GrapeFest closed out its 40th year on Historic Main Street on September 20. Carol of Lights, which starts the Christmas season, isn't until Monday, November 23, from 4 to 8 p.m. in Historic Downtown Grapevine. Lay out the events published for the weeks in between and one street keeps coming up. Two addresses on Ball Street, Historic Nash Farm at 626 Ball and the Botanical Gardens at Heritage Park at 411 Ball, host more of October's free and low-cost events than any other part of town.
Main Street still has plenty going on in October, but much of it is ticketed and built around the railroad. Ball Street has the barn dance, the butterfly festival, the farm round-up and two free evening concerts. Its most expensive ticket, short of a VIP pass, costs $35 at the door.
Two addresses, six dates
Here is the Ball Street October, in order:
- Friday, October 2. First Fridays: Cowboy Cooking at Nash Farm, 10 a.m. to noon, $5 per person ages 3 and up.
- Friday and Saturday, October 2 and 3. Sunset Live! at the Botanical Gardens, 411 Ball Street. General admission is free. New Ellum and The Alternatives play Friday, and Hazard County and Zack King Band play Saturday, with sets from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and 8 to 9:30 p.m. each night.
- Friday, October 9. The Barn Dance at Nash Farm, 6:30 to 9 p.m., with a fried-chicken supper and a pie auction. Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 for the limited walk-up supply.
- Saturday, October 17. The 29th annual Butterfly Flutterby at the Botanical Gardens, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It's free, and pets are welcome.
- Saturday, October 24. The Nash Farm Fall Round-up, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., free.
- Friday, October 30. Bewitched by the Barn at Nash Farm, 7 to 9 p.m., $5 in advance or $10 for limited walk-ups.
That's at least one Ball Street event on every weekend in October. The Flutterby has the most local story behind it. The CVB describes it as a celebration of the Monarch migration from Canada to Mexico "by way of Grapevine." Keep Grapevine Beautiful laid the groundwork in early September with a free ECO Talk at The REC on Monarch waystations for North Texas, led by Texas Master Naturalist Carol Clark.
Sunset Live! comes with resident pricing. VIP tickets, which include the Bessie Mitchell House as a private event space, light appetizers and two drink tickets, cost $25 for residents and $30 for nonresidents. General admission doors open at 6 p.m. VIP ticket holders get in earlier, though the city's event page says 5 p.m. and its September 2 e-news says 5:30. The city's event page also says the gardens are closed to the public outside event hours on those two days, so anyone who walks the gardens on a regular Friday afternoon will want to pick another day.
The weekend two free stages overlap
October 2 and 3 are the busiest nights of the month. While Sunset Live! runs on Ball Street, Grapevine Main LIVE! has its own free concerts at Peace Plaza, 815 South Main, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., with Grapevine Main Station as the backdrop. ToJo, a Toto and Journey tribute, plays Friday, and Still the One, a tribute to Shania Twain, plays Saturday. Reserved seating is available, and parking in the Historic District is free.
So on those two nights, the city has two free shows a few blocks apart, starting within an hour of each other. Main LIVE! runs every Friday and Saturday through October 31. Sunset Live! is only those two nights, which makes the first weekend of October the time to choose between them or try both.
The rest of the Main LIVE! October lineup, in order:
- Warehouse, a Dave Matthews tribute, October 9
- Justin Mason, country, October 10
- Band of Confusion, October 16
- Only Prettier, a Miranda Lambert tribute, October 17
- PriMadonna, a Madonna tribute, October 23
- Oklahoma Smokeshow, a Zach Bryan tribute, October 24
- Windy City, October 30
- Like Combs, October 31
Much of Main Street's other October programming runs out of the Grapevine Vintage Railroad depot at 705 South Main. Day Out with Thomas runs October 9 to 11 and October 16 to 18, with tickets from $25.85 to $29.85. The wine calendar lists the Oktoberfest Craft Brew Train on October 2, the Witches' Brew Train on October 30 and 31, and the Hallowine Trail on October 31. The CVB's October roundup is aimed at visitors planning a "getaway," and this is the Main Street it describes.
Saturday, October 10 is the most crowded day downtown. HeroFest, a benefit for the First Responders Children's Foundation with Touch-A-Truck and superhero appearances, runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Peace Plaza at Harvest Hall. It's free, and donations are encouraged. Thomas is at the depot that day too, and Justin Mason plays Peace Plaza that night.
The Round-up date to confirm
The one Ball Street date with a conflict is the Fall Round-up. The CVB's September 24 article calls it the 25th annual and lists Saturday, October 10. The event's own listing gives October 24, and the main Nash Farm page calls it the 26th annual. The event's own listing is the more reliable source, so we've used October 24 here. Check the Fall Round-up listing before you plan the day around it. The program is the same on either date: traditional farm skills, heritage crafts and fall celebrated "the 19th-century way."
If October 24 holds, it falls the day after a smaller downtown event. Bucketheads, a boutique that opened September 17 at 1900 South Main, Suite 106, plans a ribbon cutting at 3 p.m. on Friday, October 23, followed by a grand-opening weekend. It sells clothing, shoes, home décor, jewelry and gifts.
What opened in time for this calendar
Bucketheads opened on the same day GrapeFest began, and so did one other downtown business. Housewife Rebellion, an art gallery and wine tasting room at 211 East Worth Street, opened September 17. It serves wine, charcuterie and pink glitter lemonade, and Community Impact reports it will be a stop on Grapevine's Urban Wine Trail.
The restaurant openings since late summer are mostly outside the historic core:
- Gyro Rice and Spice opened August 26 at 919 East Northwest Highway, Suite 200, serving gyros, salads, bowls and feta fries.
- Vidorra opened August 31 at 700 West SH 114 with Mexican food, cocktails and weekend brunch.
- Omaha Steaks opened September 4 at 1469 West SH 114, Suite 600, a little later than the June 26 opening projected in May.
Grapevine Mills has changed too, at 3000 Grapevine Mills Parkway. Exotic Snack Guys opened in Suite 340 on August 9, and Timberland opened in Suite 416 in August. Moda followed in Suite 507 on September 10, then Flip Flop Shops in Suite 303 on September 24. Daiso closed its Suite 311 store on August 30. Nearby, Dig World, an interactive construction-equipment attraction at 2200 West Grapevine Mills Circle, was open as of the city's July 13 economic development post.
PumpkinFest is the one large October event away from both downtown streets. It runs daily from October 9 to 18 at Meadowmere Park, 3000 Meadowmere Lane, with a pumpkin trail and artisan vendors on weekends. Admission is $20 per car.
Getting around downtown through Thanksgiving
East Hudgins Street between Main and South Dooley has been closed to through traffic for a $660,000 city project. Crews are installing 8-inch water and sewer mains, adding curb-and-gutter drainage and repaving. The city's September 2 e-news described the full closure as running "through September," with access kept for businesses that need it. No later update had been posted as of this writing. In late August, Community Impact reported the sewer line mostly done, water-line work starting, utility installation expected to finish in October and an overall timeline of August through November. In July, the city's public works director said he expected the project to be finished by Thanksgiving. Those dates are forecasts, so plan for the closure to last into the fall and watch the city's e-news for the reopening.
Ball Street stays busy into November. Nash Farm lists another First Fridays program on November 6 and homeschool tour days on November 13. Ten days after that, Carol of Lights brings the season's crowds back to Main Street on November 23.
At Hacker Property Group, we keep a close eye on what's happening across Grapevine through the seasons, from Nash Farm to the latest openings on the 114 corridor. If you'd like to talk about where your own address fits into all of it, Let's Connect.
