Festival Season

Music and BBQ top the 15 must-hit Dallas festivals of spring 2025

Spring is when everything feels new again, and it's also the time when festival organizers try to take advantage of both the good weather and positive feelings to put on their big events.

We've rounded up the top must-attend festivals happening throughout spring 2025 across Dallas-Fort Worth. For even more options, head to our event calendar.

Deep Ellum Community Arts Fair (April 4-6)
The third annual Deep Ellum Community Arts Fair transforms Deep Ellum’s streets into a three-day celebration of art, music, community, and culture. Visitors can explore six blocks of original art, live performances, and culinary delights. There will be more than 120 fine and decorative artists and more than 80 bands and performing artists spread across four stages.

Breakaway Music Festival (April 4-5)
The Breakaway Music Festival is an electronic music event in Fair Park that will be headlined by big acts like Slander, Zedd, Afrojack, GRYFFIN, and Louis The Child. They will be joined by 16 national touring acts and four local DJs across two nights. Breakaway elevates the festival experience with a silent disco featuring local artists and brand activations.

Dallas Art Fair (April 10-13)
Taking place at Fashion Industry Gallery, the Dallas Art Fair offers collectors, arts professionals, and the public the opportunity to engage with a rich selection of modern and contemporary artworks presented by leading global and local galleries. Curated exhibitions and programming encourage conversations about the city's growing arts community.

Ennis Bluebonnet Trails Festival (April 11-13)
The annual Ennis Bluebonnet Trails Festival features an abundance of activities and live music throughout the weekend, as well as a spectacular array of Texas bluebonnets across 40 miles of trails in Ennis. Festival activities include arts and crafts exhibitions, shopping, children’s activities, the railroad and cultural heritage museum, and food options. Visitors also can enjoy the beer garden or sample Texas wines at the Ennis Education Foundation Wine Wander.

USA Film Festival (April 23-27)
The annual USA Film Festival features a variety of sneak preview screenings, tributes to filmmakers, retrospective screenings, short films, and more at Angelika Film Center in Dallas. This year it will have to share some dates with another big film festival (see below). The festival lineup is typically announced during the first week of April, so stay tuned for full details.

Taste Addison (April 25-27)
Taste Addison moves from its traditional late May/early June dates so that guests can relax with cooler temps at Addison Circle Park. Taste Addison has a focus on the culinary arts, performing arts, and visual arts. Food booths and trucks, international delicacies, a tasting area, and Sunday brunch are all part of the culinary experience. National, regional and community artists take to the stages (and spaces) for the performing arts.

Dallas International Film Festival (April 25-May 1)
The annual Dallas International Film Festival brings a variety of premiere screenings, documentaries, short films, filmmaker panels, and nightly red carpets to Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas Victory Park. For the first time ever, the festival has been named an Oscar Qualifying Film Festival, which may be a boon to the types of films it will screen. The festival lineup is typically revealed in late March/early April, so keep your eyes peeled for more details.

Festival of Joy (April 26)
Taking place at Klyde Warren Park, the sixth annual Festival of Joy features a parade, dancing, music, and live performances throughout the day. Presented by East Dallas restaurant Kalachandji’s, the festival includes a free vegetarian feast and a variety of ethnic vegetarian foods available for purchase. The event culminates with an evening concert by The Mayapuris.

Frisco Uncorked (April 26)
The annual wine-centered event at Frisco Square features hundreds of award-winning wines, local restaurants, a VIP experience, a craft beer garden, shopping with a variety of boutiques and artisans, grape stomping competitions, activations, and more.

Lone Star Smokeout (May 2-4)
The Lone Star Smokeout is a three-day country music and BBQ festival taking over AT&T Stadium in Arlington. It will feature some top country music artists, including Jon Pardi, Cody Jinks, Midland, Randy Rogers Band, Eli Young Band, Kaitlin Butts, and more. Top barbecue spots from around the state will be on hand, including Panther City BBQ, Slow Bone BBQ, Salt Lick BBQ, Black’s BBQ, Curry Boys BBQ, and more.

Dallas International Guitar Festival (May 2-4)
Taking place at Dallas Market Hall, the Dallas International Guitar Festival is the largest and oldest guitar show in the world. Visitors can buy, sell, trade, or just browse among the thousands of new and vintage guitars, basses, amps, banjos, music memorabilia, and more. There will also be performances by more than 50 local, regional, and national bands on four music stages. Headliners include Ian Moore, Sonny Landreth, and Andy Timmons.

Cottonwood Art Festival (May 3-4)
Cottonwood Art Festival, held at Richardson's Cottonwood Park, is a semi-annual event that features works from the nation's top visual artists. Jurors select over 240 artists to exhibit their museum-quality work, competing in 14 categories. The festival also features music from a variety of local bands.

Post Malone's Travelin' Tailgate (May 9)
Travelin' Tailgate is a free daytime event taking place at AT&T Stadium directly before Post Malone's concert. Running from 12-6 pm, it will feature live music, food, beer, merch, carnival games, photo opportunities, and tattoos by Posty’s personal tattoo artists from Oxford Circle Tattoos. Plus, one lucky fan will ride away with a 2025 Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Tickets to that night's concert are not required.

City of Grapevine presents 41st Annual Main Street Fest (May 16-18)
The 41st Annual Main Street Fest is a family-friendly festival featuring live music, craft brew and wine experiences, food, and unique shopping in Historic Downtown Grapevine. Visitors can enjoy the Carnival and Midway, explore the KidZone, and more.

Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival (May 16-18)
The annual Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival at Richardson's Galatyn Park Urban Center features performances by national, regional, and local bands, led by headliners The Revivalists, Cold War Kids, Young the Giant, NEEDTOBREATHE, and Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. Over the course of the festival, nearly 50 bands will perform on various stages, and there will be a variety of other activities, including a Singer Songwriter contest, strolling entertainers, and a Battle of the Bands contest.

Photo courtesy of Visit Addison

Taste Addison takes place at Addison Circle Park, April 25-27.

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Movie Review

Legendary filmmaker makes tepid return with meandering film Ella McCay

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

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Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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