Art & Culture

Lisle, Illinois – October 01, 2026 -- The Morton Arboretum's holiday lights exhibition Illumination opens for its 14th season on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, and runs through Saturday, Jan. 2, 2027, adding four new large-scale installations and a model train experience called Pine Whistle Railroad.

Tickets went on sale to Arboretum members on Oct. 1 at 9 a.m. CT and open to the general public Oct. 15 at 9 a.m. CT through mortonarb.org/illumination.

Longboat Key, Fla. – October 01, 2026 -- AGCF, the luxury accessories house founded by Alexandra Gucci Zarini, has opened its second boutique inside the lobby of The St. Regis Longboat Key Resort on Florida's Gulf Coast. The opening marks the brand's first East Coast location, following its flagship at 479 N. Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

A family legacy returns to St. Regis after 65 years

In 1960, Aldo Gucci opened a store for the family business at The St. Regis New York, with a boutique on the hotel's 55th Street side next to the family's Fifth Avenue location. His granddaughter, Alexandra Gucci Zarini, now brings AGCF back under the St. Regis name, this time on Florida's Gulf Coast.

Los Angeles – October 01, 2026 -- ComplexCon celebrates its 10-year anniversary on October 3-4, 2026, relocating for the first time to Los Angeles after a two-year run in Las Vegas that drew more than 70,000 attendees in 2025. The festival will span the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena, bringing together more than 300 brands across over half a million square feet of exhibition space.

Playboi Carti joins Hiroshi Fujiwara as Artistic Director

Rapper Playboi Carti and streetwear pioneer Hiroshi Fujiwara, alongside his label Fragment Design, will lead creative direction for the anniversary edition, shaping programming, product drops and the overall festival experience. Fujiwara will debut exclusive collaborations spanning apparel, collectibles and wearables, including partnerships with Disney/Mickey Mouse, Pokémon, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ray-Ban, Street Fighter, BRABUS and BE@RBRICK.

New York – October 01, 2026 -- Pop star Tate McRae has launched her first signature fragrance, TATE 01, developed with Scent Beauty, Inc. and priced from $30 to $82 for sizes between 10ml and 100ml.

The scent blends bergamot with amber and sandalwood

Perfumers Adriana Medina and Antoine Maisondieu of Givaudan built TATE 01 around a top note of sparkling bergamot and clary sage, moving into white florals before settling into amber, tonka bean, sandalwood and soft woods. The formula is anchored by ISO E Super, a molecule designed to interact with individual skin chemistry so the scent shifts slightly from wearer to wearer.

McRae said she wears the fragrance during rehearsals, describing it as a layer that "warms up and moves with my body" rather than sitting on top of it.

Waco – October 01, 2026 -- Topgolf is converting McLane Stadium into a temporary golf and fan entertainment venue from October 29 through November 1, marking the first Topgolf Live Stadium Series event in the Big 12 and at a Texas college.

Up to 22 hitting bays will fill the stadium field

Guests can hit golf balls toward interactive targets set up on the field and compete for prizes, part of the Topgolf Live Experience installed directly inside the Baylor Bears' home stadium.

A Friday night watch party starts at 6:30 p.m. on October 30

The in-stadium event will show the Baylor-UCF football game on the big screen. Access comes included with any Topgolf Live experience ticket, or fans can buy a standalone ticket just for the watch party.

Nashville, Tenn. – October 01, 2026 -- Minno, a Christian streaming platform for kids, has premiered a new animated series called Laugh and Grow Bible for Kids: Jesus Stories, with a companion book arriving October 13 and a screen-free audio version also available on the platform.

The series launched October 2 and expands Minno's existing Laugh and Grow Bible for Kids franchise, which already includes more than 65 animated episodes, a Bedtime Stories series, a Learning Series, music, holiday specials, and bestselling books translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and American Sign Language.

Santa Monica, Calif. – September 30, 2026 -- STARZ says Verizon Fios customers could lose access to all STARZ channels, STARZ On Demand and the STARZ app unless the two companies reach a new distribution agreement soon.

Negotiations remain unresolved as a deadline looms

Alison Hoffman, President of STARZ Networks, said the company has been negotiating in good faith with Verizon but warned that viewers "should be prepared for Verizon to remove STARZ" unless a deal is struck imminently.

Losing the deal would cut off several exclusive shows

A removal would block Verizon Fios subscribers from the full "Power" Universe and the upcoming "Power: Origins," every episode of "Outlander" and its prequel "Outlander: Blood of my Blood," the next season of "P-Valley," the current season of "S.W.A.T. Exiles," and the upcoming premiere of "Tip Toe."

Fans would also lose STARZ's film library, including the global hit Michael.

Austin – September 30, 2026 -- Tickets are now on sale for the 62nd Annual Austin Trail of Lights, powered by H-E-B, which will light up Zilker Park from December 10 through 23 with more than 2 million lights.

The holiday display features 96 illuminated trees and over 70 lighted tunnels and installations.

The event, which began in 1965 as a small gathering around a yule log, now draws visitors from across the country to Austin's capital city each winter.

General admission is free on seven nights starting at 7 p.m.

Free entry runs December 10–11 and 13–17. On December 12 and 18–23, general admission costs $8 per person, though children under 12 get in free every single night.

Riverside – September 30, 2026 -- The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa will switch on its annual Festival of Lights on Nov. 21, 2026, kicking off a holiday season that runs through Jan. 3, 2027.

The free Switch-On Ceremony opens the season on Nov. 21

The public event includes a massive lights display, a fireworks show and live performances, marking the resort's 150th anniversary year in downtown Riverside, California.

Build-A-Bear Workshop joins the festival for the first time

Select pop-up events throughout the season will let guests create personalized stuffed animals, a new addition to the resort's holiday lineup.

Returning traditions include Santa meet-and-greets and a Holiday Market

Guests can visit the lobby Gingerbread House, browse the Holiday Market for hot cocoa and themed retail, and shop a newly opened Festival of Lights gift shop selling year-round merchandise.

Shelton, Conn. – September 30, 2026 -- Timex has launched Timex Tales, an AI-powered storybook app built to teach children ages 5 to 10 how to read a traditional analog clock, using Google Gemini technology.

A Timex survey found 2 in 5 kids struggle with analog clocks

The company commissioned a survey showing that two in five children ages 6 to 9 struggle to confidently read an analog clock, a gap Timex says its new tool is designed to close.

Stories personalize learning through a cast of animal characters

Using Google's Nano Banana image generation, Timex Tales creates personalized adventures where children follow characters including a tiger, dolphin, penguin, dog, and axolotl through settings like castles, cities, and outer space. The stories teach kids to distinguish hour and minute hands, tell AM from PM, and link time to daily routines like morning and evening.