Things to Do in Haltom City

The National Cowgirl Museum honors the tough-as-nails cow-lasses of the American West with a comprehensive collection of more than 6,000 photographs and 5,000 artifacts, as well as both traveling and permanent exhibits. A Hall of Fame gallery shares the stories of 200 honorees, including Annie Oakley, Patsy Cline, and Sandra Day O'Connor, while artifacts such as costumes, boots, saddles, letters, and jackalope lassos span 150 years of cowgirl history. Exhibits are organized to display different aspects of the lives of women in the West. Into the Arena honors women riders with rodeo memorabilia and a life-sized bronco model, allowing mounters to simulate the thrill of the rodeo. Claiming the Spotlight takes a look at the entertainers, actors, and country-western musicians whose tales of rootin' and shootin' injected the American consciousness with nostalgia for the open prairie and dangerously full tobacco spittoons.

Atop Segway i2 personal transports, guides at Cowtown Segway Tours escort explorers through the botanic gardens, the cultural district, and other Dallas landmarks. Voyagers take part in a 15- to 30-minute training session to become acquainted with their Segway's controls and favorite conversation topics before setting out on their sightseeing adventure. The Cultural District and Trinity Trails tour takes groups of about 10 sightseers on a cruise through the Fort Worth art district, where they take in the marvels of nature, science, and modern architecture that permeate the landscape. During the cultural district tour, riders also zip through a scenic portion of the 32-mile Trinity Trail while gliding past picturesque foliage and racing competitive squirrels on the path to Trinity Park.

The six-headed hydra of spontaneous comedy known as Four Day Weekend has been wreaking havoc on North Texas doldrums since 1997. Critically adored by the metroplex’s most prominent presses, the group squelches laughter droughts with their weekend bouts of unscripted hilarity. The professional troupe of cut-ups, many with film and Second City Conservatory of Chicago credentials, happily share the tricks of the trade in their four-level training center. Emphasizing “truth in comedy,” the curriculum covers fundamentals such as characterization and long-form improv, giving students the tools they need to extract their inner hilarity or survive an hour in a prop closet with Greg Proops.

Inside the George R. Brown Convention Center, the 32nd Annual Houston Home Show renovates the perception of home proprietors with three full days of decorating, remodeling, and do-it-yourself tips. A laundry list of national and local exhibitors, such as Sears Home Services and American Comfort Solutions, keeps representatives on hand to demonstrate and explain product features and innovations. Information-packed seminars held throughout the weekend will also dish out money-saving secrets, including pointers on faux painting from Michael Graves and edible landscaping tips from Edible Earth Resources team Daniel Millikin and Scott Snodgrass.

Though you'd never guess it based on its white, soot-free façade, an unassuming bungalow in East Forth Worth has seen fire from every angle. The structure began its life in 1928 as a fire station to protect the area's growing population from faulty toaster ovens, and today it serves as a gallery and workspace for flame-taming potters.

Firehouse Pottery's community-driven studio enables local artists to create new work in classes for all age groups classes and then display their proudest pieces in exhibitions or among a rotating selection of paintings, drawings, and pottery on display.

Resident artist Keith Thomson creates hand-made pottery and other clay artwork under tudor half timbered gables, welcoming audiences and protégés as they enter under a gabled portico held up by thick stucco columns. The intimate space also hosts events, which range from gallery exhibitions and BYOB gatherings to book signings at which only quill pens are allowed.

A native Fort Worthian with a degree in history, Segway Fort Worth's founder Daniel Dase, Jr. has always loved sharing his city’s cultural legacy—it’s just exponentially more fun to do so on an X2 Segway, the most advanced model on the market. With help from the deep treads on the machine's tires, each segway responds instantly to shifts in posture, moving organically and fluidly as groups flood city streets during segway tours. Before his groups of riders get gliding, his company's licensed operators conduct one-on-one tutorials to set all new riders at ease with their new moving platforms. And because Daniel corrals a fleet of these durable off-road models, his tours go places other segways can’t, be it the grassy knolls of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden or the slippery slopes of the neighborhood gym’s treadmills.