed at this exclusive indoor/outdoor party at The Loft in the Gilley's complex, which features DJs blasting EDM, rap and more, as well as a costume contest with cash prizes. For $25, anyone 18 or over can attend this event, which runs from 10 pm-2 am.
Meow-O-Ween Pub Prowl
Sometimes all it takes to have fun is to dress up like a cat and drink some beer. That's the premise of this event in the Camp Bowie District in Fort Worth, where participants are asked to dress in their best cat costumes while they do a pub "prowl" to four different stops, starting at 5 pm. Cost is $10 per person and includes a collectible pint glass for the first 150 people.
Crayon Club's Truck or Treat
For a more family-friendly affair that supports a good cause, you can check out this event at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, presented by its young professionals group, Crayon Club. Expect food trucks, live entertainment, lawn games, tours and face painting. The party, which kicks off at 7 pm, is $20 per person, with all proceeds benefiting the hospital.
Nightmare on Elm Street Halloween Extravaganza
Dallas' Young Professionals hold their annual Halloween event at the Tower Club on, yep, Elm Street. For $40, you can enjoy a costume contest ($250 goes to the winner), drinks, hors d'oeuvre, music from DJ Jose G and a special performance by Contemporary Ballet Dallas. The fun starts at 8 pm, and a portion of proceeds benefits CBD.
Day of the Dead at W Dallas Victory Hotel
Another high-flying party takes place at Altitude atop the W. Tickets range anywhere from $30 for general admission to $1,000 VIP packages (good for six people) for this event that features food, drinks, dancing to music spun by DJ Avenger and a costume contest. The winner nabs a two-night VIP suite package getaway. The party runs from 9 pm-2 am.
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MUST-SEE ART
9 heartwarming art openings in Dallas-Fort Worth this February
Kristina Rowe
Photo courtesy of JD Miller
As our thoughts turn to love and Valentines Day, Texas artists get to show some real heart this February. Several exciting group exhibitions bring to life themes both familiar and novel. Meet the artists or simply view their work to warm your spirit as we wait for the arrival of spring. Here are nine must-see exhibitions to visit in February, in order of opening date.
28th Annual "El Corazón"
Bath House Cultural Center, through March 4
This longstanding tradition brings the work of local and regional visual artists to the Bath House Cultural Center each year in collaboration with Jose Vargas, who has been curating the exhibit for decades. Each work showcases an artist's individual interpretation of the human heart, and the show as a whole encompasses an eclectic collection of ideas, styles, and concepts.
"Out of the Fire"
Love Texas Art, through March 19
This group exhibition in the art lounge, gallery, and shop in Sundance Square brings the work of 17 ceramics artists into view. Each woman whose work is on display is based in Texas. With both traditional and modern references, works range from conceptual to utilitarian, demonstrating the varying perspectives of women's roles in life and art.
Grand Opening Event, "Roll up to The Rollup"
The Rollup, February 9 and February 11
The Rollup is a Texas-based artist incubator and art event producer, and its first show and sale is coming to Deep Ellum on Saturday, February 11. The exhibition will present painted skate board decks created by DFW artists. A pre-event VIP party will be held on Thursday, February 9 at 7 pm. Proceeds from both events will benefit 4DWN, a volunteer-fueled and skateboarding-centered Dallas area charitable organization.
"MVMTLS: Movement of Lone Stars"
South Dallas Cultural Center, February 10-March 24
South Dallas became a supporting character in this multimedia exploration of Black collective memory. Filmmaker Adriane McCray assembled a collection of interviews with South Dallas residents conducted during the pandemic lockdown of 2020. Each subject addresses childhood memories, with the assembled product a collage of home videos, aged photographs, collected archival footage, and present-day photography. The opening reception for the exhibit is Friday, February 10 at 6 pm.
"I'll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen"
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, February 12-April 30
One of the most anticipated exhibits of the season, "I'll Be Your Mirror" surveys the impact of the digital screen on art from 1969 to present day. The works of more than 50 artists explore themes of liminal space, connectivity, surveillance, the repository, digital abstraction, the posthuman body, automation and the loneliness epidemic, ecology, and turning a mirror on ourselves. Curator Alison Hearst brings together a show that's described as one of very few "presentations exploring art and digital technology in the past decade at this scale."
"Joaquin Soto: Mestizo"
Gallery 2960 at The Epic Grand Prairie, February 13-24
Joaquin Soto explores his deep connection to native and European traits, and how they have blended to be part of his Mexican background, in this exhibit of sculptural and wall-mounted art. The display will run through March 3 with an artist's reception on Thursday, February 16 at 5 pm.
JD Miller's annual Valentine's Day LIVE painting
Samuel Lynne Galleries, February 14
A favorite Valentine's Day event returns to Samuel Lynn Galleries, with Dallas artist J. D. Miller painting live in the gallery. Miller, the founder of Reflectionism, will bring together color texture and shape to create his perspective of a floral arrangement provided by McShan Florists while incorporating the energy of those assembled in the gallery. The gallery will raffle off a signed copy of JD Miller's new artist book, JD Miller: Reflections from Dragon Street, and Miller will sign copies after the live painting. The event takes place from 6-9 pm, Tuesday, February 14 with Miller's live painting to begin at 6:45 pm.
Samuel Lynne Galleries presents JD Miller's Annual Valentine's Day Live Painting.
"Deep in the Art of Texas"
Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery, February 18-March 25
Photographs from 29 diverse Texas artists make this show revelatory and undoubtedly eclectic. The photographs were taken as early as the 1940s to present day, and include landscape, documentary, portraiture, and abstract concepts. The opening reception for the exhibit is Saturday, February 18 at 5 pm.
"In the Shadow of Dictatorship: Creating the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art"
Meadows Museum, February 26-June 18
In 1966, artist and collector Fernando Zóbel opened The Museum of Spanish Abstract Art as the first museum in Spain exclusively for abstract art. Highlights from the museum's collection are making their way to the United States, many for the first time. Works in the collection represent a broad spectrum of abstract works created during Franco's dictatorship, 1930 to 1975.
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