Weekend Event Planner

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

Halloween weekend in and around Dallas brings the usual assortment of seasonal events, but it also has a bunch of symphony performances, a quintet of new theatrical productions, a historical airshow, reality TV in real life, great opera singers, world-class magicians, a music festival, and the closing of a significant art exhibition.

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

Thursday, October 28

Dallas Symphony Orchestra events
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra will be very busy this weekend, with events in multiple locations. The Concert Truck, a mobile concert stage that brings classical chamber music directly to communities will hit the road again, parking at five locations in four days as the start of a monthlong journey. They will also present Elgar Symphony No. 1, featuring pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason and conductor Sir Mark Elder, at Meyerson Symphony Center nightly through Saturday. Finally, they'll present a family-friendly Día de los Muertos Concert at Meyerson Symphony Center on Sunday.

Dallas Theater Center presents The Supreme Leader
Dallas Theater Center will present the world premiere of The Supreme Leader, written by Don X. Nguyen. While in boarding school in Switzerland, Kim Jong-Un learns he’s next in line following his older brother’s career-ending trip to Tokyo Disneyland. Set in the snow globe world of stinky cheese and mountain climbing, this coming-of-age comedy imagines Kim Jong-Un’s final throes of youth before his fateful return to North Korea. The production will run at Kalita Humphreys Theater through November 21.

Sangeet Millennium and Art Nomadic presents Clear Light of the Void
Sangeet Millennium, in collaboration with Art Nomadic and other artists, will present Clear Light of the Void a multidisciplinary, multi-media, multi-linguistic performance installation exploring the notion of a journey through a metaphysical world. Audiences will travel through theatrical portals focused on three distinct but related mystical traditions and enacted through live performances of music, movement, and spoken word recitation. The production, part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project, will take place at Wyly Theatre through Saturday.

Friday, October 29

Commemorative Air Force presents Wings Over Dallas
The Commemorative Air Force’s Wings Over Dallas air show is a World War II-themed event featuring aerial activities and living history re-enactments with more than 30 vintage aircraft and other military vehicles. The air show celebrates the historic aircraft that helped win the war, honors the veterans who flew and maintained these iconic warbirds, and recognizes the vital contributions made by civilians on the home front. It will take place at Dallas Executive Airport through Sunday.

Halloween events
Halloween doesn't often take place on a weekend, so you can expect plenty of people out and about and in a spooky mood. The Dallas-Fort Worth does not have a lack of quality haunted houses and other Halloween-themed events, along with things like a ghost tour, themed-train rides, and more all weekend long.

MasterChef Live!
MasterChef Live! is a high-energy, interactive live stage production that brings the culinary hit TV shows MasterChef & MasterChef Junior directly to fans and foodies alike. The family-friendly show, taking place at Comerica Center in Frisco, will feature head-to-head cooking demonstrations and fun (sometimes messy) challenges with past MasterChef & MasterChef Junior contestants.

The Dallas Opera National Vocal Competition
Classically-trained U.S. singers will compete for industry recognition and the chance to perform on a world-class stage with Maestro Emmanuel Villaume and The Dallas Opera Orchestra, all before a live audience and a panel of judges representing some of the most prestigious opera companies in North America. The event will take place at Winspear Opera House.

Lyric Stage presents The Best of Broadway: A Pops Concert
This jam packed, 100-minute concert celebrates Lyric Stage’s 28 years of developing and preserving the musical by featuring 100 years of music from 28 of Broadway’s most beloved shows. The Best Of Broadway boasts performances by local favorites Keron Jackson, Amy Stevenson, Feleceia Benton Wilson, Mary Gilbreath-Grim, Markus Lloyd, Catherine Carpenter-Cox, Christopher J. Deaton, and rising artists Sadat Hossain and Jéssica Webba. There will be four performances through Sunday at Majestic Theatre.

Teatro Dallas presents The Merit System
Teatro Dallas will present The Merit System, which centers on Ray Rivers, a young Puerto Rican man on the way up. Struggling with the cost of assimilation, he walks a tightrope both at the factory, where he has been recently promoted to management, and with his fiancée. When a recently divorced Cuca joins the assembly line, an unexpected friendship develops and allows him to finally accept the part of himself that he’s long denied. The production will run through November 13 at Latino Cultural Center.

Penn & Teller
For over 45 years Penn & Teller have defied labels, and at times physics and good taste, by redefining the genre of magic and inventing their own very distinct niche in comedy. They currently host the hit series Penn & Teller: Fool Us! for The CW Network, on which up-and-comers and magic veterans try to fool Penn & Teller for a chance to star in the duo’s hit Las Vegas stage show. They'll perform at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Imprint Theatreworks presents We Are Pussy Riot! (Or, Everything is P.R.)
In February 2012, five young women activists, who called themselves Pussy Riot, walked into the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow to protest the illegal presidential election in Russia. We Are Pussy Riot! (Or, Everything is P.R.) weaves together trial transcripts, letters, interviews, media coverage, and statements from celebrities and public officials, to re-imagine the story of Pussy Riot. The production will run at Bath House Cultural Center through November 13.

Saturday, October 30

LaReunion Music Fest
The LaReunion Music Fest celebrates live music from acts in and around Dallas-Fort Worth. It will feature performances by The Suffers, Bob Schneider, Rebirth Brass Band, Sir Woman, and more. The festival, taking place at Dallas Heritage Village on both Saturday and Sunday, will also feature vendors, food, and drinks.

Sunday, October 31

Dallas Museum of Art presents "My|gration" closing day
Originally opening on February 1, 2020, the exhibition "My|gration" will finally come to a close on Sunday at the Dallas Museum of Art. It is an installation of works that traces the migration of people, objects, and ideas in art across times and cultures. Composed of works from the DMA’s collection, "My|gration" highlights the contributions of artists who immigrated to the United States, examines how the movement of people is expressed through art, and illuminates ways cross-cultural connections inform artistic production.

The Wings Over Dallas air show takes place at Dallas Executive Airport, October 29-31.

Photo courtesy of Commemorative Air Force

The Wings Over Dallas air show takes place at Dallas Executive Airport, October 29-31.

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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