The Weekend in Dallas–Fort Worth: The Light Park Switches On in Three Cities, Warbirds at Dallas Executive, and a Switchyard Saturday in Carrollton

Start with the lights, because this is the weekend they switch on. The Light Park opens to the public on Friday, November 6, at three Dallas–Fort Worth locations — Samuell Farm in Mesquite, Riders Field in Frisco, and Hurricane Harbor in Arlington. It is a drive-through show: millions of LED lights synchronized to holiday music along a mile-long route, with illuminated tunnels, towering animated trees and dancing reindeer, taken in from the car. It is the first of the season's holiday fixtures to open, and it opens in three parts of the Metroplex at once.

Friday also belongs to the airplanes. Aviation Discovery Fest, hosted by the Commemorative Air Force at Dallas Executive Airport on Friday and Saturday, gives visitors rare access to historic military aircraft — exploring warbirds up close, touring cockpits, meeting the pilots and volunteers who keep them flying, and, for some, riding aboard select aircraft. The stages are full the same nights: Broadway Dallas's 'Buena Vista Social Club' runs at the Music Hall at Fair Park through November 15; David Koechner performs five shows through Saturday at Hyena's Comedy Nightclub; Dallas Black Dance Theatre presents 'Genesis' on Friday and Saturday at Wyly Theatre; David Sedaris reads at the Majestic Theatre under DMA Arts & Letters Live; and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra plays 'Ellington, Strayhorn & Gershwin' with pianist Lara Downes, three performances through Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center.

Saturday's free ticket is in Carrollton. The city's 16th annual Festival at the Switchyard fills downtown with free concerts headlined by Toad the Wet Sprocket, with Eve 6, Wheatus, HeartByrne, Bri Bagwell and others on the bill — plus free rides and games, community performances, face painting, a beer garden, food vendors and craft shopping. Saturday night's biggest room is in Arlington, where Ye performs at AT&T Stadium on a tour that has visited nine countries, in support of his album 'Bully,' on a spherical stage with the Earth and moon projected onto it.

The theater calendar carries the rest of the weekend and beyond: 'Making God Laugh' at Plano's Cox Playhouse and Rodgers & Hammerstein's 'Cinderella' at Irving Arts Center both run through November 22, as does Teatro Dallas and Echo Theatre's 'Eva Luna' at the Latino Cultural Center; Theatre Frisco's 'The Cottage' runs through November 15 at Frisco Discovery Center; and Pilobolus performs Friday and Saturday at Moody Performance Hall. However a North Texas household splits it — lights from the car, warbirds on the ramp, a free festival downtown, or a seat in a theater — the first full weekend of November is the one the season starts on.