Kathy Tran
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In a city this big, there’s something to do every single day of the week. How could there not be? Dallas is a destination for festivals, traveling art exhibitions, stand-up comedy circuits and literally everything in between. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is a curated, weekly guide of top picks you won’t want to miss. And the ways to fill your schedule don’t stop here — check out our full events calendar for even more ways to get through the week in North Texas.
We’d dare anyone who says Dallas has no culture to take a look at this week’s calendar.
Tuesday, April 14
The Infamists at Tulips
112 St Louis Ave.
Very rarely can you see a show for $2, and with this one, you’re supporting the local music scene. Tulips’ $2 Tuesday series is presented by Fort Worth’s Blackstone Recording, and this week it features Love Cuts and southern rock band The Infamists. Show starts at 8 p.m., but consider hanging around at the Low Doubt Bar tucked into the back of the venue before or after the set.
Wednesday, April 15
Neil deGrasse Tyson: An Astrophysicist Goes to the Movies – Part III
7:30 p.m., Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St.
Author, television host and speaker Neil deGrasse Tyson has obtained the sort of celebrity that doesn’t usually come to an astrophysicist. Pop quiz: Name another living astrophysicist. Yeah, didn’t think so. The director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan and host of the podcast StarTalk blends comedy and pop culture to present a complex field in ways non-scientists can tell themselves that they understand. In his “An Astrophysicist Goes to the Movies” talks, he breaks down what movies get right and wrong about science. This latest round includes a look at AI in films and a new set of movies, including Finding Nemo and The Matrix. (We’re guessing that one thing The Matrix gets wrong is each and every one of the sequels.) Tickets start at $63.40.
Alice Cooper – Alice’s Attic Tour
8 p.m., The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd, Irving
It’s hard to believe now that there was a time when politicians and parents tried to ban Alice Cooper’s gory, theatrical rock shows and videos. The ’70s were a simpler time, “simple” in this case meaning dumb. What? So a chicken bought the farm at one of his concerts. Total mistake. He thought chickens could fly. Guillotines, fake blood and simulated hanging? These were all part of his glorious theatrics, a black flag planted to declare what rock and roll is about: freedom, spectacle and excess. Or whatever. All we know for certain is that “Under My Wheels,” “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “Be My Lover” should be on everyone’s desert island rock playlist forever. Ticket prices start at $75.50.
Thursday, April 16
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
7 p.m. Norma Young Arena Stage 2688 Laclede St.
Why aren’t there more odd little men with pencil mustaches and accents on homicide squads in U.S. police departments? Got a mysterious death with tons of suspects? Put them on the case, and they’ll wrap it up in no time. Granted, they’re more experienced solving cases involving the upper classes and might not be quite as familiar with, say, a drug-house murder, but it’d be interesting to see them try. Sadly, you’ll never see Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot whip out a 9mm and shout, “Hands, motherfucker! Hands!” Homicide, Life in the Drawing Room doesn’t exactly do it for us, but Agatha Christie has legions of fans. They can see her novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, adapted by Theatre Three. Poirot is back on a case involving a wealthy victim stabbed in his study, of course, blackmail and, also of course, a surprise twist. Performances continue through May 10. Tickets for Thursday’s show are $40, or $37 for senior citizens, who, one suspects, will make up a good chunk of the audience.
Friday, April 17
Ennis Bluebonnet Trails Festival
April 17-19, Ennis Welcome Center, 201 NW Main, Ennis.
True fact, you cannot legally reside in Texas unless you’ve had your picture taken in a field of bluebonnets, preferably with your kid or sweetheart. It’s in the state constitution. No need to check. Really. You hear us, all you California transplants? Unless you want to get paid a visit by a DPS trooper, you need to haul yourself to Ennis for the town’s Bluebonnet Trails & Festival, where, for $5 (no cash, card only), you can enjoy two days of food, shopping and live music and then drive along 40 miles of bluebonnet roadways with your camera. Gates open at 10 a.m Friday-Sunday. You could also just snap a picture at pretty much any roadway median or ditch across a large swath of Texas, but Ennis is the Legislature-designated home of the Official Texas Bluebonnet Trail, so it’s a good place to visit to wash away that California aura.
Taste! at the Star
7 p.m., Ford Center at The Star, 9 Cowboys Way, Frisco
Feed your belly, your soul and countless others at this benefit for the North Texas Food Bank. Western Rewind Band will provide the music, and there’ll be auctions along with food from some of the area’s top restaurants, including Uchiko, Portillo’s, Hattie B’s and more than 20 others. Proceeds will go to North Texas Food Bank’s Nourish the Future programs targeting child hunger, which last year provided 2.5 million meals for families and children across the area. General admission tickets are $250.
Dallas Art Fair
April 16-19, Fashion Industry Gallery, 1807 Ross Ave.
Gallerists and art dealers from around the world will come to the Fashion Industry Gallery this week for the Dallas Art Fair, where they will offer a wide range of contemporary and modern works and allow collectors and art lovers to discuss art with leading art industry professionals. Local galleries will be represented, too, but you can expand your art horizons with new works from everywhere. A VIP preview and benefit takes place from 5 – 9 p.m. Thursday, and the fair opens to the public at 11 a.m. Friday-Sunday.
Saturday, April 18
Scarborough Renaissance Festival
10 a.m., 2511 FM 66, Waxahachie
Any festival that gives us a chance to gnaw giant smoked turkey legs gets a huzzah in our book, even if they are a touch anachronistic. (Turkey legs were not a common fare among English villagers in the 16th century. They were more of the porridge-and-brown-bread set. And dying of the plague and scurvy.) Prithee, let us not fret ourselves with trifles. Instead, enjoy Renaissance-costumed jugglers, acrobats and musicians, artisans crafting glass, pottery and metalworks, along with more cosplay than a comics convention. Celebrate. Any day without Black Death is a good day, if you take the long view (and your initials aren’t RFK Jr.). The festival runs weekends and Memorial Day through May 25. General admission tickets are $36.72 for adults, with discounts for kids and additional fees for several special events throughout the festival’s run.
Low & Slow (Bajito y Suavecito): Lowrider Cars as Living Art
3-6 p.m., parking lot of Art on Main, 4428 Main St.
The lowrider, according to the hit 1975 by War, “don’t use no gas now / Low rider don’t drive too fast.” That was an important point during the oil embargos of the 1970s, and what goes around comes around today, apparently. One thing is constant: The elaborately hand-painted vintage cars dressed up by lowriders are amazing works of vibrant, mobile art. See for yourself as Art on Main brings a collection of cars to its Low & Slow exhibition. It’s happening in conjunction with Chicano, a group exhibition featuring works by 58 Chicano artists from across the region. An artists’ reception runs from 6 – 9 p.m., and Luis Rodríguez Bucio, the consul general of Mexico in Dallas, will speak at 7 p.m. Chicano continues through May 2, and 10% of the proceeds from art sales will go to Vecinos Unidos DFW, which supports immigrant and marginalized communities across North Texas.
Sunday, April 19
Eataly Pizza Fest
11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Eataly Dallas, 8687 N. Central Expressway (NorthPark Center)
Have you ever read the news and thought that the notion of human progress is a lie, that time really is a flat circle, dooming us to relive the same lives eternally? Well, cheer up, pilgrim. The world really can be a better place, and we can prove it with just one word: pizza. Thirty years ago, Texas’ pizza landscape was a largely barren place, littered with signs for Mr. Gatti’s, Pizza Hut and Domino’s. Today, it’s a garden of delights flavored with Neapolitan, New York, Chicago and Detroit pies, thin, cracker and deep-dish, crafted by true pizzaiolos. Celebrate the amazing leap forward for Texas-kind at Eataly’s pizza festival, featuring pies from 25 (!) of the city’s best pizza makers. There’ll be live entertainment, demonstrations, workshops and more. General admission tickets are $88.19, and kids 10 and under are admitted for free.
Continuing Events
Butterflies in the Garden at Fort Worth Botanic Garden, through April 30
3220 Botanic Garden Blvd, Fort Worth
While we have many beautiful native butterflies in Texas, some of the more incredible winged bugs just can’t live in our arid climate. But they thrive in the Fort Worth Botanic Garden’s greenhouse. Butterflies from South America and Asia, which you will never see in the Texas wild, flap through the air, safari style, in this special exhibit. If you’re a botany nerd, the garden also has rare foliage and greenery. Be warned, for the butterflies to thrive, they need rainforest conditions, so plan your trip to fall on hairwash day. Tickets are $14.
Tulip Season at Texas-Tulips, through early April
10656 FM 2931, Pilot Point
Tiptoe through the tulips (if you get that reference, you’re old, BTW) at Texas-Tulips in Pilot Point, where you can stroll among fields of 1 million of the short-blooming harbingers of spring and cut your picks to bring home. It’s open 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. daily regardless of weather, and admission is $7 per person. The fields will close when the blooms are too picked, usually ending in early April.
Groundbreakers: Post-War Japan and Korea from the DMA Collection at The Crow Museum of Asian Art at UT Dallas, through July 26, 2026
If you missed it at the Dallas Arts District location of The Crow, now’s your chance to see Groundbreakers: Post-War Japan and Korea from the DMA Collection… and consider that second degree. The Crow Museum of Asian Art at UT Dallas offers up the fantastic exhibition that includes pieces created in fascinating ways: with feet, with a mouth, by pouring paint onto a canvas, and other methods that channeled convention after the considerably conventional 1950s. Don’t miss it. Find out more online.
