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Dallas Jingle Bell Run

Photo courtesy of Trinity Strand Trail

The Jingle Bell Run is a festive family-friendly event with a nighttime 5K run/walk, 1 Mile walk, and a huge afterparty. Participants are encouraged to run dressed up in their favorite holiday attire and bring along their whole family - pups included. The afterparty includes live entertainment, complimentary food and beverages, and more.

The event will feature a "holidays in paradise" theme with an optional Paradise Perks experience that will include access to a designated area with additional food and beverage options. Visitors can grab their Santa hat or their beach shirt and escape to an oasis filled with all of their typical family-friendly fun, but with a tropical twist.

Photo courtesy of SBG Hospitality

McKinney Monster Dash 5k

McKinney Monster Dash 5k will take place around the Historic McKinney Cotton Mill, and the finish line will feature local vendor setups and plenty of ice cold beer to enjoy. Other activities include live music, a photo-booth courtesy of Hotworx, a costume contest, beer options from TUPPS Brewery, and fall snacks.

5k participants will receive a Monster Dash event t-shirt, custom Monster Dash bib, and a spooktacular finishers medal.

Photo courtesy of BMW Dallas Marathon

RunDallas presents BMW Dallas Marathon Festival

RunDallas will present the 20th anniversary of the Half-Marathon and visitors can experience new walking-only events for the 5K and Half Marathon. The annual event will feature a Half Marathon (running and walking), 50K Ultra Marathon, 5-Person Marathon Relay, and the 2-Person Half Marathon Relay. There will also be a 10K, 5K (running and walking), 5K Team Challenge, Kid’s 100-Yard Dash and Oncor Kid’s Race on the following day, and the Friday Night Lights Mile will return.

The BMW Dallas Marathon Festival weekend of events directly benefits Scottish Rite for Children. Since being named as the primary beneficiary in 1997, the Dallas Marathon Festival has donated more than $4 million to the organization.

City of Mesquite

Mesquite Parks & Recreation presents Guts & Gory Zombie Run and Challenge

Mesquite Parks & Recreation will present Guts & Gory Zombie Run and Challenge, where visitors can run through the woods, compete in team building challenges and try to survive the zombie horde. Obstacles and missions will test strength, speed, problem-solving, and teamwork.

Guests can participate either as a runner escaping from zombies or as a zombie. The event will feature a form of live entertainment that simulates the experience of escaping from zombies including mild images of gore. Also, participants are advised that the race route includes a section in which powdered pigment will be thrown on runners.

Photo by Jim Bird

6th Annual Garland Guzzler 0.5K Race & Oktoberfest

Underachievers will unite for the 6th Annual Garland Guzzler 0.5K Race & Oktoberfest, a 0.5k race in Downtown Garland. This is a point-5K which is only 546 yards, 500 meters, or 1,638 feet. Participants can join with fellow racers for an evening of Oktoberfest themed racing, games, food, and live music by The Dogensteins.

Photo by Crash Productions, Inc.

Kier's Hope 5th Annual 5K Run & Fun Walk

The Kier’s Hope 5th Annual 5K Run and Fun Walk expects approximately 400 runners to participate. Steve Harvey Morning Show co-host and comedian Kier “Junior” Spates, who was diagnosed with sickle cell disease at the age of seven, founded the Kier's Hope Foundation Inc. in 2018 to inspire and educate families affected by the disease, provide education, programs, services and funding resources.

Sickle cell anemia is a common inherited blood disorder that inhibits the ability of hemoglobin in red blood cells to carry oxygen. The sickle cells stick together, blocking small blood vessels causing pain and other serious complications like infection, acute chest syndrome and stroke. The disease affects approximately 100,000 Americans, mostly African Americans or people who identify as Black.

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New burger joint in McKinney with chef toppers and full bar is a sizzler

Burger News

McKinney has a new burger joint that is already lighting up the Collin County foodie scene. Called Loyo Burger, it's part of the Local Yocal empire, and is newly opened in downtown McKinney at 216 W. Virginia St. #102, in the space next to Sugarbacon that has had some turnover (it was one a location of the Mad For Chicken chain).

The Local Yocal empire starts with Local Yocal Farm to Market, the artisanal butcher shop founded by rancher Matt Hamilton in McKinney in 2010. That was followed Local Yocal BBQ and Grill, a steakhouse and BBQ restaurant he opened in 2018.

Now comes Loyo - an abbreviation culled from Local Yocal - featuring a chef-driven menu of burgers with bold toppings, and featuring patties made from a blend of Wagyu ground beef, supplied by the butcher shop.

According to the restaurant team, Loyo was inspired by the best selling burger at Local Yocal BBQ & Grill. It's a gourmet cheeseburger with Tillamook cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and sauce - but with ingredients made from scratch including house-made pickles and house-made sauce.

Loyo is similar to "better burger" concepts like Hopdoddy Burger Bar, with a lineup of burger options, most made from beef but also chicken, salmon, and veggie, as follows:

  • Spicy Vaquero with jalapeño, caramelized onion, tortilla strips, tomato, smashed avocado, ghost pepper jack, and chi mayo
  • Berry goat with a mixed berry bacon onion jam, goat cheese, and arugula
  • Cowboy breakfast with bacon, fried egg, smashed tots, American cheese, and charred jalapeno/tomato jam
  • Wagyu Yaki, with coffee rub, grilled pineapple, Tillamook cheddar, fried onion, arugula, bourbon teriyaki, & Fresno Chile mayo
  • Crispy chicken thigh sandwich with pickles & Nashville hot sauce
  • Salmon patty with roasted tomato, capers, kalamata olive, arugula, and dill mayo
  • Dan burger, a quarter-pound patty with mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, & Duke’s mayo

The name of their veggie burger is amusing: It's called “Necessary Evil” and consists of a housemate patty with avocado, tomato, Bibb lettuce, and crispy onions.

Sides include fries, garlic & sea salt tater tots, sweet potato fries, onion rings, fried pickles, and pork rinds. Fries are hand-cut, not too thick but not too thin, and onion rings are large and crunchy.

To get an idea of how exacting it all is, here's the description for their fried pickles: "Housemade Fried Pickles - Kirby cucumbers pickled in-house, breaded in a scratch-made batter, fried and served with our housemade ranch."

There are also two salads, a house salad and a Greek, with an ice cream sandwich for dessert.

Prices run from $11 to $14 for the burgers, and sides are $3 to $5. They also have a full bar, although a spokesperson says that for now, they have cocktails and beer only; wine is still TK.

It's a handsome space with a rustic vibe featuring wood tables and shiplap on the walls. Service is streamlined: You place your order sy a kiosk and they bring the food to you.

Queens of the Stone Age add 8 dates to winter tour including Dallas

queens of rock

Calling all Teenage Hand Models, Little Sisters, and Carnavoyeurs. Queens of the Stone Age are coming to town.

Joshua Homme and his bandmates have added eight new stops to their “The End is Nero” tour and that includes the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving on December 10.

They'll also stop at the Moody Center in Austin on December 8 and Houston’s 713 Music Hall on Saturday, December 9. British rock band Spiritualized will open.

QOTSA is touring behind its latest album, In Times New Roman. Released in June, the album went to number one in four countries, including six charts in the U.S. — Vinyl, Independent, Alternative, Digital, Rock, and Hard Music album sales charts. Hailed as a return to the band’s hard rocking roots, it deals with such light-hearted subjects as Homme’s divorce from Distillers founder Brody Dale.

The tour launched on August 3 in Michigan and has the band criss-crossing the U.S. before heading to Europe for the month of November.

Judging by intel from the band’s recent stops, fans should expect a setlist that pulls from QOTSA’s entire, 20-plus year history, including fan favorites such as "No One Knows," "Little Sister," and "A Song for the Dead."

Tickets go on sale Friday, September 22 via livenation.com. Various pre-sales are also available.

Newly announced dates for The End is Nero Tour include:

12/05/23 - Phoenix - Arizona Financial Theatre
12/06/23 - El Paso - Abraham Chavez Theatre
12/08/23 - Austin - Moody Center
12/09/23 - Houston - 713 Music Hall
12/10/23 - Irving – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
12/12/23 - Albuquerque - Revel ABQ
12/15/23 - San Diego - Viejas Arena
12/16/23 - Los Angeles - Kia Forum

Dallas choral group Verdigris Ensemble promises multi-sensory new season

Season Announcement

A mere month after announcing the hiring of its new executive director, acclaimed choral group Verdigris Ensemble is lifting the curtain on its seventh season.

It centers on the theme of “Regrowth,” with each multi-sensory performance telling a Texas-based story focused on both challenges and opportunities for environmental justice and community renewal.

To actually walk the walk, every ticket purchased this season will support Texas Trees Foundation’s planting efforts in the state to deliver on the promise of regrowth.

The season opens with The Endangered, a synergistic collaboration between Verdigris Ensemble and Dallas Contemporary Museum of Art.

This vocal and orchestral experience combines with movement and projections to look honestly and compassionately at natural preservation. The work is firmly planted in Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for The Endangered, with a libretto by poet/writer Nathaniel Bellows.

Text from five Dallas poets is set to music by five regional composers. It runs October 27-29, 2023, at Dallas Contemporary.

The second performance series, Beautification, continues at the Dallas Contemporary December 1-3, 2023, and celebrates a unique collaboration inspired by site-specific work with visual artist Bianca Bondi.

Commissioning 8-10 composers, this work weaves together a narrative of Ladybird Johnson’s Highway Beautification Act and the native flowers of Texas. The Act was passed in 1965 and created restrictions on highway billboards that detracted from the natural beauty of Texas landscapes, and seeds of native flowers were distributed to bring native beauty to road travelers.

Projections of individual flowers envelop audience members in an experience much like driving a car on a highway. Iconic audio pieces of Ladybird’s speeches make the program a cohesive experience.

Dust Bowl, the season’s third performance, combines a unique medley of bluegrass band, video projection, and choreographed movement. The work shares stories from the period of the Dust Bowl through previously unexplored mediums and confronts questions of what caused this ecological disaster and what was learned from it.

This fan favorite debuted in 2020 and returns to Dallas in 2024 with an original libretto and added musical material.

The Dust Bowl began in 1931 and lasted for almost a decade, displacing entire populations in the Southern Plains region of the United States. Setting texts from newspaper articles, diaries, and oral accounts of survivors, the work pieces together a period of human struggle, hopefulness, and perseverance in the face of constant catastrophe. It runs February 23-25, 2024, at the Wyly Theatre' Potter Rose Performance Hall.

The season finale, Mis-Lead, is composed by Kirsten Soriano and premieres featuring 16 vocalists and basic percussion instruments found in factories that resonate throughout the production.

In 1934, a lead smelter was opened in West Dallas, resulting in toxic byproducts being dumped into nearby landfills and around people's homes. For over four decades, residents suffered consistent symptoms resulting in chronic diseases and death due to higher-than-normal levels of lead in their bodies.

This artistic piece brings attention to these communities, documenting the facts to prevent similar events in our future, while fostering human connection from all sides of the cultural spectrum. It runs April 5-7, 2024, at the Kalita Humphreys Theater.

Founded in 2017, Verdigris Ensemble is a Dallas-based professional choir dedicated to bringing choral music to the modern audience through creative concert programming, unconventional use of space, and collaboration.

Focusing on story-driven musical narratives, Verdigris Ensemble commissions new works, collaborates with interdisciplinary artists, inspires new audiences, and invests in the next generation of musicians.

Tickets may be purchased at www.verdigrismusic.org. Discount pricing is available for students.