The Arboretum's Fall Calendar Is a Countdown, and the Gazebos Go Last

"Dallas has given these displays 12 years of love. They deserve to be seen at their best, and this final season is exactly that." Marshall Detwiler, the Dallas Arboretum's vice president of marketing and guest experience, said that to The Dallas Morning News in August, when the Arboretum confirmed that The 12 Days of Christmas would run one more holiday season and then retire.

That news is the last item on a short list. Each major exhibit on the Arboretum's calendar between now and early January closes on a fixed date. The Hunt Slonem installation already ended September 30. Harvest Hues closes November 1. The gazebos go dark for good after January 3, 2027. If you live in Lakewood, the M Streets or anywhere along the east side of White Rock Lake, the next twelve weeks are the last time several of these things will be a short drive from home.

The first one already closed

The Arboretum's 2026 Hunt Slonem show, "Bunnies, Birds & Butterflies," filled the garden with 37 installations and more than 100 works. It closed September 30, before autumn crowds arrived. The Arboretum's fall member magazine describes the season as one of "new beginnings and cherished farewells," and the Slonem show was the first of those farewells.

Harvest Hues has three weeks left

This year's Autumn at the Arboretum festival, "Harvest Hues," runs September 19 through November 1. The Pumpkin Village is built around six artists: Basquiat, Rothko, Bourgeois, Mondrian, Escher and Pollock. Each one inspired a house made from part of the more than 100,000 pumpkins, gourds and squash spread across the 66-acre grounds. Dallas muralist Alli K. painted the giant "Harvest Hues" letters that go with them.

Counting from today, October 12, Harvest Hues has 21 days left. Twelve of them fall Monday through Thursday, and the Arboretum's posted rates make those the cheaper days.

Members get in free. The garden is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and parking is free with Museums for All admission, according to the Arboretum's hours and admission page. A family of two adults and two children pays $16 less on a Wednesday than on a Saturday, before parking.

What the remaining weeks hold

The Arboretum packed most of its special October programming into the festival's final stretch. Here it is in date order:

1. Friday, Oct. 16: Pizza and Pours, one of the Pumpkins and Pints theme nights, 6 to 9 p.m. Food and drinks are sold separately.
2. Friday–Sunday, Oct. 16–18: The new Pumpkin & Squash Show and Sale at A Tasteful Place, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with heirloom squash and specialty pumpkins for sale. The Arboretum lists it as part of its Cultivate Series.
3. Tuesday, Oct. 20: A sensory-friendly Pumpkin Village evening, 5:30 to 8 p.m., with exclusive access, smaller crowds, quiet zones and hands-on activities.
4. Friday, Oct. 23: The Oktoberfest theme night at Pumpkins and Pints, plus the first members-only BOO-tanical Trick or Treat in the Children's Adventure Garden, 5:30 to 8 p.m.
5. Friday, Oct. 30: The Chili Cookoff night closes out Pumpkins and Pints, and the second BOO-tanical evening runs at the same time.
6. Sunday, Nov. 1: The last day of Harvest Hues.

One date differs between listings. A Visit Dallas guide shows a Pumpkins and Pints night on October 2, and the Arboretum's event page says it moved its BBQ & Beer evening to Wednesday, October 7, because of weather. Both of those dates have already passed.

The busiest week lands on the lake's north end

The Arboretum's calendar runs into the rest of the lake's calendar in late October. On Saturday, October 24, the day after the Arboretum's Oktoberfest night, Oktoberfest Dallas takes over Flag Pole Hill, just north of White Rock Lake. It runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Drew Cooper opens the main stage, George Dunham and the Bird Dogs play next, and Pat Green headlines. Adult admission is $30 before 6 p.m. and $35 after. Tickets for ages 4 to 17 are $15 all day, and children under 4 get in free. So Friday night beer and bratwurst near the Arboretum's pumpkins leads straight into a full Saturday of the same at Flag Pole Hill.

A week later, two endings fall on the same morning. On Sunday, November 1, the Dallas Running Club holds the DRC Half from Norbuck Park, with 5K, 10K and 13.1-mile distances. That same Sunday is the final day of Harvest Hues.

The trail between those points is back in full use. Dallas Water Utilities finished grouting an abandoned 36-inch wastewater main next to Garland Road and the trail, work meant to head off sinkhole risk, and the closed segment reopened ahead of the original September estimate. The Advocate reported in August that the project was done before the planned reopening.

The gazebos go last, and their successor is ten months out

The 12 Days of Christmas opens November 11, 2026, and stays up through January 3, 2027. The Arboretum calls this final run "The 12 Days of Christmas: One Final Chorus." Daytime admission hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Holiday at Night runs 5 to 10 p.m., according to the Holiday at the Arboretum page. The page lists the overall run but not which nights Holiday at Night operates, so check the calendar before planning an evening visit.

The reason for retiring them is mechanical. The Dallas Morning News reported that the gazebos were originally designed to last five years. After twelve, their animatronics are aging and showing wear. The Arboretum's Fall 2026 issue of Bloom says the structures are reaching "the end of their mechanical lifespan after more than a decade of service." The Dallas Morning News traced the idea back to 2012, when benefactors Phyllis and Tom McCasland proposed a large-scale holiday experience based on the English carol.

Detwiler told the paper that the millions of lights, the Christmas Village and the season's other traditions will stay. The gazebos' successor is The Art of HYBYCOZO, which the magazine says opens in November 2027 and runs through February 2028. After January 3, the next new holiday centerpiece is about ten months away.

One garden still to come

The calendar has additions as well as exits. The fall issue of Bloom features two gardens, the Mother Daughter Water Garden: Harmony Flowing and the Burgess Family Serenity Garden. An August article on SocialWhirl covering the Women's Council of the Dallas Arboretum places both in A Woman's Garden. It credits Patty Dedman Nail and her family with the water garden and Pier and Glenn Burgess with the Serenity Garden, and says the water garden was "to open later this year." No public opening date for the water garden has been posted yet. It will still be there after the pumpkins come down on November 1 and the gazebos close on January 3.

If you're weighing what living this close to the lake means through the year, including evenings like these a few minutes from your front door, Diane Bearden can walk you through East Dallas street by street. Contact Diane for a personalized market consultation.