It’s that time of year again, y’all. The school doors are fresh with WD-40 and the cars are accidentally turning north onto Elm St. again. School is back in session and with it, a new crop of Dentonites have flooded our city limits. Will these fresh, young faces become lifelong Dentonites or only commute here, never even taking a step onto our town square? Only time will tell, but we’ve decided to do our part to get them to become a part of the former group, by providing them with some insider knowledge on some cool stuff Denton has to offer that would normally take awhile to figure out. It’s time for Secrets of Denton County V: Secrets Strike back...
First, let’s start with our lists from previous years. The vast majority of the tips found within these links are still good even to this day. If you haven't read these yet, definitely go through them. There are well over 100 secrets in those posts that will be great information for your daily life in Denton, TX. Even the most knowledgeable Dentonite may find something they didn't already know.
Make sure you check out all of our other "secrets" posts from prior years!
First, there was Secrets of Denton County in 2011.
Then, the following year came Even More Secrets of Denton County.
Things took a weird turn with 2013's Secrets of Denton County 3: Return of the Secrets.
And then last year, the secrets were strong once more in Secrets of Denton County 4: The Secreting, directed by Dario Argento.
Now, let's get on to a fresh new batch of secrets. After all, that's what you're here for, right? If we neglect to highlight a secret you feel is worth sharing, please feel free to let us know in the comments! (Editor's Note: Some of these secrets may be less than real.)
SPOILER ALERT. SECRETS BELOW!
You can rent both video games and board games through UNT's Media Library. Check it out here. Tired of renting and wanna buy one? Head over to Freaks and Geeks on Elm. St. for some sweet vintage gaming.
If you're a horse person (and by this we mean a human individual with an interest in all things equine, but you might be down to clown if you're a centaur, too - we don't judge), there are multiple tours you can take of some of the finest horse farms in the nation. Guess what! They're in Denton. More info here.
Never order guacamole at Fuzzy's. It's basically 3/4's shredded lettuce on the bottom with a tablespoon of guac on top. If you're hankering for some mashed avocados and gringo tacos on the cheap, head over to Rusty's instead. That said, we heavily recommend the cheap-as-hell breakfast sandwich at Fuzzy's. It has everything piled on and is a great breakfast after a late night.
There are mountain bike courses scattered in spots around Denton. Explore around the Cooper Creek trail near Evers Park, and also the hinterlands around Mack Park on McKinney, to find covertly curated ramps, jumps, and extreme BMX courses.
You can actually go fishing in that pond at South Lakes Park off of Teasley. Just make sure you have a license!
An inside joke to a lot of locals, unknown to others: Look at the sign for the Fine Arts Theater from the south side of the Square and you may spy a hidden-in-plain-sight potty word to make your inner 8-yr-old giggle. How did they miss that, or maybe it was on purpose?
Sick and tired of Goatman. Get ready for the Pigman of Bonnie Brae Bridge.
Bored with stories of the Goatman? Want a new haunting? Better start believing in The Pigman of Bonnie Brae Bridge. It's apparently a thing.
Consider yourself a vegan, vegetarian, or just interested in eating some healthier foods? The Denton Vegan Cooperative is a great group that will keep you up to snuff on that type of stuff.
Don't ever live in or go near the Castle Rock Apartment complex.
Hungry for some Hypnotic Donuts, but you're too fat/lazy to actually get out of the house and to go down there and get some? Don't worry, Greedi Delivery has you covered. They deliver all sorts of Denton goodies including Hypnotic, Loco Cafe, Hoochie's, Mr. Chopsticks, Thai Ocha and more. Oh, and they also deliver some of the chains, too. Check 'em out here.
If you're looking for a laugh, The Whitehouse is the best place to catch a comedy act in town.
Students get a 10% discount when they spend over $30 at The Cupboard.
Sure, Dallas has Katy Trail, but did you know that Denton does, too? Hike, bike or walk Denton's 8.6 Katy Trail that goes all the way from the Downtown Transit Center to Swisher Rd. You can catch a ride back to town on the A-Train at the Medpark stop.
There's a hardcover copy of Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow upstairs at Recycled that if you pull it or push it the right way, opens a secret door to a nice lounge with a bartender that serves Denton's best old-fashioned.
We all know that you can camp over at Lake Ray Roberts, but you can also go a little further south and camp at Pilot Knolls Park, too. It has plenty of great walking, hiking, or horse riding trails.
Denton now has public bike fix-it stations around town. So the next time you're out cycling and your fixie falls apart, head over to the William Square or Medpark Station bike racks. Got a problem that you can't fix yourself? Check out the Querencia Bike Shop located in the same building as SCRAP and they'll help you get all fixed up.
Sprocket's Bicycle Shop on Hickory has bi-monthly swing dance classes inside their store.
If you're the type to sell things on Craigslist a bunch, but your Mom worries about ya, the Flower Mound PD (remember we're talking Denton County here) has got something that you may like. Check out their "online trading zone" parking places by the police department. If you're into being safe, we'd say it is probably worth it to drive down there for Craigslist sales. Stop by Trio Coffee on your way back. UPDATE: Denton PD has a similar thing at their PD.
Check out Harvest House on Wednesdays for a health kick. Get some yoga done in the morning with Karma Yoga Denton and stick around for the weekly juice made by Andie Sterling that is always limited availability and based on locally sourced ingredients. More info on that here. Also, you're most likely to run into Steve Harvey there on Wednesdays, too.
Hickory and Fry has chocolate cake bacon. Yes, chocolate cake bacon.
Stuck in traffic coming back to Denton from Lewisville or Dallas? Exit Frontage after Swisher and then get right back on 35 to bypass about 1/2 mile of non-stop construction traffic. Better yet, because of all of the construction, the next light by NCTC is constantly yellow (for the time being) and you can get an extra 1/2 mile of no traffic by just staying on the access road.
Smash the screen on your iPhone while trying to slack line on the square? Take it to Dr. Smart Phones on Sunset to get it fixed fast. Mention the blog for $5 off.
Wine Squared has great Happy Hour deals and a beautiful patio at the back that not many people know about and that you should probably take advantage of.
Denton Wildflower Prairie exists and is sometimes cool. Just watch out for snakes, runaway remote control airplanes and such. While we're at it, next door to the Wildflower Prairie, is the remote control airplane flying zone. Take your brand new drone over there to test it out instead of wrecking it near some cars.
Like eating pizza while watching bears roam around, check out The Bear's Den over in Pilot Point for some delicious pizza and...beautiful bears. We've got plenty of other nearby dining options if you're up for a short road trip. Check 'em out here.
And, as always, never exit Pennsylvania.