The Weekend Lineup: May 8-10

**Mother's Day weekend lands across the Villa+Cala footprint with a deep theater bench, a stack of nightly square shows in The Villages, and one specifically built for the holiday: A Mother's Tribute by Request Line Live! at the [Old Mill Playhouse](/directory/old-mill-playhouse/) on Sunday. [Ocala Civic Theatre](/directory/ocala-civic-theatre/) runs Children of Eden Friday through Sunday plus a Saturday evening Encores cabaret on Sunday night. [Reilly Arts Center](/directory/reilly-arts-center/) stacks Saturday with Ocala Grindhouse IX and a double-billed Dueling Pianos. Mount Dora's Sunset Park hosts Plaid in the Park Saturday and the Mount Dora Village Market Sunday morning. Brooksville closes its Wizard of Oz Jr. weekend at [Live Oak Theater](/directory/live-oak-theater/), and the Inverness fairgrounds runs the 3rd Annual Memorial Bulls & Barrels Friday night.**

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## Friday

### [LIVE ON STAGE: Children of Eden](/events/live-on-stage-children-of-eden-2026-05-08/) -- [Ocala Civic Theatre](/directory/ocala-civic-theatre/), 7:30 PM ET

[Ocala Civic Theatre](/directory/ocala-civic-theatre/) opens its Children of Eden run Friday evening -- Stephen Schwartz's musical, staged by the longest-running community theater company in the state. The Friday opener typically plays to a partial house; the better seats stay open longer than the weekend's matinees.

### [The Wizard of Oz Jr.](/events/the-wizard-of-oz-jr-2026-05-08/) -- [Live Oak Theater](/directory/live-oak-theater/), Brooksville, 7:30 PM ET

[Live Oak Theater](/directory/live-oak-theater/)'s youth production of The Wizard of Oz Jr. opens Friday night and runs through the weekend. Family-friendly, well-staged community theater in a Brooksville room scaled for exactly this kind of show.

### [3rd Annual Memorial Bulls & Barrels](/events/3rd-annual-memorial-bulls-barrels-2026-05-08/) -- [Citrus County Fair Grounds](/directory/citrus-county-fair-grounds/), Inverness, 7:30 PM ET

Inverness brings its third annual Memorial Bulls & Barrels rodeo to the [Citrus County Fair Grounds](/directory/citrus-county-fair-grounds/) Friday at 7:30 PM. Real-deal bull riding plus barrel racing, classic county-fair-rodeo format. Tickets through the gate.

### [Fearless – The Taylor Swift Experience](/events/fearless-the-taylor-swift-experience-2026-05-08/) -- [Clermont Performing Arts Center](/directory/clermont-performing-arts-center/), 7:00 PM ET

Clermont PAC stages the Taylor Swift tribute show Friday evening. The Fearless tribute leans into the early-era Swift catalog and pairs naturally as the kind of date-night-or-mom-and-daughter night out the lineup is designed for.

### [Friday Night Live starring Bobby Randall and The OBO Band](/events/friday-night-live-starring-bobby-randall-and-the-obo-band-5-8-2026-05-08/) -- [Orange Blossom Opry](/directory/orange-blossom-opry/), Weirsdale, 7:00 PM ET

The Opry's house Friday Night Live runs at 7 PM in the Weirsdale room. Bobby Randall fronts the OBO Band -- the venue's standing house band -- in the format that's been the Opry's anchor for years.

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## Saturday

### [In The Air Tonight – Celebrating Phil Collins & Genesis](/events/in-the-air-tonight-celebrating-the-music-of-phil-collins-genesis-2026-05-09/) -- [Savannah Center](/directory/savannah-center/), The Villages

[Savannah Center](/directory/savannah-center/) hosts the Phil Collins / Genesis tribute Saturday -- a curated greatest-hits format with the catalog full enough to fill the program twice over.

### [Hank & My Honky Tonk Heroes Starring Jason Petty](/events/hank-my-honky-tonk-heroes-starring-jason-petty-2026-05-09/) -- [The Sharon Performing Arts Center](/directory/the-sharon-performing-arts-center/)

The Sharon books Jason Petty's Hank Williams tribute Saturday evening. Petty's Hank impression is the gold-standard touring version of this -- there's a reason it keeps coming back to The Sharon.

### [Plaid in the Park](/events/plaid-in-the-park-2026-05-09/) -- [Sunset Park](/directory/sunset-park/), Mount Dora

Mount Dora's [Sunset Park](/directory/sunset-park/) hosts Plaid in the Park Saturday -- a Highland Games kind of energy with pipers, dancers, and food, set on the lakefront downtown. Free, walkable from anywhere in Mount Dora.

### [Lake Irish Music Session](/events/lake-irish-music-session-2026-05-09/) -- [W.T. Bland Public Library](/directory/w-t-bland-public-library/), Mount Dora, 10:00 AM CT

Mount Dora's library hosts a Saturday-morning Irish music session -- open-format, all-levels, the kind of low-pressure community-music moment that makes a Saturday morning land somewhere unexpected.

### [Mount Dora School of Ballet Presents: The Little Mermaid](/events/mount-dora-school-of-ballet-presents-the-little-mermaid-2026-05-09/) -- [Community Building](/directory/community-building/) Auditorium, Mount Dora

The Mount Dora School of Ballet's spring production of The Little Mermaid runs Saturday at the [Community Building](/directory/community-building/) Auditorium. Family-friendly, choreographed at student level, and the kind of show where the audience is largely the dancers' families.

### [Ocala Grindhouse IX](/events/ocala-grindhouse-ix-2026-05-09/) -- [Reilly Arts Center](/directory/reilly-arts-center/), 6:00 PM ET

[Reilly Arts Center](/directory/reilly-arts-center/) brings back its grindhouse-style screening series Saturday at 6 PM -- the kind of B-movie programming the room handles better than expected.

### [Dueling Pianos | May 2026](/events/dueling-pianos-may-2026-2026-05-09/) -- [Reilly Arts Center](/directory/reilly-arts-center/), 6:00 PM ET

The Reilly's Dueling Pianos bookends Saturday with two shows -- the early at 6 PM is the family-leaning version, and the 9 PM Uncensored set goes harder. Tickets through Reilly.

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## Sunday — Mother's Day

### [A Mother's Tribute by Request Line Live!](/events/a-mothers-tribute-by-request-line-live-2026-05-10/) -- Old Mill Playhouse, The Villages

The Old Mill Playhouse hosts A Mother's Tribute -- the Request Line Live! crew running a Mother's-Day-themed song-by-request format Sunday. It's the most explicitly built-for-the-holiday show of the weekend in The Villages.

### [Mount Dora Village Market](/events/mount-dora-village-market-2026-05-10/) -- [Sunset Park](/directory/sunset-park/), Mount Dora, 9:00 AM ET

Sunset Park runs Mount Dora's Sunday Village Market starting at 9 AM -- vendors, makers, the lakefront downtown setting at its best. A workable Mother's Day morning anchor: market browse, lunch nearby, done by early afternoon.

### [LIVE ON STAGE: Children of Eden](/events/live-on-stage-children-of-eden-2026-05-10/) -- [Ocala Civic Theatre](/directory/ocala-civic-theatre/), 2:00 PM ET

The Sunday-matinee Children of Eden at [Ocala Civic Theatre](/directory/ocala-civic-theatre/) runs at 2 PM. Matinee timing makes it the cleanest theater-as-Mother's-Day option: no late curtain, plenty of time for dinner after.

### [The Wizard of Oz Jr.](/events/the-wizard-of-oz-jr-2026-05-10/) -- [Live Oak Theater](/directory/live-oak-theater/), Brooksville, 2:30 PM ET

Live Oak's Wizard of Oz Jr. closes Sunday afternoon at 2:30 PM -- the kid-friendly Mother's Day matinee that lands clean in Brooksville's downtown theater space.

### [Sunday FunDay](/events/sunday-funday-2026-05-10/) -- City of Brooksville Parks & Recreation, 1:00 PM ET

Brooksville's Parks & Recreation runs its Sunday FunDay program at 1 PM -- a kids-and-families afternoon at one of the city's recreation venues. Free; the kind of low-key Mother's Day option that doesn't require a reservation.

### [An Evening with Encores](/events/an-evening-with-encores-2026-05-10/) -- [Ocala Civic Theatre](/directory/ocala-civic-theatre/), 5:30 PM ET

[Ocala Civic Theatre](/directory/ocala-civic-theatre/) closes Sunday with An Evening with Encores at 5:30 PM -- a cabaret-format showcase pulling moments from past Civic productions. A natural Mother's Day Sunday-evening close after the matinee crowd clears.

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## The Full Lineup

Find all 60+ events this weekend at [villacalalineup.com/events/](/events/).

*Got a tip or event we should know about? Email [email protected]*