Houston: Attractions

Second Saturday Series – Get Out in Nature!

Pasadena: Second Saturday Series – Get Out in Nature!

Each month ABNC will be presenting special events to celebrate our natural surroundings and provide you with more opportunities to connect with nature right here in your own community. Regular admission covers all Second Saturday activities, which is always free to members! There will be activities for adults, children and the whole family. Mark your calendars. Bring your family.

Bring your friends. Bring your neighbors. Bring your curiosity and sense of adventure! Time: 10 a.m. - noon Venue Name: Armand Bayou Nature Center Location: 8500 Bay Area Blvd, Pasadena, TX 77507 Admission Cost: Phone: 281-474-2551 Web: www.abnc.org

Kemah: Fall Kids Festival at the Boardwalk

Two exciting days of activites for children, including live entertainment & hands-on educational fun! Time:

 Kemah Boardwalk

 Kipp Ave., Kemah, TX 77565 Admission Cost:

Phone: 281-334-9880 Web: www.kemahboardwalk.com

The Farmers Market at Clear Lake Shores Saturday,

Oct 2

8 - 12 noon

1020 Marina Bay Dr Clear Lake Shores A Texas Certified Farmers Market - a non-profit outlet for locally-grown fruit, vegetables, and other foods. ...

Welcome to Conroe, where the city meets nature.

Culturally unique, Conroe is a blend of nature, history and entertainment that you and your family are sure to enjoy. Here you can spend the day relaxing on Lake Conroe, go golfing or shopping or even hike through the forest.

 At night head to historic Downtown where the atmosphere is bursting with fun and live entertainment. Nestled in the quiet, lush piney woods, Conroe will quickly become your favorite vacation spot with its' small town appeal amid big city attractions

. We invite you to experience for yourself why Conroe is called the Urban Jewel in the Piney Woods. Let’s just say your family will thank you.

CHALLENGE GALLERY , located next to the Amazing Body Pavilion's exit, dares visitors to perform at the top of their game, test their reflexes, master the wacky wire, flex their mental muscles and dance their hearts out. At each of the exhibit's six stations, visitors must use a specific muscle to complete the activity. Activities include Mindball, where the most relaxed player wins by pushing a ball toward their opponent using calm brain waves.

Another activity in the Challenge area is the Dance Challenge. Players have a chance to show off their best dance moves as they test their muscle memory by stepping on lighted panels and following along with the on-screen performer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

McGovern 4D Theater -

Experience science in 4D at Houston’s first and only 4D theater, the McGovern 4D Theater. Enjoy a 3D feature in a fully digital, surround sound environment with special effects like rain, lightning, scents and more! The theater opened in September 2008 and features 4D films developed by the Museum's staff, as well as special engagement presentations. Graciously underwritten by the John P. McGovern Foundation.

Animation featuring Cartoon Network May 29 - September 6, 2010

Explore how art, math, science and technology come together in the exciting world of animation. In Animation's stimulating and fun environment, visitors will explore the process of animation from concept to finished product - from storyboarding, character design, and drawing techniques to movement, timing, filming, and sound. Larger-than-life graphics of popular Cartoon Network characters provide a colorful backdrop to the exhibit, which also explores the history of animation and features a screening room and a cartoon museum.

Animation was developed by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in collaboration with Cartoon Network.

Touch: The Science & Health of the Human Skin

Opens Fall 2010 Opens Fall 2010

Touch is being developed in partnership with the American Academy of Dermatology and will be a 3,000 sq. ft. traveling exhibit that highlights the physiology, function, pathology, and sociology of human skin in a series of fun, engaging and educational exhibits. Learn what “type” of skin you have and how it reacts to the environment around you, the pathology and treatment of skin cancer, the art and sociology of tattoos and adornment, and watch a cut heal in super fast time on a giant hand. *Exhibit dates subject to change

Saturday, May 8 - Saturday October 9,  2010,     5 – 8pm

Every SECOND Saturday of the month

Where Saengerfest Park 2300 Strand Galveston,

Don't miss Music Night on the Strand, every second Saturday of the month, March thru October.

The event occurs at Saengerfest Park, 23rd & Strand, 5pm - 8pm.

Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, and pals, and enjoy a fine evening of live music under the stars. Presented by the Galveston Island Convention and Visitors Bureau and Mitchell Historic Properties.

Saturday, September 4, 2010, 7:30 – 10:30pm

Moody Gardens 1 Hope Blvd. Galveston, TX Galveston.com

Since their 1982 debut, Night Ranger has left an indelible mark on the music world. The band’s popularity has been fueled by an impressive string of instantly recognizable hit singles and signature album tracks, including “Sister Christian,” “(You Can Still) Rock In America,” “When You Close Your Eyes,” “Sentimental Street,” “Goodbye” and “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me.”

Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com, by phone at 800-745-3000, at all Ticketmaster retail locations and the Island Star Live Box Office located in the lobby of the Moody Gardens Hotel. General Admission $15 Reserved Seating $35 VIP Premium Seating $75 Ticket Phone (800)745-3000

 Saturday, September 18, 2010, 10am – 3pm

 Saengerfest Park 2300 Strand Galveston, TX

Market on the Strand is a free monthly event held the third Saturday of each month at Saengerfest Park. The Market is sponsored and organized by the Historic Downtown Strand Seaport Partnership, a non-profit organization, and an all Volunteer Committee.

 The Market offers a variety of hand-crafted items by local artisans. Relax a bit as you stroll down The Strand, and visit with our vendors about their items and their individual craft. Browse and shop items ranging from whimsical aprons to photographs of historic Galveston, bath salts, jewelry, plants, and much more. Link www.downtowngalveston.org

The Galveston.com & Company "Great Taste of the Gulf" Epicurean Evening will take place on Monday, September 27th, from 6pm to 8:30pm at the Moody Gardens Convention Center,.

Guests attending the event will have the opportunity to sample some of the Gulf Coast's finest cuisine and beverages from Galveston County's top restaurateurs, hoteliers and dedicated suppliers. For additional information and to purchase tickets, click to www.epicureanevening.com.

Galveston Arts Center in Exile 2

2501 Market St. Galveston, TX 77550 Phone: (409)763-2403 Fax: (409)763-0531

6pm

 ArtWalk

Galveston Arts Center in Exile 2

2501 Market St. Galveston, TX 77550 Phone: (409)763-2403 Fax: (409)763-0531

From its storied harbor to its vault-filled cemeteries to its stately Victorian mansions, historic Galveston is filled with legendary figures and ghostly stories. This October, Galveston Historical Foundation is once again hosting the popular “Haunted Happenings” tours.

ASHTON VILLA’S “ARE WE HAUNTED?” TOURS

October 15, 16, 22 and 23, and 29: 5 p.m. October 30 and 31: 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.

HAUNTED HARBOR TOURS ABOARD SEAGULL II

October 15, 16, 22 and 23: 4 p.m. October 29, 30 and 31: 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

“SPIRITS OF THE PAST” CEMETERY TOURS

October 29, 30, 31: 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Friday & Saturday October 22nd & 23rd, historic downtown Galveston will come alive when the 28th annual Island Oktoberfest oompahs back to the First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 2415 Winnie.

This fun, family weekend of great music, authentic German food, libations, auction, raffle, games, and much more. Along with good music, there will be great food and drink including smoked sausage, bratwurst, and knockwurst.

Adults can look forward to raffles, games, and competitions. Island Oktoberfest admission is free. For more information about Island Oktoberfest, visit firstlutherangalveston.com or call (409)762-8477.

Don't miss the 27th Annual Galveston Island Greek Festival,

 11am to 9pm. The event will be a celebration of Greek culture, and will feature Church tours, Greek food and drink, entertainment, children's activities, pastries, a gift shop, imported food, and commemorative items. ,

Located 35 minutes from Houston, La Porte has something for everyone. 

 The La Porte-Bayshore area blends the romantic history of early Texas and old Sylvan Beach with the civic pride that makes La Porte a unique town. Want to find that special gift or unique items for your home?

Park the car and stroll down Main Street and Broadway. Relax and enjoy the tennis courts, wave pool, golf course, museums, fishing, the Historical trail and the cool breezes off Galveston Bay. La Porte offers outdoor recreation year round for the entire family.

On September 11, 2010 the Parks & Recreation Department will be hosting their first annual Grand & Me Fish Tournament.

The tournament will be from 9:00-10:30 a.m. at the Sylvan Beach Pier. This is a "catch & release" event. Children must catch the fish, however grandparents are urged to ASSIST if neccessary. Children must be between the age of 5-14. It is recommended that children and their grandparents provide their own fishing tackle.

There is a limited quantity of equipment that will be available on a first come first serve basis for those who do not have their own tackle.

There is limited space, so do not hesitate to register! For more information please contact the Parks & Recreation Department at 281-470-7275. City of La Porte City Hall 604 W. Fairmont Parkway La Porte, Texas 77571 T. 281-471-5020

Experience the thrill of historic aviation in four legendary aircraft from the World War II era. The Lone Star Flight Museum is now offering bomber and trainer flight experiences in its B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Mitchell, T-6 Texan and PT-17 Stearman. 

Call for more information

– Moody Gardens recently announced the opening of Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America through Galveston Island .The exhibit chronicles the Port of Galveston’s largely forgotten history as a major gateway to American immigration from 1845 to 1924. Forgotten Gateway builds on a growing scholarly and public interest in the history of migration patterns to America and Galveston’s place as one of the nation’s top immigrant ports in that history.

“This exhibit is the first of its kind to explore Galveston’s legacy as a port of entry on a national scale,” said John Zendt, Moody Gardens general manager. “We are very excited to have it here on the island and bring to light the little-known yet rich era of Galveston’s history and just how important it was to the growth of Texas and the American Midwest.”

MOODY GARDENS® RAINFOREST PYRAMID® REOPENS APRIL 28 WITH NEW EXHIBIT JITTERBUG! 

– From a goliath bird eating tarantula to a hefty lubber grasshopper, Moody Gardens visitors will have a chance to meet a wide variety of unique spineless insects this summer. The Rainforest Pyramid will open for the summer season on April 28, featuring JitterBug! Spineless Wonders of the World.

The special exhibit will include both local and exotic bugs along with interesting facts about each critter. Inside the Rainforest Pyramid, visitors will see over 1,000 species of floras and faunas of the rainforests of Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as colorful macaws and fish. As a new feature, there will be tropical thunder several times a day with immersive sound effects and misty showers so real that guests may want to go on an adventure through the forest in raincoats.

Rainforest presentations will also take place every hour between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily discussing all aspects of the rainforest from plants, conservation efforts to insects and animals. 

 When: April 28 – Sept. 6, 2010 Where: Moody Gardens Rainforest Pyramid Admission: Adults $9.95, Children & Seniors $7.95 Information: moodygardens.org; 1-800-582-4673 Moody Gardens® is a public, non-profit, educational destination utilizing nature in the advancement of rehabilitation, conservation, recreation, and research.

Moody Gardens will open a special new exhibit just in time for the summer vacation season. “Amazeing” Butterflies is scheduled to open Saturday, May 15 and will feature a maze and free-flying live butterflies. The exhibit is designed to teach visitors the life cycle, variety of species and survival challenges of the colorful insects.

“Butterflies have been at the top of the request list as something that our guests have wanted to see here at Moody Gardens,” said John Zendt, Moody Gardens CEO and president. “Along with the other unique attractions that Moody Gardens has to offer, we hope this will add value to the guest experience.”

Saturday, September 4, 2010, 7:30 – 10:30pm

Moody Gardens 1 Hope Blvd. Galveston, TX Galveston.com

Since their 1982 debut, Night Ranger has left an indelible mark on the music world. The band’s popularity has been fueled by an impressive string of instantly recognizable hit singles and signature album tracks, including “Sister Christian,” “(You Can Still) Rock In America,” “When You Close Your Eyes,” “Sentimental Street,” “Goodbye” and “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me.”

 Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com, by phone at 800-745-3000, at all Ticketmaster retail locations and the Island Star Live Box Office located in the lobby of the Moody Gardens Hotel. General Admission $15 Reserved Seating $35 VIP Premium Seating $75 Ticket Phone (800)745-3000 Ticket Web Link www.ticketmaster.com

Epicurean Evening At Moody Gardens September 27th

The Galveston Restaurant Association and Galveston.com & Company "Great Taste of the Gulf" Epicurean Evening will take place on Monday, September 27th, from 6pm to 8:30pm at the Moody Gardens Convention Center and has been generously underwritten by Galveston.com & Company for the eighth consecutive year. Guests attending the event will have the opportunity to sample some of the Gulf Coast's finest cuisine and beverages from Galveston County's top restaurateurs, hoteliers and dedicated suppliers.

Tickets include admission to the event, sampling of entries and an array of promotional beverages, and can be purchased for $30 in advance or $35 at the door.

DECEMBER 12, 2010 Annual Christmas open house at Moody Mansion will be on Sunday, December 12, 2010, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

This event is free and open to the public.

The Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum is located on Galveston Island, Texas, less than an hour from downtown Houston, the world's petroleum capital.

Visitors board the retired jackup drilling rig and view a video about the offshore industry. The museum features three floors of models and interactive displays illustrating the story of offshore oil and gas from seismic technology to exploration and production.

Scale models of production platforms, actual drill bits and remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) as well as videos and exhibits explain drilling, geology, seismic, well servicing and production. Following a leisurely tour inside the museum, visitors can take the skywalk out onto the drill floor of the rig, or visit the exhibits on the pipe deck from the first floor of the museum.

May 29, 2010  - August 14

Open every day 10am - 8 PM

Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark's Heated Indoor Season will kick off September 25th.

The park will be open on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) and select dates from 10am to 5pm. For information, call (409)770-WAVE.

Blast Off Theater

Visit the only place in the world where you can personally experience the thrill of launching into space like a real astronaut. It's not just a movie; it's the thrill of personally feeling the launch into space -- from the rocket boosters to the billowing exhaust. What have visitors said about their trips? "It's like IMAX in 10D!"

German Impressionist Landscape Painting: Liebermann—Corinth—Slevogt

On view September 12 - December 5, 2010 At the Audrey Jones Beck Building Impressionism is considered a fundamentally French artistic movement, but the international reputation of Paris as the world´s leading art center inevitably led to the dissemination of this style to other countries. Art students from all over Europe flocked to Paris to be trained at the Académie des Beaux-Arts or one of the many private studios. Despite the strained political relationship between Germany and France at the time, German interest in French artistic developments was particularly lively.

Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria makes its U.S. premiere at the MFAH. The kingdom of Ife (pronounced EE-fay) flourished from the 12th to 15th centuries in what is now southwestern Nigeria.

The exhibition features superb examples of copper, terra cotta, and stone Ife sculpture—cited by London’s Guardian as masterpieces that rank with the Terra-cotta Army, the Parthenon, and the mask of Tutankhamen as ¨Dtreasures of the human spirit¡¬—drawn entirely from the magnificent collections of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in Nigeria. Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria is co-organized by the Museum for African Art, New York, and Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander, Spain, in collaboration with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria. MFAH curator Frances Marzio will oversee the Houston presentation of the show, which was most recently on view at the British Museum.

Opening October 2010 Artist Cai Guo-Qiang (at left, in a portrait by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders) will create a permanent, site-specific installation for the museum’s new Arts of China galleries, which open in October 2010.

The project -- a monumental landscape mural to be created in a Houston warehouse just prior to installation and rendered by igniting a gunpowder drawing over multiple panels -- will line the walls of the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Arts of China gallery and provide a contemporary context for the Chinese ceramics, bronzes, sculpture, and paintings dating from the 13th century B.C. to the 21st century. The mural will be the largest and most ambitious permanent project of Guo-Qiang’s to date, and is the first in a series of contemporary commissions for the museum's five Arts of Asia galleries. MFAH Asian art curator Christine Starkman will oversee the installation.

Cosmopolitan Routes: Houston Collects Latin American Art October 24, 2010–February 6, 2011 Cosmopolitan Routes: Houston Collects Latin American Art is the first in a series of exhibitions celebrating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the MFAH Latin American art department and the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA) in 2001.

The exhibition is a tribute to the collectors: the Founding Members and Latin Maecenas who have supported the museum’s Latin American art initiative and its collecting activities since the department’s inception. Cosmopolitan Routes: Houston Collects Latin American Art will comprise more than 90 works on loan from private collections in Houston and Latin America, including paintings, works on paper, photography, sculpture, video projections, installations, and assemblage.

Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color into Space February 6–July 4, 2011 The first large-scale retrospective of this Venezuelan-born artist, Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color into Space will feature more than 150 works, ranging from paintings, silk-screen prints, and unconventional color structures to room-size chromatic environments, architectural maquettes, and videos. For over 50 years Cruz-Diez, who turns 87 in August 2010, has intensively and obsessively experimented with the origins and optics of color in a remarkable range of media, and he has involved his entire family in the enterprise, with guild-style studios in Paris, Panama, and Caracas.

The exhibition will introduce international audiences to Cruz-Diez’s extensive productivity and will place his theoretical and artistic contributions to 20th-century Modernism in a broader context than they have traditionally been seen. Color into Space is organized by Mari Carmen Ramírez, Wortham Curator of 3 Latin American Art and Director, International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), at the MFAH.

This exhibition presents a selection of 30 works on paper connected with Alfred Jacob Miller’s most revered body of work—his images of the West based on the 1837 journey from the Kansas City, Missouri, area to Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains with Scottish adventurer-aristocrat Captain William Drummond Stewart and the American Fur Company.

The exhibition places these compelling works within the broader scope of Miller’s life (1810–1874) and career, his role as an important early American practitioner in watercolor, and his place in the context of early 19th-century American art. Romancing the West opens at Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in September 2010 before traveling to the MFAH. A presentation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art follows, in summer 2011. Emily Ballew Neff, MFAH curator of American painting and sculpture, will oversee the installation in Houston.

Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art will present a selection of 50 paintings from the National Gallery of Art’s premier holdings while the galleries that house its 19th-century French collection are closed for repair, renovation, and restoration.

 The National Gallery’s Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection ranks among the finest of any museum in the world and features some of the greatest artists active in France between the 1860s and the early 20th century, including Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Van Gogh. In Houston, the exhibition is coordinated by Helga Aurisch, MFAH curator of European art..

In Texas, Mexican Americans celebrate the Mexican national holiday referred to as fiestas patrias, also called Diez y Seis de Septiembre.

 It commemorates Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla'sqv grito de Dolores who called for the end of Spanish rule in Mexico. In 1825, the Republic of Mexico officially declared Diez y Seis de Septiembre its national Independence Day. Mexican Americans began celebrating fiestas patrias to reinforce their cultural links with each other and with Mexico. They included festivities that involved special music, songs, dances, native cuisine, costumes, and homage to folk heroes.

Traders Village along with Telemundo TV 47 will continue that holiday tradition at the market by celebrating FIESTAS PATRIAS on Saturday, September 12th. The celebration will feature live cultural music, dancing, foods and family fun. Admission is free, parking is just $3.

There will be a lot of pickin' & peddlin' during the Village Bluegrass Festival featuring two full days of down-home Bluegrass music by many of Texas’ most popular bands. There’ll be bushel baskets full of mouth-watering country-style foods from link sausage to smoked turkey legs, and lots of sweet festival munchies and rides for the kids, too. Shop for country crafts, local honey and jams, handmade quilts, barn wood furniture and birdhouses, candles, dolls and other homespun items available from many of the hundreds of permanent “peddlers” throughout the market.

 Free to the public, parking $3.