Arlington's 150th Year Saved Its Most Permanent Pieces for the Final Stretch

"I would love it to be up for the winter solstice," UTA art professor Justin Ginsberg told the Fort Worth Report in May. He explained that if the math holds, the tip of the shadow on his sundial "will actually touch the column" on December 21.

That sundial is part of "Touched by Time," the glass sculpture Arlington commissioned for its 150th anniversary. It is headed for Founders Plaza Park in Downtown Arlington's Cultural District. In May, the piece was expected to be finished and installed by late November or early December. No newer installation date has been published. Ginsberg also said in that interview that the solstice shadow math was still being checked. If the piece is installed and the math works out, the anniversary year will end with an object built to mark one afternoon every year.

Most of the rest of the Arlington 150 calendar follows the same idea.

The fireworks already happened

The City announced its year-long celebration on January 7. The big public moments came over the summer and into early fall:

• July 5: Light Up Arlington, with an expanded fireworks and drone show for the city's 150th and America's 250th
• July 19: a cake and birthday-card gathering at City Hall on the city's founding date, which the anniversary site gives as July 19, 1876
• September 3: First Thursday, with a drone-captured community "150" photo on the Levitt lawn and history tours at Knapp Heritage Park
• September 26: the Front Street Festival at Knapp Heritage Park, organized by the Arlington Historical Society, with cabin tours, demonstrations and live music

Each of these was a one-night or one-day event. The calendar from here through February 2027 works differently.

What's left, and what's still standing afterward

Look at the last column. Most of the remaining items are built to last: trees, a sculpture, a book, a museum exhibit that runs past New Year's, and a parade that just got a new long-term presenter.

The deadline that closes first is a recipe card

Arlington Public Library is putting together a community cookbook from residents' family recipes. Submissions are open through October 31. The finished book will be displayed at the library and available for checkout. That gives you less than three weeks to get a family recipe into a book that will sit on library shelves after the anniversary is over.

October 31 is also the date of the first Shakespeare LIVE! RenFest, presented by Shakespeare LIVE and Create Texas at Levitt Pavilion. It runs noon to 6 p.m. with free admission and mixes a Renaissance faire with Halloween and Día de los Muertos. There's an artisan marketplace, sword fight demonstrations, and, as the announcement says, turkey legs. Macbeth starts at 7 p.m. The City billed it as a new Halloween tradition. So even the one-day events this fall are set up as firsts rather than one-offs. It's also the Halloween weekend entry on the Levitt's fall calendar.

Abram Street is where the permanent pieces are landing

The lasting parts of Arlington 150 aren't spread evenly across the city. Most of them sit on one short stretch of downtown.

The anniversary banners went up in April at City Hall and along Abram Street between Collins and Cooper streets. They carry the theme "Celebrating 150 Years of Arlington – Where It All Began." On November 6, the Sesquicentennial Tree Planting at Levitt Pavilion wraps up a year-long, citywide goal of averaging 150 trees planted a month. The trees come from community giveaways, new plantings, and replacements in parks and neighborhoods. After plantings in street medians earlier in the year, the effort added 17 trees at J.W. Dunlop Park on February 24. The City says the November planting will include a Legacy Tree in Founders Plaza near Levitt Pavilion.

Founders Plaza is also where "Touched by Time" is going. The Arlington Tomorrow Foundation is paying for the piece as part of its sponsorship of the anniversary. The design is a layered, cylindrical glass column with an interactive sundial. The Fort Worth Report reported that the column will hold 150 stacked glass plates. The sundial will carry engravings of key moments from the city's history, and the glass is a low-iron architectural type rated to withstand heat and hail.

Glass art has a second connection to downtown. The Arlington Economic Development Corporation announced that SiNaCa Studios, a glass arts nonprofit, is moving from Fort Worth to a City-owned building at 300 W. Front St. It will operate there as a glass arts school, gallery and artist studio. According to the Fort Worth Report, SiNaCa leaders hope to finish building improvements by late summer 2027.

The parade fits the same pattern. For 25 years, Arlington Christmas Parade Inc., led by longtime volunteer Elle Stubbs, organized the Holiday Lights Parade. Starting this year, Downtown Arlington presents it. The 2026 parade on December 12 is themed to the 150th and runs along West Abram Street between Levitt Pavilion and Cooper Street. Entries are open to businesses, nonprofits, schools and community groups. The detailed route and the date of the annual tree lighting at Levitt Pavilion had not been announced when the City posted the news.

The banners, the Legacy Tree, the sculpture and the parade route are all anchored at Levitt Pavilion, Founders Plaza and West Abram Street.

The museum keeps the year open into February

"Arlington 150: Stories of a Legacy" opens October 17 at the Arlington Museum of Art and runs through February 28, 2027. The museum curated it with more than 75 organizations, businesses and individuals from around the city. The exhibit features items tied to Arlington Downs, the underground casinos at Top O'Hill Terrace, Six Flags coasters, the band Pantera, and the archaeological sites at Village Creek.

Kendall Quirk, the museum's Director of Exhibitions, described herself in the museum's announcement as "a born and raised Arlingtonian." She said she hopes visitors "gain a new perspective of the city, whether they have lived here their whole lives or they are just visiting." When the City listed the opening, it said ticket information was coming soon. The museum's visitor page lists weekday hours and says members get free exhibition tickets. Check arlingtonmuseum.org for current pricing before you go.

The library is running its own exhibit too. "Your Art. Your City. Your Celebration." shows work by City employees in the second-floor Create Room at the George W. Hawkes Downtown Library. It's free, with a reception on November 5 from 6 to 7 p.m., and it stays up through year-end.

Two holiday events with their own anniversaries

Not everything on the late calendar is downtown. The Texas Christkindl Market at Globe Life Field opens November 20, runs again from November 27 through December 23, and holds its tree lighting on the North Plaza on November 27 at 6:30 p.m. The Arlington Convention and Visitors Bureau hosts the market. This year it also marks 75 years of Arlington's sister-city friendship with Bad Königshofen, so the city has two anniversaries going this season.

Farther north, the Walktober Party on November 7 at Centennial Park includes a walk with Mayor Jim Ross starting at 10 a.m. It falls during the City's Walktober challenge, which runs October 1 through November 30 and asks participants to walk on at least 40 days.

The history that was here before the anniversary

Two places tied to Arlington 150 are open year-round. The Fielder Museum at 1616 W. Abram St., cared for by the Arlington Historical Society, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Its Texas Authors Book Club meets October 15, November 19 and December 17 at 6:30 p.m.

Knapp Heritage Park at 201 W. Front St. preserves the P.A. Watson Log House, the Jopling-Melear Cabin, the North Side School, and the original Mineral Well trough bowl. According to the Arlington Historical Society, the mineral well was drilled at the center of downtown and became a public gathering point and part of the city's identity.

For more on how Arlington's public spaces are changing, see our look at River Legacy Park's renovation and our Arlington neighborhood page.

A 150th anniversary makes a lot of people think about how their own home fits into the city's story, and what it's worth today. If you'd like a clear, honest read on your Arlington home with no pressure attached, The Henderson Realty Group can walk you through it. Start with a free home valuation and we'll follow up personally.