Wild for Wildflower

A by-the-numbers look at the most exclamatory festival in North Texas

Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival in Richardson

Richardson's beloved Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival returns May 20-22.

Courtesy photo

Finally, it’s that time of year when people head outside looking for any outdoor activity they can find to enjoy the cooler temps before the dog days of summer hit (which, in Dallas, is usually, what, next month?). Well, as luck would have it, Richardson’s 24th annual Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival is coming up May 20-22, and we can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend, given that this event covers pretty much everything on our checklist — good music, yummy food, stuff for the kiddos, and more good music.

Here’s a by-the-numbers look at what this three-day musical bonanza has to offer:

17
The number of bands performing at this year’s event. The lineup includes The Guess Who, Finger Eleven, Peter Frampton, John Waite, Toadies, Survivor, Soul Asylum, Black Joe Lewis, and Jimmie Vaughan, among others. New York-based Unforgettable Fire, the world’s longest-running U2 tribute band, also performs each night. Check the lineup for times.

70,000
The number of people who attended Wildflower last year. This year’s projected attendance is expected to be even higher.

3
The number of locations the festival has had since opening in 1993. First held at a small park in northeast Richardson, Wildflower began as a springtime community event celebrating the wildflowers in the area (hence the name). Headlining bands were added in 1995, and, eventually, the festival moved to its second location, the Greenway Corporate Office Park, where it expanded to a three-day event. Finally, in, 2002, it moved to its current location, Galatyn Park.

50
The average number of kids who try out each year for the festival’s Budding Talent program, a vocal competition for youths that takes place a month before the festival. This year’s auditions (which are closed to the public) will be held April 24, 1-5 pm, at the Senior Citizens Center in Richardson, and winners perform on the last day of the festival. To register for the competition, click here. Registration closes April 18.

200 million
The number of monarch butterflies expected to migrate through North Texas this spring. What does this have to do with Wildflower, you might wonder? Well, the festival happens to offer a Kidz Korner full of activities for the little ones, including the Texas Native Butterfly Tent, which gives an up close and personal look at butterflies. Very educational. Very cool. And very fun.

$40
The cost of a three-day pass, which is available until 5:30 pm on May 20, via Tom Thumb or the Wildflower website. Single-day adult tickets can be purchased for $25 at the gate, as well as through the festival website starting April 18. Kids ages 5 to 12 can get in for $5 each; admission for kids 4 and under is free. For more ticket info, visit the website.

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Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

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