The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is nothing new to locals, but provides a stunning new look to the Dallas skyline for visitors. Since June 2010, the signature 400-foot arch can be seen from miles away in daylight. That changes tonight as Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and other dignitaries will hold a special lighting ceremony of the cable-stayed suspension bridge.
Although the bridge officially opens to traffic in March, tonight’s ceremony will kick off two weeks of lighting and testing before grand opening celebrations currently schedule for March 2-4. Opening weekend festivities include local artists, entertainment, and the best new view in town.
The Santiago Calatrava-designed bridge will be a destination for citizens and visitors. It is the first vehicular bridge to be built in the U.S. by the Spanish architect, and the first of three planned to span the Trinity River.
Construction of the cable-stayed suspension bridge began in 2007 and features six lanes of roadway over a 1,200 foot span held by more than 50 cables. It is designed to connect Woodall Rogers Freeway across the Trinity River into West Dallas.
Travel + Leisure magazine readers have ranked the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House as No. 5 among Top Arenas and Performance Venues around the world. The magazine’s readers also listed the Winspear in the AT&T Performing Arts Center as No. 36 among the Most Visited Landmarks.
The rankings appear in the article 2012 Top New Landmarks in T + L’s January 2012 edition.
“This just reaffirms the significant investments that Dallas has made in the arts,” said Mark Weinstein, president and CEO of the AT&T Performing Arts Center. “These iconic structures were designed to be among the finest performance venues in the world. But with their stunning architecture, they make a powerful statement about Dallas today, and the role that culture and the arts play in our community.”
The 2,200 seat Winspear Opera House opened to national and international acclaim in 2009, along with the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre and the Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons Park. The open air theater, Annette Strauss Square opened last year. All are part of the Center’s 10-acre campus.
The Winspear Opera House was designed by Foster + Partners of London under the direction of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Lord Norman Foster and deputy chairman Spencer de Grey. It is a 21st century interpretation of the traditional “horseshoe” shape of traditional European opera houses which utilizes technological advances to be a very cost efficient venue.
The Winspear is the home to the Dallas Opera, one of the Center’s resident companies. It was designed to be an intimate hall with superior acoustics providing a premier showcase for the Opera. Texas Ballet Theater, TITAS, the Center’s Lexus Broadway Series, Brinker International Forum and other programs are performed at the Winspear as well.
The AT&T Performing Arts Center, a multi-venue Center for music, opera, theatre and dance opened in October 2009, completing the 30-year vision of the Dallas Arts District. Located at 2403 Flora Street, the Center serves as a gateway from downtown Dallas’s business center to the Dallas Arts District.
Whether you’re visiting the Dallas area for the first time or have been a long-time resident, the DFW Area Tourism Council has put together a fantastic package that will save you up to 30 percent off general admission ticket prices to some of the area’s best attractions.
Just a year after its launch, the DFW Attractions Pass program has been expanded with the addition of five new specialty-themed passes: All About Kids, Art Attack, DFW Sample Pass, Thrillseeker, and Dew the Boo Halloween Pass.
For explorers who would like to visit several North Texas attractions with children, the All About Kids Pass features attractions that offer a variety of activities that is safe and engaging for kids of all ages.
If you’re looking for something rich in art and culture, the Art Attack Pass is a great way to experience Old Masters to contemporary art, Impressionism to sculptural delights.
Purposely diverse, the DFW Sampler Pass features access to attractions that are a mixture of culture, western heritage, and family fun. To get your adrenaline pumping, the Thrillseeker Pass is designed for the person who would rather be hanging six stories above ground level or feeling the roar of a car engine.
Also new this year, the DFW Area Tourism Council has teamed up with Pepsi to bring you the Dew the Boo Halloween Pass. With this unique pass, you will have the opportunity to experience all types of terror-inspired thrills as you get to explore three fantastic haunts in North Texas.
What’s most important to not about the DFW Attractions Pass program is they’re simple to use! Saving you up to 30 percent on admission to the area’s most popular destinations means you’ll have more resources to dedicate to other fun things such as souvenirs or a nice dinner at the end of the day. As an added bonus, pass holders will also receive additional value-added discounts on great entertainment and shopping options!
For a list of all attractions included in each pass, pricing information, and other details, head on over to www.dfwandbeyond.com/save.
The Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau is celebrating National Tourism Week (May 7-15) with special event giveaways on Thursday, May 12 from 11 a.m. through 2 p.m. at the the Old Red Courthouse in downtown Dallas.
National Tourism Week was established by the U.S. Congress in 1983 to raise awareness of the importance travel and tourism has on our national and local economies.
Recognizing the importance of bringing visitors to Dallas, our local convention and visitors bureau exists to market Dallas as the ideal convention and visitor destination to the regional, national and international marketplace. Through their efforts, they favorably impact the Dallas economy through meetings and tourism.
“Dallas is an international travel destination, attracting more than28 million visitors annually ,” said Ross Crusemann, senior vice president of marketing at the Dallas CVB. “Our city is home to the largest contiguous urban arts district in the nation, five professional sports teams, as well as amazing dining and entertainment options. There’s always a something great to experience in Dallas.”
Visitors have quite the impact on our Dallas economy—and that of North Texas in general. When people visit, they spend money in our hotels, restaurants, malls, and entertainment venues.
Could you imagine what North Texas would be like if there were no tourism? Check out this fascinating video from You+Dallas that features statistics from the Dallas/Fort Worth Area Tourism Council.Oh, and don’t forget to stop by the Old Red Courthouse on May 12 to get some free goodies and to learn more about our great city.
If you love wine, food and spirits, then Savor Dallas is an event you’ll definitely want to plan a weekend around. It’s coming up March 18-19, and it’s bound to draw quite a crowd as in past years.
With a fabulous growth in size each year, North Texas’ 7th annual celebration of wine, food, spirits and the arts continues to bring consumers the ultimate tasting experience. Savor Dallas gives participants an opportunity to sample cuisine from more than 60 of the area’s top chefs and more than 400 premium wines, spirits and imported beers. In addition, you have the opportunity to interact one‐on‐one with internationally acclaimed experts in exciting venues showcasing the renaissance of Downtown Dallas and the Arts District.
“We are pleased to continue the tradition of bringing Texas’ most delicious wine and food festival to the
beautiful Dallas Arts District and the AT&T Performing Arts Center for our popular Arts District Wine
Stroll on Friday evening,” says Jim White and Vicki Briley‐White, co-founds of Savor Dallas.
The beautifully renovated Sheraton Dallas will serve as the host hotel for the International Grand Tasting and Reserve Tasting on Saturday, March 19.
Look for exciting new elements this year to include a special Saturday cooking class by popular chef Stephan Pyles, as well as several event options following the Friday night Arts District Wine Stroll, among other happenings.
Savor Dallas continues to support the North Texas Food Bank with proceeds of a spectacular silent
auction during the International Grand Tasting, and fundraising initiatives, including a student art
contest, for Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Tickets for Savor Dallas are on sale now and range from $35 to $125. Special ticket packages are available as well. For more information, please visit www.savordallas.com or call 888‐728‐6747.
Cirque du Soleil is well known around the world for entertaining audiences with an amazing spectacle of imaginary worlds filled with aerobatics, dances, and other forms of performing art. Ovo is no exception and the touring show has stopped in North Texas for a month filled with amazing performances.
Ovo, which means “egg” in Portuguese, immerses the audience in a day in the life of an insect community. Carefully orchestrated with Brazilian rhythms, the show begins when a mysterious egg (er… ovo) appears and the insects become crazy curious about it.
Along the way, a goofy insect arrives and falls in love with a sassy ladybug. The show follows the two through a hilarious and mesmerizing world of jumping grasshoppers, dancing worms, active crickets, and other creatures that never cease to impress the audience.
In elaborately designed costumes, the insects perform all sorts of acts that will leave the audience on the edge of their seats - literally. You’ll never know when the insects will make their way into the audience to provide an exciting and interactive experience. You might even be pulled into the show!
At this family-friendly show, you can expect to see everything from hand stands to foot jugglers, high-wire acts to trapeze jumps. When you leave the Chapiteau (aka Tent), that voice inside your head will pretty much make you wish you had gone to the gym yesterday after all.
Before the show and during intermission, you can browse through the Cirque shop that has many goodies and souvenirs available for purchase. The decorations are nothing short of exciting and while the sales pushes are a little hard, you might want to go ahead and spring for the program and CD package. Really. The music is pretty phenomenal.
Crique du Soleil currently has 22 unique productions around the world, and if you’re not one to travel outside North Texas, Ovo is definitely a great bet for your Cirque dollar.
Ovo takes place under the Big Top at the Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco through February 27. Performances are Tuesdays thru Thursdays at 8:00 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and Sundays at 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. There are no performances on Mondays. Tickets can be purchased online directly from Cirque du Soleil.
The Big D continues to live up to its name this New Year’s Eve as Texas’ largest televised NYE bash continues for the fourth year in a row at Victory Park in downtown-Dallas’ own version of Times Square.
Big D NYE returns this year and organizers believe it will be the largest event to date. Last year, more than 25,000 spectators attended the outdoor event, and more than 450,000 viewers in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex watched the broadcast on WFFA. Adding to the viewership, Big D NYE was also aired in the Houston and New Orleans television markets.
When it comes to glitter and gore, there is no better place in the Southwest to celebrate Halloween than Dallas. The annual Oak Lawn Halloween Street Party returns on October 30, 2010 where thousands from the LGBT community expected to celebrate.
The Oak Lawn Halloween Street Party originally began as an unplanned outing by hundreds of costumed party-goers along the Cedar Springs strip. The outing gained recognition and eventually evolved into an annual event.Patrons, spectators and participants dress up and mingle along the strip, socializing and showing off their elaborately designed costumes.
Dallas has been nominated as “Best Breakout Destination” in the TripOut Gay Travel Awards.
In addition, The Round-up Saloon, a popular Gaga-approved bar in Dallas, is up for “Best Gay Bar”. We need your help as this is your last chance to help us snag these two awards!
TripOutGayTravel.com is a comprehensive travel site dedicated to the LGBT traveler and is MTV Network’s first stand-alone, travel-focused site. The second annual awards again honor the most stylish, exciting and hottest destinations and services that attract, pamper and market to the LGBT traveler. As you can imagine, the Big D is thrilled and honored to be nominated.
The Dallas Arts District is one of the many popular reasons LGBT travelers choose to visit Dallas.It is a unique, 68-acre, 19-block neighborhood in the heart of Downtown. A rare jewel, the District is a center of innovative architecture, world-class exhibits, exemplary cultural programming and much more.
If you’ve been thinking about visiting Dallas, now is one of the ideal times to do so.October is a significant time for the Dallas Arts District; it is the anniversary of the opening of both the AT&T Performing Arts Center and the Nasher Sculpture Center, the start of the seasons for many of the performing arts organizations, and the opening of new museum exhibitions.
The 
The Big D continues to live up to its name this New Year’s Eve as Texas’ largest televised NYE bash continues for the fourth year in a row at Victory Park in downtown-
When it comes to glitter and gore, there is no better place in the Southwest to celebrate Halloween than Dallas. The annual Oak Lawn Halloween Street Party returns on October 30, 2010 where thousands from the LGBT community expected to celebrate.
