There's plenty to love about springtime in North Texas. Here are five fun ways to celebrate the season, from photo ops with our state flower to kicking back with a picnic at a concert.
Bluebonnets: Plopping down in a field of bluebonnets for a photo op is a Texas tradition. But bluebonnet season isn't here in full force just yet. (The folks at Bluebonnet Love have reported there are some along Highway 114 in Irving between Belt Line Road and O'Conner Boulevard in Irving, as well as on State Highway 121 near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. And a few are starting to show up in Ennis, though the folks at the Convention and Visitors Bureau there weren't quite ready to recommend last weekend that anyone drive the trails there just yet). But it's close, y'all. The blooms at Ennis Bluebonnet Trails, 40 miles of mapped trails, usually peak in the third week of April.
Skyline Trapeze: North Texans are getting another chance to fly through the air with the greatest of ease. Skyline Trapeze, which was previously in the Design District, is back after a short stint away during the winter months. This time it's in Addison and the plan is for the company to stay indefinitely, with hopes of moving indoors once a suitable location is found. So can just about anyone dip his or her toes in the circus realm for a couple of hours? Yes, for 60 bucks. Classes are sold in two-hour increments, allowing students to have multiple swings on the towering apparatus during their sessions.
Texas Tulips: This field in Pilot Point offers tulip-picking, as well as plenty of pretty photo ops among the bright rows of blooms. The Koeman family, originally from the Netherlands, runs it. Admission is free, but it costs $2.50 a stem to pick flowers. There's also a small hay maze. Texas Tulips will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. through April 20 at 10656 FM2931, Pilot Point.
Free outdoor concerts: Take a picnic and kick back with some music. Dallas Arts District options include Patio Sessions with a well-curated slate of local acts and Sammons Lunch Jam with students from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. In Grand Prairie, you can try Concerts in the Park. The Irving Concert Series is held at Whistlestop Plaza.
Texas-themed fun at the arboretum: The Dallas Blooms festival at the Dallas Arboretum has a "Deep in the Heartsof Texans" theme. Stroll among the gardens filled with more than half a million spring-blooming bulbs and enjoy Texas-themed attractions such as Western-style photo ops around a chuck wagon hitched to two horse topiaries, musical acts and special menus at Cafe on the Green. On Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m., there'll be pony rides. On Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., you can see a trick roper.
Compiled by Ann Pinson, Kimber Westphall and Dena Hill
