6 Things to Do on May the Fourth Be With You, aka Star Wars Day

If you think of yourself as a Star Wars fan and you don’t have any Star Wars-related plans on Star Wars Day, you don’t get to call yourself a Star Wars fan. You might as well burn your entire Star Wars Kenner toy collection, run your special Jar-Jar-less edition of the prequels through an industrial shredder and start greeting people with Spock’s “live long and prosper” hand sign.

Don’t be forced to join the dark side of sci-fi pop culture fandom. Put one of these Star Wars activities on whatever is the equivalent of May 4 on your galactic standard calendar.

1. Test Your Star Wars Knowledge at the Playground Bar in Uptown
There aren’t many rock-solid ways of proving your Star Wars fandom if you’re not willing to get a Boba Fett head tattooed on your face or buy the rights to the franchise away from Disney. Trivia, however, is one of the cheaper and less life-scarring ways to prove your worth to the Star Wars universe. The Playground Bar Uptown on McKinney Avenue will host a series of pub trivia challenges dubbed the Star Wars Power Trivia Fest that will put your knowledge about the greatest wars ever to take place in space to the ultimate test. The competitions will take place at 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., and the top three winners from each round will take home gift cards worth $25, $50 and $100 each.

2. Rock Out to Some Spaced-Out Tunes at the House of Blues
Technically, you can’t really “rock out” to the music of Star Wars. Composer John Williams’ score expresses the glory and tragedy of power and political conflict in sweeping ways, but it’s not music that inspires a lot of headbanging. The House of Blues on North Lamar Street in downtown Dallas has come up with an appropriate, alternative musical celebration for Star Wars Day with its May the Fourth Fest Ultimate ’80s Experience. The show kicks off at 8 p.m (doors open at 7 p.m.) with a live band. The evening will also feature a Star Wars costume contest, a Wookie screaming battle and a lightsaber dance contest. (No glass or real lightsabers will be allowed in the venue.)

3. See Some Pretty Stormtroopers at Viva’s Lounge
Stormtroopers may just be clones who were birthed and bred to fight and die for an evil cause’s bid to control the entire universe, but there’s still a human being underneath all that ergonomic armor. They want to feel sexy sometimes, too. The burlesque dancers from Viva Las Burlesque will host two Star Wars-themed burlesque shows at Viva’s Lounge on Manufacturing Street in Dallas to celebrate the first two Star Wars trilogies on Friday and Saturday. Both shows start at 9 p.m. (doors open at 8 p.m.). Saturday will also feature a special Revenge of the Sith midnight show that celebrates the movie franchise’s many villains.

4. Learn About Science Stuff at the Perot Museum
Just because Star Wars is science fiction doesn’t mean it doesn’t contain chances to pick up some scientific knowledge other than the temperature that a laser needs to reach in order to slice off a human hand. The Perot Museum of Nature and Science on North Field Street in downtown Dallas is hosting a two-day celebration of all things Star Wars on Friday and Saturday with special exhibits and events. Guests can learn about holograms, cloning, space exploration and living in extreme climates (in case you’re ever stuck on Hoth because your speedster ran out of Tibanna). Other special events at the museum include a live lightsaber battle from the Texas Saber Legion, a “Force lightning demonstration” using a Tesla coil and a live Saturday performance from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Quintet.

5. Eat Some Space Pizza at Cane Rosso White Rock
Every year, this local pizzeria looks forward to Star Wars Day the way that malls and department stores with poorly labeled exits look forward to Black Friday. Cane Rosso White Rock on Gaston Avenue in Dallas celebrates May 4 with a special Star Wars Day menu starting at 5 p.m. Friday with a double pepperoni and bacon marmalade pizza called the Roni One; a special three-cheese, pepperoni and oregano pizza called the C3PO; and Yodi-shaped ravioli called (what else?) Yodaroli. The pizza restaurant’s celebration will also include an Instagram costume contest and a raffle for a hand-painted stormtrooper helmet to raise money for the restaurant’s dog rescue group, Cane Rosso Rescue.

6. Watch Some Star Wars Movies in Carrollton
Here’s a novel idea for celebrating Star Wars Day: watch some Star Wars movies. You were so busy trying to come up with some wacky, insane, original way to celebrate May the Fourth that you forgot the reason there’s a Star Wars Day in the first place. The city of Carrollton will host a Star Wars celebration on its downtown square from 6-9 p.m. Friday featuring activities for Jedis of all ages. The event will show two free screenings of The Last Jedi at 5 and 8 p.m. in the Plaza Arts Center to the first 300 people who arrive. The celebration will also let guests engage in a space battle with laser tag in a 35-foot inflatable arena, Star Wars-themed photo ops at the Carrollton Public Library, face painting and plenty of other fun activities.