Weekend Event Planner

These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend

It's a big weekend around Dallas, with the State Fair coming to an end, a couple of big name concerts, a quartet of new local theater productions, a new Instagram-friendly exhibit, monster trucks, and a major new art exhibition, among other options.

Below are the best ways to spend your precious free time this weekend.

Thursday, October 14

State Fair of Texas
You only have four more days to enjoy the wide-ranging fun of the State Fair of Texas, as it comes to a close on Sunday. Concerts on the final weekend will include Elvis tribute act Kraig Parker (Friday), country singer Charley Crockett (Saturday), and pop/rock band The Last Bandoleros (Sunday). Or you can try to get your fill of fried food, Midway rides, carnival games, and more before they go into hiding for a year. Looking for discounts? Here's every possible one.

Dead & Company in concert
When it comes to a venerated group like the Grateful Dead, nothing is ever truly the end. Dead & Company features original Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, and Bob Weir alongside John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti. Continuing in the tradition of the iconic band, the group draws from the Dead’s vast catalog of songs to keep their tradition alive. They'll play at Dos Equis Pavilion.

WaterTower Theatre presents The Taming
A patriotism-obsessed Miss Georgia has kidnapped a Republican Senator’s campaign manager & a liberal activist who is fighting to save the endangered panda-shrew, and is holding them hostage in her hotel room the night before the big Miss America Pageant. In this hilarious, raucous, all-female “power-play” inspired by Shakespeare’s Shrew, contestant Katherine has political aspirations to match her beauty pageant ambitions. The production will run through October 24 at WaterTower Theatre in Addison.

The Classics Theatre Project presents The Hairy Ape: A Comedy of Ancient and Modern Life In Eight Scenes
The Classics Theatre Project will present an intensely intimate and provocative production of Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape: A Comedy of Ancient and Modern Life In Eight Scenes. The ensemble cast tackles O'Neill's take on expressionism in this work that directly challenges the underlying rags-to-riches mythology of America and powerfully examines the effects of alienation in the modern world. The production will run through November 6 at The Core Theatre in Richardson.

Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents "Beethoven’s Emperor"
Nicknamed the “Emperor,” Beethoven’s last piano concerto is bursting with heroic themes and virtuosic cadenzas, as well as one of the composer’s most tender slow movements. This concert, which features pianist Garrick Ohlsson and conductor Carlos Kalmar, also includes Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony. There will be four performances through Sunday at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Bishop Arts Theatre Center presents Before You Get Married
Before You Get Married is an immersive theatre experience that explores the relationship between two siblings on the night before the sister's wedding. With the passing night and flowing wine, both siblings struggle to understand what they mean to each other as secrets are revealed. The production will run at Bishop Arts Theatre Center through October 30.

Friday, October 15

NTPA Repertory Theatre presents Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical
Based on the story by Robert Luis Stevenson and featuring a pop rock score from Grammy- and Tony-nominated Frank Wildhorn and Oscar- and Grammy-winning Leslie Bricusse, Jekyll & Hyde is about the epic struggle between good and evil. It's an evocative tale of two men — one, a passionate and romantic doctor; the other, a terrifying madman — and the two women who are in love with him and unaware of his dark secret. The production will run through October 24 at Willow Bend Center for the Arts in Plano.

Saturday, October 16

Sweet Tooth Hotel presents "Rewind"
Sweet Tooth Hotel will present their newest exhibit, "Rewind", a title that is a play on the installations visitors will be able to explore. At the center of the exhibit will sit a full-blown vintage video store full of VHS tapes and a few hidden spaces for guests to discover. In addition, they’ll be rebooting some cult favorite installations from their previous exhibits. The exhibition will be open through at least January 30 at Watters Creek at Montgomery Farm in Allen.

Monster Jam
Monster Jam, featuring an epic 12-truck line-up of fan favorites, includes the ultimate mix of high-flying stunts and four-wheel excitement with unbelievable action to unexpected thrills. Taking place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, it will include the return of The Monster Jam Pit Party, where fans can see the massive trucks up close, participate in Q&As with the drivers, take pictures, and enjoy other family-friendly fun.

The Dallas Opera presents The People's Choice Concert
The Dallas Opera will kick off their season with The People’s Choice Concert, featuring favorite and familiar opera arias from a selection of operas spanning the centuries, including Bellini’s Norma, Mozart’s The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro, Puccini’s Tosca and Madame Butterfly, Bizet’s Carmen, Verdi’s Otello, and more. The concert will take place at Annette Strauss Square.

KXT 91.7 presents The Polyphonic Spree: Jukebox Jamboree
The Polyphonic Spree: Jukebox Jamboree will be an eclectic evening featuring two sets by The Polyphonic Spree, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary as a band. One set will be the band's favorite songs to cover and the other set will feature original songs. Both concerts, taking place on Saturday and Sunday at The Kessler, will be recorded for a live EP.

Sunday, October 17

Dallas Museum of Art presents "Van Gogh and the Olive Groves"
The Dallas Museum of Art will host the first exhibition dedicated to Vincent van Gogh’s important olive grove series. "Van Gogh and the Olive Groves" reunites for the first time the series of paintings devoted to the titular motif that the artist produced between June and December 1889. It additionally highlights new discoveries about the artist’s techniques, materials, and palette that emerged from a collaborative conservation and scientific research project that included all 15 paintings in the series. The exhibition will remain on display through February 6, 2022.

Kane Brown in concert
Kane Brown is part of the new brand of country music, unafraid to add pop and R&B sounds to his songs. Not so coincidentally, that has made him very popular, resulting in both of his first two albums going to No. 1 on the Billboard Country charts (2018's Experiment also hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200) and three No. 1 hits so far. He'll play at American Airlines Center.

Dallas Museum of Art presents "Van Gogh and the Olive Groves" starting on October 17.

Photo by Rik Klein Gotink

Dallas Museum of Art presents "Van Gogh and the Olive Groves" starting on October 17.

event-planner opera concerts museums theater

Shaq Sighting

Shaquille O'Neal cruises Dallas lake in custom '64 Chevy Impala boat

Courtesy of Effortless Motors/Youtube

A still from the Effortless Motors video

“Oh, my God! My Impala boat has arrived!” The shout comes from NBA Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O’Neal, as seen in a viral video from California-based Effortless Motors.

Those on Lake Ray Hubbard one day in early July witnessed the 7-foot-1-inch basketball superstar, known worldwide as Shaq, cruising the North Texas waters in a convertible 1964 Chevrolet Impala. A surreal sight, onlookers say.

“I had to do a double take, rub my eyes, and hope no one had spiked my coffee,” says Rockwall resident Steve Johns via phone. Johns was doing maintenance on his berthed boat when he saw the celebrity steering the craft through the waves with two other men aboard.

The passengers were Ahmad Abdelrahman and Daniel Ubario, classic car specialists who founded Effortless Motors, a full-service auto concierge in Riverside, California. They built and delivered the custom craft to O'Neal and filmed both its reveal and its maiden voyage.

O’Neal had semi-jokingly discussed the idea with the men last March, on his 54th birthday, while commissioning a Chevy Impala ‘64 restoration for his multimillion-dollar car collection.

“He wanted something crazy that no one in the world has ever seen,” Abdelrahman, Effortless CEO, tells CultureMap in an interview.

In early July, the team delivered O'Neal's consigned classic car to his home in the Ridge Lakes of Heath subdivision, on the lake’s east side. The video shows O’Neal treating family members to low, rumbling rides around his otherwise quiet suburban enclave and appearing ecstatic as he hugs and heaps praise upon the car specialists.

“You did a great job. Oh, thank you! Everything is perfect,” O’Neal says about the $1.2 million street-ready Impala, whose price reflects the extensive modifications needed to accommodate Shaq’s XXL physique. “But you promised me the boat for my birthday,” O’Neal quips.

On cue, a second trailer arrives hauling the gold Impala boat, a nod to Doughboy (Ice Cube)’s 1993 ride in the movie Boyz n the Hood.

The logistics of delivering both a car and a surprise boat — and secretly setting up the latter’s trial run — were challenging, but O'Neal's reaction made everything worthwhile, Abdelrahman says.

“The best thing was knowing we built something that has never existed before," he says. "Seeing that Impala on the water, it’s like seeing a unicorn flying across the sky.”

In the video, Shaq is seen settling into the customized captain’s seat and navigating choppy waters as Abdelrahman exclaims, “First seven footer to drive a ‘64 Impala in the water.”

“Once again, Effortless Motors delivers,” O’Neal says into the camera.

The video then shows the famous TNT broadcaster stopping under storm clouds to sign autographs and snap photos with starstruck lakegoers. “We love your boat, Shaq,” a teenage boy is heard saying after snapping a selfie. “You’re the best, man. We love you!”

O’Neal has lived part-time in the Dallas area since 2022, when he bought a $1.2 million Carrollton mansion. He sold it for $1.7 million and moved into his current 5,100 square-foot, approximately $2 million Rockwall County estate in 2024.

Since then, sightings of the megastar abound around Dallas-Fort Worth. In Mesquite in 2024, he treated 20 students to $500 shopping sprees at JCPenney. On another occasion he gave a $500 gift card to a couple he met at Fort Worth’s JCPenney, which they paid forward to children in need. And earlier this year at the Rockwall Target, he distributed $100 bills to shoppers at random. He's also behind the Big Chicken restaurant franchise, whose Fort Worth location recently closed.

But Shaq isn't the only retired athlete taking high-end toys to Texas waters. While his Impala jetboat is one of a kind, other luxury autos afloat have been spotted nearby. Former Dallas Maverick Charlie Villanueva regularly is seen cruising his Rolls Royce amphi-boat near his Lake Ray Hubbard home, many Instagram commenters pointed out after Shaq’s maritime adventure went viral.

Automotive journalists at The Autopian noted that, based video footage, Shaq’s new toy is not amphibious but rather a fiberglass silhouette of the Impala attached to a jet boat hull.

“That doesn’t take away from the spectacle of the thing much, with the rather slab-sided Impala body cutting an unexpected shape through the water,” wrote The Autopian's Andrew Evans.

A still from the Effortless Motors video

Courtesy of Effortless Motors/Youtube

Shaq featured in the Effortless Motors video.

celebrities lake ray hubbard shaquille oneal impala boat cars rockwall shaquille o'neal