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 on Sunday. Ocala Civic Theatre runs Children of Eden Friday through Sunday plus a Saturday evening Encores cabaret on Sunday night. 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, and the Inverness fairgrounds runs the 3rd Annual Memorial Bulls & Barrels Friday night.
Friday
LIVE ON STAGE: Children of Eden -- Ocala Civic Theatre, 7:30 PM ET
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. -- Live Oak Theater, Brooksville, 7:30 PM ET
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 -- Citrus County Fair Grounds, Inverness, 7:30 PM ET
Inverness brings its third annual Memorial Bulls & Barrels rodeo to the 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 -- 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 -- 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.
Saturday
In The Air Tonight – Celebrating Phil Collins & Genesis -- Savannah Center, The Villages
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 -- 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 -- Sunset Park, Mount Dora
Mount Dora's 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 -- 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 -- Community Building Auditorium, Mount Dora
The Mount Dora School of Ballet's spring production of The Little Mermaid runs Saturday at the 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 -- Reilly Arts Center, 6:00 PM ET
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 -- 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.
Sunday — Mother's Day
A Mother's Tribute by Request Line Live! -- 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 -- 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 -- Ocala Civic Theatre, 2:00 PM ET
The Sunday-matinee Children of Eden at 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. -- 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 -- 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 -- Ocala Civic Theatre, 5:30 PM ET
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.
The Full Lineup
Find all 60+ events this weekend at villacalalineup.com/events/.
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