Where does Lake Highlands trick-or-treat together this Saturday? The largest shared stop on the calendar is a shopping center parking lot on Skillman Street. Commercial property owners along the corridor pay for it, and the rest of the weekend fills in around it. A public library branch handles the weekday afternoons, the Arboretum takes Friday night, and the art at the Bath House runs past the holiday. Your own block decides who rings your doorbell. The neighborhood-wide gathering comes from the business district and from the institutions most Lake Highlands households already use.
Here is what's left from Thursday, Oct. 29, through the following weekend:
- Thursday, Oct. 29: Halloween Edition: Story & Craft at the Audelia Road Branch, 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. A Rocky Horror watch party for adults at the White Rock Hills Branch, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
- Friday, Oct. 30: Crafternoon: Spooky Monster at the Audelia Road Branch, 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. The last Pumpkins and Pints evening at the Dallas Arboretum, 6 to 9 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 31: The Lake Highlands PID Trunk Or Treat, 2 to 5 p.m., in the LH Village shopping center parking lot at 8676 Skillman St.
- Sunday, Nov. 1: Last day of Autumn at the Arboretum.
- Through Saturday, Nov. 7: The Día de Muertos exhibition at the Bath House Cultural Center.
The Saturday centerpiece comes from the Skillman Corridor
The Lake Highlands PID Trunk Or Treat is set for Halloween afternoon, starting at 2 p.m. in the LH Village shopping center parking lot at 8676 Skillman St. The event's calendar entry runs it until 5 p.m. That puts it a few hours ahead of sundown and door-to-door trick-or-treating. A family can do the parking lot first and still be home in time for the porch light.
Who's hosting matters. The Lake Highlands Public Improvement District describes itself as a partnership of more than 1,100 property owners covering 809.48 acres along the Skillman Corridor. It maintains and improves public areas, and its funding comes from assessments on commercial and condominium property owners. In practice, the stores, offices and condo buildings along Skillman pay for an afternoon in a parking lot so the surrounding neighborhoods have somewhere to meet.
It's also one stop in a longer season. The PID's own calendar lists Hope for the Holidays on Dec. 5 and Holiday on Forest on Dec. 12, both at 11 a.m. So the same district that hosts Halloween is already lined up to host December.
The organizer's page doesn't list a cost or admission terms. Check the event listing before heading out Saturday.
The weekday version runs out of the Audelia Road Branch
The Trunk Or Treat is the corridor's contribution. On weekday afternoons, a public building on Audelia Road picks up the same role. The Dallas Public Library's Halloween programming calendar gives the Audelia Road Branch, at 10045 Audelia Road, a run of events through the end of the week.
On Thursday, Oct. 29, the branch runs two sessions of "Halloween Edition: Story & Craft: No Such Thing." One is right after school, 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. The other is 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. for families who can't get there until after work. On Friday, Oct. 30, "Crafternoon: Spooky Monster" runs 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. If your kids missed this week's Halloween Parade at the branch, it was Wednesday morning, Oct. 28, from 11 to 11:15 a.m., and it's on the branch's seasonal schedule.
The library's own list shows how much October programming this one branch carries. Earlier in the month, the Audelia Road Branch held three sessions of "Story & Craft: I'm Not Scary" on Oct. 8, 10 and 15. That makes Halloween week the end of a monthlong run, not a one-off.
For adults, the same calendar lists a Rocky Horror watch party at the White Rock Hills Branch on Thursday, Oct. 29, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Between the two branches, the city library covers both ends of the household on the same Thursday.
Friday night goes to Garland Road
By Friday the weekend shifts to ticketed, garden-scale events, and the Dallas Arboretum at 8525 Garland Road holds most of them. The Pumpkins and Pints series ends Friday, Oct. 30, with a Chili Cookoff night in Pumpkin Village from 6 to 9 p.m. The Arboretum's page doesn't list ticket prices, and food and drinks cost extra.
Members with young kids have another option that same evening. BOO-tanical Trick or Treat is a member-only event in the Children's Adventure Garden on Friday, Oct. 30, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale, though the page doesn't list a price.
Daytime visits close out soon too. Autumn at the Arboretum runs through Sunday, Nov. 1, open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Timing changes the price. The Arboretum's hours and admission page lists general admission at $25.95 for adults and $21.95 for children Friday through Sunday, compared with $21.95 and $17.95 Monday through Thursday. Parking is $15. With the season ending on a Sunday, any visit left is a weekend visit at weekend prices, unless you go this Thursday.
Put the three venues side by side and the weekend has a clear price range. The library sessions on Audelia Road are listed with no cost. The Trunk Or Treat's page names no admission. The Arboretum is a paid outing with separately priced evenings. Among the Lake Highlands-area stops, the ticketed ones sit farthest down Garland Road.
After the candy, the season moves to the lake
Halloween doesn't end the calendar. It hands off to Día de Muertos. The Lake Highlands Advocate reports that the Bath House Cultural Center is marking its 40th anniversary with "Día de Muertos: They're Having a Party!", an exhibition of work by several artists running from Oct. 10 through Nov. 7. That gives the week after Halloween a reason to get out, and it lands on the lake just as the Arboretum's autumn season closes on Nov. 1.
If you want a bigger Día de Muertos night before the weekend starts, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performs Día de los Muertos with the DSO on Friday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $34. Visit Dallas lists the venue as the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. It's downtown and on the same evening as the Arboretum's Chili Cookoff, so Friday night comes down to one or the other.
The civic clubs already opened the season
The fall calendar started before Halloween week, and it started with the same kind of host. According to the Lake Highlands Advocate, the Exchange Club of Lake Highlands held its 15th annual Oktoberfest at Flagpole Hill Park on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fifteen years of a service club running a 12-hour day at Flagpole Hill fits the same pattern as the PID's parking lot and the library's craft tables. The neighborhood's shared fall events are organized and paid for by groups whose job is serving the whole area.
Taken together, the season's hosts are a civic club at Flagpole Hill on Oct. 24, the library on Audelia Road through Oct. 30, the Skillman Corridor's property owners on Oct. 31, the Arboretum through Nov. 1, and the Bath House through Nov. 7. The PID's December dates on Dec. 5 and Dec. 12 come next.
Dustin Merritt lives in the L Streets, and for him the Trunk Or Treat lot at 8676 Skillman St. is part of the same neighborhood map as the parks, corridors and blocks his clients compare when they're deciding where to plant roots next. If this weekend has you wondering how a particular Lake Highlands street fits into that map, The Dallas Realtor can walk you through it whenever the timing suits you. Schedule a free consultation.
