Stuff For Houston Couples - Weekend Event: Juneteenth Festival

Tops on the list of Houston couples, families and other groups looking for fun stuff to do this weekend is the "Number 3 summer festival in the nation" Houston’s Juneteenth.

The weekend event draws people from all over the nation who come to party, participate and partake of the parades, concerts and festivals held all over the area each year.




The city’s Juneteenth celebrations have their roots in antebellum Galveston, Texas, where the "Emancipation Proclamation" was read from the balcony of Ashton Villa, which had been the headquarters for the Confederate Army in Texas.



The following year African Americans in Houston began celebrating the occasion in the newly purchased Emancipation Park and soon other communities around the Gulf Coast began joining in.


See More On
Houston Festivals
Things For Houston Couples
Free things to this weekend
Stuff To Do In Houston

Take a look at some of the parades, festivals and free concerts scheduled for 2011 Juneteenth weekend in the Houston area:

Parades In Houston - Juneteenth

“National Emancipation Association’s 38th Annual Juneteenth Parade"

The longest running parade honoring the African American holiday featuring floats, trail riders and marching bands from local high schools starts in front of minute maid park.

Independence Heights Juneteenth Parade & Festival

This family-oriented event. The Parade's Theme: Someplace In Time will feature more than 100 Parade Entries will will have a duration of 1.5 hrs.


Missouri City, Tx
Annual Juneteenth Celebration 2011
(http://www.mcjcf.com)-website

“One Mile of Smiles” Parade 6:00pm
Texas Parkway Missouri City

Houston Festivals - Juneteenth

Missouri City Juneteenth Festival
7:00pm ~ 11:00pm Hunters Glen Park

Emancipation Park the site of Houston’s oldest Juneteenth festival has several events scheduled during the month of June.
Featuring Miss Juneteenth Pageant..Healthy Living Triathalon... Freedom Golf Tournament


SHAPE Community Center

Reclaiming the Village Juneteenth Celebration and Health Fair (Free)
Health Fair, Fun, Food Co-op, Games & Vendors at Our Park next to Shape Center

Houston Black Dance Festival 2011
This biennial dance festival celebrates the culture and contributions of the African Diaspora to the art to Dance.

Free Concerts

Emancipation Park
Community Center & Park Grounds
Juneteenth Gospel Sunday Jubilee

Miller Outdoor Theater

This year's musical performers will be:
Glen David Andrews Band, from New Orleans, Louisiana. Other artist scheduled are:
Blues legend Texas Johnny Brown and the Quality Blues Band


Couples and families free tickets for the covered seating area (4 per person over age 16 while they last) from the Miller Outdoor Theatre box office the day of the performance between the hours of 10:30am-1pm. The box office will re-open one hour before show time to distribute any remaining tickets for the nights event.

Other celebrations marking this weekends events:

“FREEDMEN’S TOWN” by playwright Dwight Baxter, about Houston’s Freedmen’s Town and the men an women who organized the first Juneteenth celebrations will be presented at Mt. Horeb Missionary Baptist Church Friday night.

Free Film Screening

"Filling the Gap" NAACP 2011 Image Award (Nominee Docudrama)
Tyrone Young's eye-opening chronicles of African American participation in America's Civil War.


Houston couples, families and members of the community at-large are being encouraged to participate with Houston’s African American community to strengthen the tradition of Juneteenth by celebrating this historical event.

It creates an excellent opportunity to educate children on cultural diversity, government and Black history. Houston is fortunate to have several statues, parks and museums that you can visit that will shed light on the numerous African American contributions and experiences in America.

It's easy to tell your friends about this just click a logo below

Link To this post!

Festivals In Houston -April

Tis the season for spring fairs and festivals in Houston and all over the great Southwest including the annual “Art In the Park" here in Midtown Houston. These family-friendly events are a great way to get the family out for a fun, festivities and frolicking in the springtime.


They are part of a time honored tradition of feast, fetes and festivals that celebrate unique aspects of our community, special occasions and anniversaries of events. You can probably find a celebration in the city that pays homage to just about anything imaginable.


5th Annual Midtown Art in the Park
http://www.houstonmidtown.com/midtown.cfm?a=cms,c,58


Saturday, April 9, art fanatics, 75 fine artists, great local music including Days Drive, The Selfless Season, the sweet sounds of Clory Martin will fill Elizabeth Baldwin Park in Midtown Houston. Painting Parties with Happy Hour Studios sponsored by Central Bank. The Ensemble Theatre will have a special presentation and stick around to experience LIVE painting on stage by Nubia Seibert.


Galveston Food & Wine Festival, 2011:
http://www.galveston.com/foodandwine/

A four-day festival on April 14 - 17 of over 100 wines, 22 vineyards, 11 restaurants,and other vendors. Join wine enthusiasts from across the state. This year’s theme, Wines from Around the World.

The 44th Annual WorldFest-Houston
http://www.worldfest.org/PAGES/calendar.htm

Get ready for 10 great days in April. 55 features, 96 shorts, 6 Professional Production Seminars - All film screenings at the AMC Studio 30 at Dunvale Theaters. The Official HQ Hotel - The Marriott Westchase!

Bellaire Art Festival

A fabulous venue for thousands of local artists to display and sell their works - many of whom were just starting their careers as successful artists. Cultivating local talent

5th Annual Polish Fest

All things Polish are highlighted during this exciting cultural festival featuring the food, music, language, customs and the culture of the Polish people. The cultural festival is held on the grounds of Our Lady of Czestochowa Church in Houston.

Kemah Crawfish Festival
http://www.kemahcrawfishfestival.com/

The three-day festival takes place under the iconic Kemah Bridge, truly welcoming all into the city. In addition to the crawfish, Kemah will present the best of Cajun dishes and classic festival fare, and cooking demonstrations.


Katy Guitar Festival
http://www.katyguitarfest.com/index.html

Fill your weekend with wonderful music and activities for your entire family! April 29-30, 2011. Katy Guitar Fest and the West Houston Jazz Festival, will supply entertainment Saturday and Sunday, you will not want to miss this rockin Houston event.

23rd Annual Liars' Contest
http://www.houstonstorytellers.org/liars%27%20flyer%202011.pdf

They will tickle your fancy and curl your toes on April 9, 2011, Sat 7pm at Houston Baptist University, Mabee Theater. Checkout this Houston Story Tellers Guild annual event.


More Festivities near Houston

Austin Reggae Festivals
http://www.austinreggaefest.com/


Texas Sand Festival
http://www.texassandfest.com/eventinfo.htm
Port Aransas

Upcoming Fairs and Festivals in Houston

May 2011

Palestinian Film Festival
http://www.hpff.org/news/save-the-date-2011/

June 2011

National Black Book Festival
http://www.nationalblackbookfestival.com/eventtickets.htm

When you attend Houston Tx. festivals you can expect to leave there with more than a few prizes and souvenirs of the event. It’s an easy way to learn more details about a particular subject, interesting culture or a historical event. Numerous festivals are held in Houston each year, most of them are during the warmer months. Fall and wintertime festivals are rising in popularity.

Your agenda for family-friendly fun will be a hit with everyone in your crew if you include a stop at one or more of these wonderful Houston festivals this weekend.

More about fairs and festivals in Houston
Houston International Jazz festival
H-town Blues Festivals
Cinco De Mayo 2011
Earth Day

Link To this post!

Houston Festivals

It’s time for the 20th Annual Houston International Jazz festival, the ideal place to get a taste of the superb flavor of local and internationally recognized Jazz artist. The musically rich festival will dazzle your musical taste buds with fusion, swing and other samplings dished out during the weekend event.

Festival Performers

The Saturday Houston festival has a music lineup that brings together international jazz aficionados including Rachelle Ferrell and Hiroshima. The Latin Jazz greats Tito Puente, Jr. and M.F. Production’s Latin Jazz All-Stars take the stage Sunday, August 8.
These contemporary musicians will entertain music lovers of every genre at the Houston festival with their high-energy performances and a feast of phenomenal sounds.  


Hiroshima
It’s been a quarter of a century since Hiroshima started seasoning their music with funky pop, urban and jazz sensibilities. This unique East meets West approach is still a big hit in the jazz scene.

Rachelle Ferrell
Ferrell has worked with some of the top names in jazz, including Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, George Benson and George Duke. She is an artist who's equally at home with belting out pop, gospel, classical music and jazz tunes.

Tito Puenete Jr

Tito Puente, Jr. has stepped-out more to become more than just a casino headliner. His distinctive vibrant Latin sound can be heard at performing arts centers and at the Jazz festivals from Brooklyn to Houston.


Texas Brass Band

This group of musical artist are all about kickin’ brass. The group has cooked up a symbiotic chemistry with each other that have their fans calling them the most tight sounding horns west of the Pecos.


Parking And Additional Info

The exciting Jazz Festival takes place at Discovery Green’s Anheuser-Busch Stage and Fondren Performance Space. During this event in Houston no dogs, picnics or coolers will be allowed.

Your parking options for the Houston festival are garage and surface lots, with some metered street parking around the perimeter of the park. The best places to park are the lots on La branch.

Festivals In Houston During August

This is the last weekend for the Houston Shakespeare Festival at Millers Outdoor Theater. This year’s performances are: A Midsummer Night's Dream July 30, August 1, 3, 5 & 7,

Much Ado About Nothing July 31, August 4, 6 & 8, 8:30 pm.

		Houston Networking To energize your career and attract more business view the top business and professional networking events in Houston.			Houston Attractions Get discounts tickets for your family or group on the exhibits and events at many of the fun places to visit in Houston.
		Midtown Houston Apts Find deals on move in specials, rebates and pricing on renting apts and lofts in Midtown and other great places in Houston.			Festivals In Houston Here is a list of the many family friendly, exciting nieghborhood and city-wide festivals that you should know about.
		Museums in Houston Located near Midtown Houston in the Museum District, there is plenty of things to see and do at any of the great museums in town.			Houston African American There are lots of events in Houston where you can experience its rich African American cultural heritage here's a look at a few of them.

Link To this post!

Things To Do In Houston This Weekend: National Black Book Festival

One of the largest Black events in Houston and the Southwest, starts this weekend May 21-23. The National Black Book Festival (NBBF 2010) will showcase some of America's most talented and distinguished Black authors.

If you want to meet and greet the who's who of black literature? This is the place to be. It's the one Houston event every aspiring writer should go to, at least once. The event draws lots of publishers, writers, and everyday people from around the globe to the Space City.

Things To Do At The National Black Book Festival

If you've been hunting for African American events in Houston with exciting things to do, then you definitely don't want to miss this event. It's an excellent opportunity for you to get some face time with some of the premier Black writers and publishers.

Authors and publishers are grouped according genre, with 17 genres being represented at the festival.

Here's a quick glance of some of the things happening at the Houston festival.

Book signing and discussion sessions with featured authors
Workshops
Seminars
Spoken word poetry slam
Book club give-aways


Some of the Black Book Festival events are already sold out.

It's too late to get tickets if you wanted to get in on the "For Ladies Only Slumber Party" hosted by Black authors Beverly Jenkins and Brenda Jackson.

You can still be a part of the action at these affairs this weekend:

Welcome to Houston Reception,
"Get Acquainted" Breakfast,
Prayer Breakfast
Poetry Slam

You better get tickets online to the events now!

Poetry Slam At NBBF 2010

There will be a heads up poetry slam competition at this year's NBBF. One of H-town's own poet and motivational speakers, the dynamic Takasha Francis, will MC the slam so you can bet your bottom dollar it'll be a def slam.

Yes, she's the same Ms. Francis (thevoicecommunications.com) who's a member of the Houston Black Lawyers Association (Executive Board Member, 2004-2006), and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

The slam is a competition where spoken word poets will let it flow, for a cash prize. There will be 2 to 3 preliminary bouts. You can get tickets online to the finale scheduled for the last day of the Houston Book festival, May 23rd.

What's Happening At The National Black Book Festival

Top book industry experts will hold an all-day event, to share with Houston festival goers, some of their "how-to" tips and strategies. It's your ideal chance to learn from the pros, how to make your literary breakthrough.

Some of the book industry experts appearing at the conference include:

Book Agents
Book Publishers
Book Promoters


These are just a handful of the enriching, entertaining and exciting thing to do during the NBBF-2010, an annual Black event in Houston.

Cushcity.com, the world's largest African-American retailer online, and host of the NBBF-2010, have made it possible for the general public to participate in this fabulous Houston festival. They have set a reasonable fee of $5.00 per day for adults and teens and are admitting kids under 12 years old free with a parent. Here's where you can get tickets online to the NBBF-2010 events.

Books

Art/Theater

Attractions

Parks

Link To this post!

Events in Dowtown Houston This Weekend-International Festival Schedule

This is the final weekend for the Houston International Festival. The shows line up include the renowned South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela, April 25.

The festival schedules has lots of activities for the kids great entertainment for everyone in your group. The outdoor bash will also feature Chicano roots-rockers Los Lobos, hosting the festival’s “Celtic/Conjunto” finale, April 26.

Plenty of international acts are in Houston for this cultural celebration. The annual festivities. include Nigeria’s Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Puerto Rico’s Plena Libre, Jamaica’s Root.

Houston, Texas-Free Events

The Menil Campus will host a free event featuring an afternoon of arts and entertainment.

This all-day open house offers a menagrie of performances, exhibits, screenings, readings and classes. The Menil Collection, Houston Center for Photography, The Rothko Chapel and The Aurora Picture show or just a few of the non-profits participating in this weekend social event.

It's your chance to join Aurora for a videoke and a screening of short films. Everyone is encourage (BYOP) bring you own picnic. Lawn chairs, blankets or whatever seating makes you comfortable are welcome too.

Books

Art/Theater

Attractions

Parks/Gardens

Link To this post!