This weekend in and around Fort Worth is filled with so many worthy events that it's next-to-impossible to omit anything from our weekly events roundup. Multiple festivals, a video game competition, screenings of a new film, early Halloween events, concerts, theater productions, motocross races, and the ending of an art exhibition will all compete for your eyeballs over the next four days.

Below are the best ways to spend your free time this weekend. Want more options? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, September 12

38th Annual GrapeFest: A Texas Wine Experience
GrapeFest: A Texas Wine Experience celebrates wines from around the world but takes special pride in Texas wine. The People’s Choice Wine Tasting Classic is the largest consumer-judged wine competition in the nation. Visitors can taste a variety of wines (or varietals, as it were) at other events within the festival, or watch the Champagne Cork Shoot-Off and the classic Grape Stomp. The festival, taking place through Sunday at Historic Downtown Grapevine, will also include kid-friendly activities and more.

Friday, September 13

Rocket League World Championship
Fort Worth has become the epicenter for Esports championships, or at least for games made by Epic Games. Last week brought the Fortnite Championship Series - Global Championship at Dickies Arena, and now the venue will host the Rocket League World Championship, in which players compete in a high-powered hybrid of arcade-style soccer and vehicular mayhem. The 16 best international teams will go through three days of competition in front of a live audience to win a share of the over $1 million prize pool. The championship takes place through Sunday.

Magnolia at the Modern: Merchant Ivory
Director Stephen Soucy uses footage from more than 50 interviews, clips, and archival material to give voice to the family of actors and technicians who helped define Merchant Ivory’s Academy Award-winning work of consummate quality and intelligence. Six Oscar winners and more intimately detail the creativity and personal and professional drama of the wandering company. There will be seven screenings through Sunday at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Early Halloween events
Halloween is well over a month away, but a couple of Halloween-themed events are using the occasion of Friday the 13th to get the scares started early. Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington will present their annual Fright Fest, featured haunted attractions inspired by properties like the Saw franchise, Stranger Things, The Conjuring, Trick ‘r Treat, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It will be open on weekends through November 3. Cutting Edge Haunted House is a dark attraction, located in a 100-year-old abandoned meat packing plant, filled with live actors, special effects, and monsters. It will open for one day before officially opening for the season on September 28, running mostly on weekends through November 2.

Anne Wilson in concert
Despite the similar name, don't confuse Anne Wilson for the longtime member of Heart. Anne with an E is a Christian singer who released her debut album, My Jesus, in 2022, going to No. 1 on the Billboard Christian chart. Her recently-released sophomore album, Rebel, was equally successful on the strength of the hit single, "Strong." She'll perform at Will Rogers Auditorium.

Theatre Arlington presents Visiting Mr. Green
Newly widowed, Mr. Green narrowly avoids getting hit by Ross Gardiner in New York traffic. Ross is sentenced to six months of community service, helping Mr. Green weekly. What starts as a comedy about two men who do not want to be in the same room together becomes a gripping and moving drama as they come to care about each other, and open old wounds. The production runs through September 29 at Theatre Arlington.

Creed Fisher in concert
Country singer Creed Fisher fancies himself a bit of an antihero, with his 2022 album, Rebel of the South, featuring a dose of unapologetic poking at the hornet’s nest that he calls "the mainstream country music hypocrisy." The country rock record is Fisher's fifth of his career, one where he's finally saying all the things he wanted to say earlier in his career. He'll play at Billy Bob's Texas.

Saturday, September 14

Trinity River Book Festival
The Trinity River Book Festival is a multicultural event during National Literacy Month featuring books of all genres and for all ages. The festival kicks off with the RunToRead, featuring a 5K run/walk and a 1-mile fun run. The main event will feature presentations, conversations, panels, poetry in the park, live entertainment, book-related activities, authors, vendors, and more. The festival takes place on Saturday only at at Trinity Park.

Arlington Museum of Art presents "Heroes & Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume" and "All That Glitters: The Crown Jewels of the Walt Disney Archives" opening day
The Arlington Museum of Art will open two new Disney-themed exhibitions. Through original items including ball gowns, sorcerers’ capes, a pirate’s jacket, and iconic glass slippers, "Heroes & Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume" celebrates the artistry of some of Hollywood’s designers. "All That Glitters: The Crown Jewels of the Walt Disney Archives" will feature prized pieces of jewelry and accessories, giving visitors the rare opportunity to see these jewels up-close. The exhibitions will remain on display through March 23, 2025.

Cliburn Family Concerts: "The Carnival of the Animals"
During "The Carnival of the Animals," playful musicians impersonate the animal kingdom, from a stately lion and an energetic kangaroo to crazy donkeys and more. The concert takes place at the Fort Worth Zoo, whose Animal Ambassadors will make special appearances throughout. The concert will feature two pianos, a flute, a clarinet, and strings bringing Saint-Saëns’ humorous suite, "The Carnival of the Animals," to life. There will be two performances on Saturday.

Create Arlington presents West Main Arts Festival
The annual West Main Arts Festival, the largest festival in Arlington, will be a six-block street scene that includes over 70 art/vendor booths, 25 local bands, 10 food trucks, street performers, a Pickleball court with a pro exhibition and open play, a kid's art creation station and bounce houses, and an interactive kids area in the Gene Allen Pocket Park. The one-day event takes place along a four-block stretch of West Main and the Cultural District.

SuperMotocross World Championship Playoffs
The SuperMotocross World Championship Playoffs will feature the top 20 athletes in combined Supercross and Pro Motocross points. The playoff races and final will operate under a two-moto format for both the 450cc class and 250cc class. The races will take place at Texas Motor Speedway.

Kane Brown in concert
Kane Brown is part of the new brand of country music, unafraid to add pop and R&B sounds to his songs. Not so coincidentally, that has made him very popular, resulting in all three of his albums going to No. 1 or No. 2 on the Billboard Country charts (2018's Experiment also hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200). He'll play his ever-growing list of hits at this concert at Globe Life Field in Arlington, joined by Cole Swindell, LOCASH, and RaeLynn.

Pat Green in concert with Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
Credited as one of Texas country’s modern-era founding fathers, Pat Green has traveled many roads in the nearly 30 years since his debut album, Dancehall Dreamer. Combining Southwestern country traditions with the rebellious spirit of rock ‘n’ roll, and adding in a poet’s literary flourish, it was Green’s vision which brought the organic, true-to-yourself Texas style to the country mainstream in the early 2000s. He'll play with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra at Bass Performance Hall.

Giovannie and the Hired Guns in concert
Giovannie and the Hired Guns is a rock band out of Stephenville, led by frontman Giovannie Yanez, that has been impressing fans and critics since 2017 with a hard-hitting sound and emotionally raw storytelling. They have released three albums in their career, most recently Tejano Punk Boyz in 2022. They'll play at Billy Bob's Texas.

Sunday, September 15

Kimbell Art Museum presents "Art and War in the Renaissance: The Battle of Pavia Tapestries" closing day
Sunday is the final day to view "Art and War in the Renaissance: The Battle of Pavia Tapestries" at Kimbell Art Museum. The exhibition marks the first time that this entire cycle of seven large-scale tapestries has been on view in the United States. The tremendous images, each about 27 feet wide and 14 feet high, commemorate Emperor Charles V’s decisive victory over French King Francis I that ended the 16th-century Italian Wars.

  

Photo courtesy of Kane Brown

Kane Brown will play at Globe Life Field in Arlington on September 14.