Five unique North Texas events this weekend: September 30 – October 2

This post originally appeared in the North Texas e-News

Six Flags Over Texas Fright Fest – Arlington

This weekend marks the start of October which means Halloween season is now officially in full swing. Get your fill of frights early in autumn at Six Flags Over Texas which is running its annual Fright Fest all October long. Highlight attractions include a variety of different haunted house experiences at the park ranging from an abandoned theater and mysterious mansion to a cursed mummy’s tomb and mad science laboratory. There’s also various stage shows along with dedicated scare zones where park guests might come face to face with even more monsters in the night. Of course, that’s all without mentioning an opportunity to take a late-night ride on one of Six Flags many daytime attractions. Fright Fest tickets start at $29.99 for regular single-day admission. For more information about Fright Fest, check out the Six Flags Over Texas website.

Tacotopia – The Colony

It might not be on Taco Tuesday, but the vendors at Nebraska Furniture Mart and The Lawn at Grandscape are certainly ready to sling some flour and corn shells on October 1 at Tacotopia. This taco-themed celebration, running from noon to 6 P.M., features five different food vendors, live mariachi and ballet folklorico groups and a hot sauce eating contest. Admission is free, but each $25 VIP ticket comes with exclusive seating, a goodie bag and 2 drink tickets with proceeds benefiting local Latino family support nonprofit The Concilio. Visit https://www.nfm.com/tacotopia/ for additional information.

Cottonwood Art Festival – Richardson

Some of the country’s top artists will be in Richardson this weekend for the Cottonwood Art Festival. The fest, a semi-annual tradition, showcases more than 200 exhibiting artists displaying their talents in a broad range of mediums. This year’s featured artist is Michelle McDowell Smith, a mixed media painter who the festival says creates pieces which celebrate universal themes like trust, love and family. The festival also includes some standard festival fare as well like two stages of live music and a children’s entertainment area where kids can work on their own artistic masterpieces. For more information about the free admission festival, which starts at 10 A.M. on both October 1 and October 2, go to https://cottonwoodartfestival.com/. 

AnnaFest – Anna

A new western-themed festival hits the North Texas area to usher in October thanks to Annafest. The fest’s busy slate of activities centers around many different western attractions like armadillo races, wild west showdowns, Texas Longhorn photo opportunities, mechanical bull riding and more. A wide range of food and drink vendors are on hand as well as craft and face painting opportunities for kids. This free admission and free parking festival runs from 3:30 P.M to 9:30 P.M. on October 1. Check out the city of Anna’s website for more information.

Fall Plano Train Show

Hop aboard and ride down to this fifth annual model train show hosted by the North Texas Council of Railroad Clubs. A dozen different layouts will be on hand to tour starting at 10 A.M. across October 1 and 2. There will also be how-to clinics on a number of different topics throughout the show. Admission is $10 per person with free entry for children 12 and under. Visit the North Texas Council of Railroad Clubs website for more information.

Bonus: The State Fair of Texas – Dallas

Would any weekend activities list be truly complete if it didn’t mention the start of this iconic Texas tradition? New for this year’s fest are fun and intriguing food bites like doh-muffs (doughnuts battered and fried in banana nut muffin batter), dim sum burritos, deep fried praline cheesecake egg rolls and pork belly burnt end pizza. This weekend’s musical guests also include two of the fest’s standouts: country music icon Trace Adkins on September 30 and Grammy Award winning singer Ashanti on October 1. Head to https://bigtex.com/ for the full list of activities, new foods and musical guests.