Weekend Event Planner

These are the 10 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

A holiday weekend is often a time for event organizers to scale back on their plans, but not so this Labor Day weekend. The next five days are absolutely packed, headlined by four big events at a new major venue. You can also see a world premiere play, enjoy the music of one of the best movies of 2016 live, see two major college football powers square off, and more.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Monday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events. (Note: The Pavilion at the Music Factory in Irving was scheduled to open this weekend, but all events have either been moved or postponed due to construction delays.)

Thursday, August 31

UT Arlington presents Lou Diamond Phillips Film Festival
In advance of Lou Diamond Phillips appearing at UT Arlington on September 7 as part of its Maverick Speakers Series, the university will host screenings of some of Phillips' best known movies. 2012's Filly Brown will screen on Thursday, followed by La Bamba on September 5, and a double feature of Courage Under Fire and The 33 on September 6. All films are free and will take place at Mavericks Activities Center.

Dallas Theater Center presents Miller, Mississippi
The 2017-2018 season opener for Dallas Theater Center is the world premiere of Miller, Mississippi, which tells the story of one family that falls apart as the country attempts to come together during the Civil Rights movement. In the classic Southern Gothic tradition, the tragic new play will stun minds and break hearts, as the personal and political combine to bring about the Miller family’s undoing. The production will run at Wyly Theatre through October 1.

TITAS presents Momix: Opus Cactus
If Salvador Dali and Leonardo da Vinci were inspired by National Geographic, you’d get Opus Cactus, Moses Pendleton’s evening-length work about the desert world. With their signature dance illusion style, Momix explores the mysterious creatures and cacti of the desert. The season opening performance will take place at Winspear Opera House.

Friday, September 1

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents La La Land in Concert
The controversy over La La Land's non-win at the Academy Awards overshadowed the fact that it was one of the best movies of 2016. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will pay tribute to its musical greatness by screening the critically-acclaimed film while the full orchestra performs the score live. There will be two performances Friday and Saturday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

2017 Riverfront Jazz Festival
Dallas’ inaugural Riverfront Jazz Festival, presented and produced by The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, will host 35 national and international music artists on three stages over Labor Day Weekend. Taking place at Texas Horse Park, the festival will feature performances by honorary chairs Erykah Badu, Will Downing, and Najee, as well as Jon Secada, Ruben Studdard, and others. The festival will take place through Sunday.

Jimmy Herring and the Invisible Whip in concert
Jimmy Herring, best known as the lead guitarist for Widespread Panic, will bring his band, the Invisible Whip, to town to play new music and material from his last two records. Although Herring has been touring consistently with Widespread Panic over the past 10 years, it has been almost five years since he last toured with his own band. The concert will take place at Trees.

Saturday, September 2

Advocare Classic: Michigan vs. Florida
All the three local Division I college football teams - SMU, TCU, and UNT - open their seasons with home games on Saturday, but those who aren't fans of the Ponies, Frogs or Mean Green should head to this game at AT&T Stadium. The Michigan Wolverines and Florida Gators will meet for the first time in the regular season. Ticket-holders can enjoy a pregame Fan Fest with performances by Reckless Kelly and Judah & The Lion.

Dallas Dancefest
Dallas DanceFest, taking place at Moody Performance Hall on Saturday and Sunday, features works from 28 diverse dance companies from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and beyond. Performers will include Ballet Ensemble of Texas, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Danielle Georgiou Dance Group, NobleMotion Dance, Texas Ballet Theater, Bruce Wood Dance, imPULSE Dance Project, and more.

Sunday, September 3

Dallas Museum of Art presents "Visions of America: Three Centuries of Prints from the National Gallery of Art" closing day
Sunday is your final chance to see "Visions of America: Three Centuries of Prints from the National Gallery of Art," which surveys how America and its people have been represented in prints for the last 400 years. The exhibit features more than 150 outstanding prints from the colonial era to the present, including works by Paul Revere, James McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jenny Holzer, and others.

Monday, September 4

Lifehouse and Switchfoot in concert
This co-headlining concert by Lifehouse and Switchfoot, two bands that appeal to the Christian music genre, was to have taken place at the Pavilion at the Irving Music Factory. Because of construction delays there, it has been moved to South Side Ballroom in Dallas. Lifehouse is touring in support of its 2015 album, Out of the Wasteland, while Switchfoot is promoting its 2016 album, Where the Light Shines Through.

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will present La La Land in Concert on September 1 and 2 at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in La La Land

Photo by Dale Robinette

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will present La La Land in Concert on September 1 and 2 at Meyerson Symphony Center.

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Wicked News

Wizard of Oz ruby slippers bought by mystery bidder for $28 million

Heritage Auctions

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A pair of iconic ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz and stolen from a museum nearly two decades ago sold for a winning bid of $28 million at auction on December 7.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions had estimated that they would fetch $3 million or more, but the fast-paced bidding far outpaced that amount within seconds and tripled it within minutes. A few bidders making offers by phone volleyed back and forth for 15 minutes as the price climbed to the final, eye-popping sum.

Including the auction house fee, the unknown buyer will ultimately pay $32.5 million.

Online bidding, which opened last month, had stood at $1.55 million before live bidding began late Saturday afternoon.

The sparkly red heels were on display at the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005 when Terry Jon Martin used a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.

Martin, now 77, who lives near Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota, wasn’t publicly exposed as the thief until he was indicted in May 2023. He pleaded guilty in October 2023. He was in a wheelchair and on supplementary oxygen when he was sentenced last January to time served because of his poor health.

The shoes were returned in February to memorabilia collector Michael Shaw, who had loaned them to the museum. They were one of several pairs that Garland wore during the filming, but only four pairs are known to have survived. In the movie, to return from Oz to Kansas, Dorothy had to click her heels three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home.”

As Rhys Thomas, author of The Ruby Slippers of Oz, put it, the sequined shoes from the beloved 1939 musical have seen “more twists and turns than the Yellow Brick Road.”

Over 800 people had been tracking the slippers, and the company’s webpage for the auction had hit nearly 43,000 page views by Thursday, said Robert Wilonsky, a vice president with the auction house.

Among those bidding to bring the slippers home was the Judy Garland Museum, which posted on Facebook shortly after that it did not place the winning bid. The museum had campaigned for donations to supplement money raised by the city of Grand Rapids at its annual Judy Garland festival and the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to help the museum purchase the slippers.

After the slippers sold, the auctioneer told bidders and spectators in the room and watching online that the previous record for a piece of entertainment memorabilia was $5.52 million, for the white dress Marilyn Monroe famously wore atop a windy subway grate.

The auction also included other memorabilia from The Wizard of Oz, such as a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton, who played the original Wicked Witch of the West. That item went for $2.4 million, or a total final cost to the buyer of $2.93 million.

The Wizard of Oz story has gained new attention in recent weeks with the release of the movieWicked, an adaptation of the megahit Broadway musical, a prequel of sorts that reimagines the character of the Wicked Witch of the West.

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