🐂 Bull Riding + Free Lucha Libre

Hey, y’all!

It's Labor Day weekend, and Lewisville went and put a bull smack dab in the middle of it. On Saturday night, the Elite Pro Bull Riders roll into Bill Weaver Arena for the Young Guns versus Legends bull riding. It got knocked off the calendar back in May and finally landed here. Big City Outlaws plays between rides. Only twenty bucks.

Then, on Sunday, the same arena turns into something else entirely. A full charreada with escaramuza riding teams and Lucha Libre runs four in the afternoon till half past ten. Jalapeño eating contest at seven. Costs you nothing. And if the grass lot looks full, there's a free shuttle from City Hall.

Saturday morning we're doing the other thing on the list, which is handing the pool over to the dog. Sun Valley closes out the season with Doggie Dive In. Five bucks a dog, humans free. Bring the vaccination paperwork or they'll turn you around at the gate.

The news worth knowing this week: Denton County finally has itself a real Boys & Girls Club, and it's sitting in a converted Lewisville fire station.

Also inside: a Little Elm smokehouse two former big leaguers helped build, a Main Street leather shop where you can watch 'em stitch the belt you're buying, and Nikolas, a fifteen-month-old golden mix whose shelter card says yes to kids and yes to other dogs.

See you out there.

- Jason

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Bill Weaver Arena
101 Parkway Dr, Lewisville, TX
Saturday, September 5, 2026
Gates 5:30 p.m., music 6:30 p.m., bull riding 8 p.m., ends 9:30 p.m.
$21.40+ 3% processing for general admission, $11.20 ages 6 to 12, free 5 and under
Get Tickets

This one was supposed to go in May but weather had other plans. The city bumped it to Labor Day weekend, which honestly is the better slot anyway.

The Elite Pro Bull Riders Team Series runs a Young Guns versus Legends format. So you've got the kids trying to make a name going up against the guys who already made theirs. Big City Outlaws plays before the riding starts and fills the gaps between rounds.

Inflatables for the kids. Beer and wine for everyone else. Food on site, and parking's free.

About twenty dollars for pro bull riding fifteen minutes from the house is not something most towns can hand you. Go stand at the rail.

There's a post-oak pit smokehouse sitting right on the water in The Lakefront District, and it's partly owned by two guys who used to patrol center field in the majors. Torii Hunter and Matt Kemp are both in on it, along with Andrea Weimer, Eddie Bell and Katrina Hunter. That's why the menu reads like a lineup card.

Order the Grand Slam sandwich. It's $17. Brisket, pulled pork and sausage piled over smoked BBQ beans on Texas toast, with a whole pork spare rib laid across the top.

The beef rib runs $38, and reviewers keep swearing it's two meals. One put it plainly: "The beef rib was incredibly tender. I could literally pull it apart with the side of my fork." Another said her husband called the brisket the best he'd ever had.

Now here's the thing almost nobody knows. They serve breakfast. Tacos are $3.50, the Biscuits and Brisket plate is $15. A regular left a review that reads like a tip he didn't mean to give away: "I'm not sure if people realize they serve breakfast because there's hardly anyone here in the mornings."

Two warnings. They're closed Sunday and Monday. Both days, every week. And the full BBQ menu doesn't fire up till 10:45 a.m., so show up early and you're getting eggs, not brisket.

Price: $$
Hours:
Sun-Mon Closed
Tue-Sat 7 AM - 9 PM
Full BBQ menu 10:45 AM - 8:45 PM

Odin Clack saw a leather laptop sleeve in a magazine, decided the price was ridiculous, and made his own at the dining room table. No experience. None. That was 2012, in a house over in Coppell.

Fourteen years later, he and his wife Rachelle run a 3,400 square foot workshop and storefront in Old Town Lewisville. Everything they sell is cut, stitched and finished behind the glass you're standing in front of. They opened the Main Street shop in October 2021.

Rachelle told Community Impact why the glass matters: "Customers love that they can see into the workshop. They feel a deeper connection with the product when they realize the actual hands at this bench, which they see themselves, are making these goods."

And they're proudly unfashionable about it. "We don't do things that are very trendy," Odin said. "We would love for you to have a piece from us that you feel as comfortable using today as you would 10 years from now."

Real numbers, because they print them. A casual duty belt is $75. The Heritage belt starts at $95, the Stockton runs $125, the Gonzales $150. Card wallets start at $45, and most bifolds land between $65 and $115. Hand-tooled belts start at $275.

They teach, too. Hands-on leathercraft workshops have run $115 a seat. That's a better date night than dinner and a movie, and you leave with something.

Hours:
Mon-Sat 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sun 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

5 beds
4.5 baths
4,077 sqft
0.19 acre lot

A) $899,900

B) $939,000

C) $974,900

D) $1,049,000

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Tarrant County cut the ribbon Friday, Aug. 21 on the first brick-and-mortar Boys & Girls Club in Denton County at 195 W. Corporate Drive. It sits in a converted Lewisville fire station, remodeled out to 10,000 square feet, right near several Lewisville schools.

The money came from four directions. The City of Lewisville gifted the building. The RAO Foundation put in $1 million for the renovation, Denton County kicked in $3 million, and anonymous donors covered another $1.3 million.

Commissioner Bobbie Mitchell has been pushing for a permanent club since 2022, and she's the one who cut the ribbon. She pointed at what the site can still become: room for a playground, space to grow, and a 25-foot ceiling that could hold a gym someday.

LISD Superintendent Dr. Lori Rapp called it "a transformative addition to our community."

Source: Cross Timbers Gazette

The city locked its lineup for Western Days, Sept. 25 and 26 in Old Town Lewisville, TX. Eli Young Band takes the Republic Services Main Stage at 10 p.m. Friday, and that's close to a homecoming. Mike Eli and James Young started the band as roommates at UNT back in 2000. They last headlined here in 2016.

Randy Rogers Band closes it Saturday at 10 p.m. Fourth time they've played this festival. They're out behind a 2025 EP called The Going.

Gates open 4 p.m. Friday, noon Saturday. Six stages, an expanded Western Village, the Indigenous ACE Dance Troupe, Kid Kountry Playground, Lucha Libre wrestlers, and a sanctioned World Tamale Eating Championship.

Free before 6 p.m. both days, $15 after 6 p.m., kids 12 and under always free, tickets on sale after Labor Day.

That's three weeks out from today. About the right runway to talk the out-of-town family into driving over.

Source: City of Lewisville

The Texas Education Agency dropped its 2026 accountability ratings on Aug. 14, covering 1,202 districts and 9,105 campuses. Lewisville ISD ticked up a couple points to a score of 83 and held a steady B.

Campus by campus: Flower Mound High and Marcus High both kept their A ratings, and Hebron held its B. Lewisville High climbed from a D to a C. The Colony High held at C. One campus, Delay Middle School, drew an F, and eight others landed at D.

For the neighbors: Argyle ISD led southern Denton County with an A and a 92. Denton ISD slipped from a B to a C, sliding from 80 down to 76. Northwest ISD scored an 82.

Pull up your own campus at txschools.gov. Worth ten minutes now that school's a few weeks in.

Source: Cross Timbers Gazette

A development called Flower Mound Center is courting H-E-B for a site along FM 2499, south of the QuikTrip on Waketon Road and east of Rippy Road in Flower Mound, TX. It went before the Planning and Zoning Commission in a work session Monday, Aug. 24.

Parking's the fight, same as Costco. The applicant asked for 733 spaces for a 110,000 square foot store. That's 164% of the town minimum and 205 spaces past the maximum. Town planner Codie Freeman wrote that a grocery site is expected to "draw from a larger area and induce a much higher parking demand."

Flower Mound passed an ordinance back in July 2026 specifically to cut down on over-built parking lots.

The store would come with an in-store barbecue restaurant, bakery, pharmacy and curbside pickup. If it lands, Flower Mound gets an H-E-B on the east side here and another on the west at Furst Ranch. Costco's proposed Cottonwood warehouse sits about a mile north, and it wants extra parking too.

Source: Cross Timbers Gazette

Infrastructure work is underway on Cole Ranch, the 3,100-acre development west of I-35W that Denton City Council approved way back in April 2020. Six builders have contracted for 634 single-family homes in phase one: Perry, Highland, David Weekley, Mattamy, Chesmar and Olivia Clarke.

Denton signed off on a $14.6 million cost-shared wastewater project in May, covering roughly 59% of the tab. Cole Ranch also plans to sell about 11 acres to CoServ for an electric substation, and it's cut a deal with BKV Barnett to plug Gas Well Pad No. 11.

The Western Loop 288 expansion is partly on hold over funding, and TxDOT's fiscal year closed Aug. 31.

Source: Cross Timbers Gazette

Fifteen months is an awkward age for a dog. Too big to be a puppy, not grown up enough to act like it. That's where Nikolas is right now, fifty-seven pounds of mostly golden retriever, and the shelter's whole write-up on him is one line: an active boy who loves playtime.

Take the activity rating seriously. It's marked high, and he is not going to be happy with a lap and a short walk around the block. He wants a yard and somebody who actually goes outside. If your evenings already involve a trail or a tennis ball, he slides right in.

Two lines on his card matter more than the rest. He gets along with other dogs, and he has experience with children. Most of the dogs listed right now have those fields left blank, so a house with kids or a dog already in it doesn't have to guess. Housetraining is still marked unknown, which is what happens when a young dog lives in a kennel. Give him a routine and a couple of weeks.

He's vaccinated, wormed, microchipped, heartworm negative, treated for fleas and sterilized. The fee is $90, and that covers all of it plus a year of city registration if you live in Lewisville.

Find him at the Gene Carey Animal Shelter and Adoption Center, 995 E Valley Ridge Blvd, Lewisville, TX 75057. Tue-Fri 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sat noon to 5 p.m., Monday by appointment, closed Sunday. 972-219-3478. Adoptions are first come, first served, so Thursday, Friday or Saturday is your real window this week.

🎬 Movie in the Park: Hoppers - Heritage Park, 600 Spinks Rd, Flower Mound, TX | 7:30 p.m. | Free | More: flowermound.gov
Opening night of the town's Friday movie run on the Heritage Park lawn. Food trucks on site, no registration. Goes every Friday in September.

🔬 Full STEAM Ahead: Gravity & Flight - Emily Fowler Central Library, 502 Oakland St, Denton, TX | 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. | Free | More: denton.bibliocommons.com
Hands-on build-and-test session for ages 6 to 10. A good place to park the kids between pickup and dinner.

📚 Bilingual Story Time - The Colony Public Library, 6800 Main St, The Colony, TX | 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. | Free | More: thecolonytx.gov
Thirty minutes of stories in English and Spanish. Heads up: the library closes Sept. 5 through 7 for the holiday, so Friday's your only window.

💦 Old Town Splash Park - 535 W College St, Lewisville, TX | 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. | Free | More: playlewisville.com
Ninety spray features, no standing water, free, open daily through September. It closes early in bad weather, so check the sky before you load up the car.

🏄 The Cove at The Lakefront - 417 Lakefront Dr, Little Elm, TX | 4 to 8 p.m. | $14 ages 15 to 49, $11 ages 2 to 14 and 50+, free under 2 | More: thecoveatthelakefront.com
Friday runs the cheaper weekday rate, and the 4 p.m. open works straight off school pickup. Indoor, climate controlled, lazy river and a FlowRider.

🏖️ Little Elm Beach - Little Elm Park, 701 W Eldorado Pkwy, Little Elm, TX | noon to 10 p.m. | $10 per vehicle | More: lakefrontlittleelm.com
Real sand and ten volleyball courts. Last holiday weekend of paid-parking season, which ends Labor Day.

🌳 LLELA Trails - Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area, 201 E Jones St, Lewisville, TX | 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. | $5 per vehicle | More: llela.org
The gatehouse is card only now. No cash, no Amex. Go early, and leave the dog home, no pets anywhere on the property.

🎨 Three free galleries at the Grand - Lewisville Grand Theater, 100 N Charles St, Lewisville, TX | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Free | More: cityoflewisville.com
She Found Her Way, Fresh Ideas 2026 and Tears to Glory are all hanging at once. All three come down Sept. 5, so this is your last weekend for it.

🐕 Doggie Dive In - Sun Valley Aquatic Center, 801 S Valley Pkwy, Lewisville, TX | 10 a.m. to noon | $5 per dog, humans free | More: cityoflewisville.com
The annual end-of-season dog swim, where the pool belongs to the dogs before it shuts down. Registration required, and you'll need written proof of rabies, DHLP and Bordetella.

🦋 1st Saturday Nature Walk at LLELA - 201 E Jones St, Lewisville, TX | 10 a.m. to noon | Free with $5 per vehicle entry, registration required | More: llela.org
Two hours with a naturalist hunting animal tracks, deer trails and songbirds. All ages, but register ahead.

🥕 Denton Community Market - Denton County Historical Park, 317 W Mulberry St, Denton, TX | 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Free | More: dentonmarket.org
Producer-only market with local farms, makers, food trucks and live music. Get there early for the good tomatoes.

🌊 Denton Water Works Park - 2400 Long Rd, Denton, TX | 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. | $19 for 48 inches and up, $14 under 48 inches, $6 non-swimmers | More: dentonwaterworks.com
Closing weekend of the season. That $6 non-swimmer rate is handy if one parent's just chaperoning.

🌴 Hawaiian Waters The Colony - 4400 Paige Rd, The Colony, TX | 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. | $24.99 plus tax online, regularly $39.99, free parking | More: hawaiianwaters.com
Forty acres of slides, a wave pool and a lazy river, ten minutes off Grandscape. Weekends only now, open through Sept. 13.

📖 Family Storytime - Lewisville Public Library, 1197 W Main St, Lewisville, TX | 11 a.m. | Free | More: cityoflewisville.com
Stories, songs and rhymes for the little ones. Free, indoors, and cool.

⚽ Premier League: Arsenal vs Chelsea - Cosm Dallas, 5776 Grandscape Blvd, The Colony, TX | 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. | $11 general admission, $28 dome | More: grandscape.com
A London derby inside an 87-foot dome, and eleven bucks is the cheapest way into that room all weekend. Late morning, so it won't eat your whole day.

🌳 LLELA Trails - 201 E Jones St, Lewisville, TX | 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. | $5 per vehicle, card only | More: llela.org
Get there before 10 a.m. for bearable temps and the best bird activity. An annual pass is $65 and covers Lake Park and Tower Bay too.

👻 IT in Shared Reality - Cosm Dallas, 5776 Grandscape Blvd, The Colony, TX | 8 p.m. | $22 dome seating, 11 p.m. show $30 | More: grandscape.com
Friday's the last day of the IT run before it goes dark until Sept. 11. The sound and the environment spill past the edges of the frame, which is the whole point.

🎸 At The Helm Presents: Shearling - Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, 411 E Sycamore St, Denton, TX | doors 7 p.m., show 8 p.m. | $20.32 all in | More: rubberglovesdenton.com
Shearling is what came after Sprain broke up, built around guitarists Alexander Kent and Sylvie Simmons. Their debut record is one song. Over an hour long.

🥃 BENDT Distilling tour and tasting - 225 S Charles St, Lewisville, TX | 6 p.m., about 45 minutes | $10 per person, 21+, reservation required | More: bendtdistillingco.com
Walkable from Old Town, and it ends in a guided tasting right on the production floor. Reservations required, ID at the door.

🎺 Factory Fridays plaza live music - Toyota Music Factory, 316 W Las Colinas Blvd, Irving, TX | 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. | Free | More: toyotamusicfactory.com
Free live music out on the plaza with the whole restaurant row right there. No ticket, no cover. Just show up.

🍷 LaRue Winery tasting room - 1491 N Kealy Ave, Suite 1, Lewisville, TX | 6:30 to 11 p.m. | No cover, pay per pour or bottle | More: laruewinery.org
Lewisville's first winery, working Chilean and California fruit. Open late, and the owners will walk you through the production room themselves.

🎧 DJ Night at Tande Craft Kitchen & Cocktails - Grandscape, 5752 Grandscape Blvd, The Colony, TX | 10 p.m. to midnight | Free; Reservation needed | More: grandscape.com
Live DJs, craft cocktails and a limited late menu. Garage parking is free and never full at that hour.

🌳 Sunset at LLELA - 201 E Jones St, Lewisville, TX | open until 7 p.m. | $5 per vehicle, card only | More: llela.org
Two thousand six hundred acres of prairie and bottomland forest below the dam. That last hour before close is the good one for birding.

🍹 Expo Tequila & Mezcal - Corona Stage & Lawn at Grandscape, 5752 Grandscape Blvd, The Colony, TX | 4 to 10 p.m. | $36.64 general admission, $48.19 VIP | More: grandscape.com
More than 35 tequila and mezcal brands pouring guided tastings, with live music and regional Mexican food out on the lawn. Best adults-only one-off of the weekend.

🎤 R&B Only Live - Toyota Music Factory, 316 W Las Colinas Blvd, Irving, TX | 3 to 11 p.m. | $65.15 to $154.19 | More: dallas.rnbonly.com
Eight hours of DJ-driven R&B singalong from COLORS Worldwide, a party that's sold north of 850,000 tickets worldwide. Afternoon straight into night.

🥃 BENDT Distilling Saturday tours - 225 S Charles St, Lewisville, TX | 1 and 3 p.m. | $10 per person, 21+, reservation required | More: bendtdistillingco.com
Two daytime slots, which pair up well with lunch in Old Town on either end. Bottle shop open noon to 5.

🧘 Yoga at the Denton Community Market - 317 W Mulberry St, Denton, TX | 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. | Free | More: dentonmarket.org
Free outdoor class behind the Quaker House, and the market's right there after. Bring your own mat.

☯️ Tai Chi in the Plaza - Wayne Ferguson Plaza, 150 W Church St, Lewisville, TX | 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. | Free | More: cityoflewisville.com
A slow hour in Old Town before the day heats up. No registration. No gear. No experience needed.

🎲 Adult Board Gaming - Lewisville Public Library, 1197 W Main St, Lewisville, TX | noon | Free | More: cityoflewisville.com
Drop-in tabletop gaming for grown-ups back in the meeting room. Free, and the library supplies the games.

🏈 NCAAF: Wisconsin vs Notre Dame - Cosm, 5776 Grandscape Blvd, The Colony, TX | starting at 6:30 | $11 general admission, $66 dome | More: grandscape.com
Number four Notre Dame in a shared-reality dome, food and cocktails brought right to your seat. Eleven dollars for general admission is the move.

🎤 No Coast Presents: Hew, A Brief Memoir, Goodbye Horses, Slaughter Creek - Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, 411 E Sycamore St, Denton, TX | doors 7 p.m., show 8 p.m. | $10, 18+ | More: rubberglovesdenton.com
Four bands for ten dollars in the Showroom, headlined by Austin's Hew. Sunday of a long weekend is basically a free pass to stay out.

🎶 Lorraine-Dietrich, Elmwood, Los Animales Del Sur - Rubber Gloves Rubber Room, 411 E Sycamore St, Denton, TX | doors 7 p.m., show 8 p.m. | $10 advance, $15 door | More: rubberglovesdenton.com
The other room at Rubber Gloves runs its own bill the same night. Buy ahead and save five.

🍷 LaRue Winery tasting room - 1491 N Kealy Ave, Suite 1, Lewisville, TX | 1 to 6 p.m. | Pay per pour or bottle | More: laruewinery.org
Quieter Sunday hours than that Saturday late close. Walk-ins welcome.

🍸 Sunday Unwind with Chloe Clemente - Tande Craft Kitchen & Cocktails, 5752 Grandscape Blvd, The Colony, TX | 5 to 7 p.m. | Free | More: grandscape.com
Live acoustic sets and handcrafted cocktails. Hits better than usual this week, since Monday's off.

This was supposed to be a Memorial Day weekend event. It got moved, and now it closes out Labor Day weekend instead. So the same arena that hosts bull riding Saturday night turns into a charreada on Sunday.

A charreada is not a rodeo with different music. It's the older thing rodeo came from, and the riding is the whole point. Escaramuza teams ride sidesaddle in formation, at speed, in full dress. There's a horse dancing show, Ballet Folklorico Huehuecoyotl, and Lucha Libre wrestlers kicking things off at four.

At seven there's a jalapeño eating contest, because of course there is. Sol de la Kumbia and Quimikoz Del Son handle the music.

Six and a half hours, and admission is zero. Grass parking runs ten dollars, or park at City Hall for free and ride the shuttle, which runs four to eleven.

Bring a chair. Eat there. Stay for the horses. You'd drive two hours for this somewhere else.