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RodeoHouston 2025 season tickets go on sale next week

Heads up, rodeo fans. The first round of tickets for the 2025 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo are set to go on sale next week.

Heads up, rodeo fans. The first round of tickets for the 2025 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo are set to go on sale next week.

RodeoHouston announced Thursday that season tickets for the 2025 event will be available starting Aug. 1 at 10 a.m. The ticket packages, which start at $500 plus service fees, will include access to rodeo grounds, all rodeo events and all 20...
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Texas Renaissance Fest is even darker than 'Ren Faire' shows

The podcast comes from the Peabody-winning journalist and producer Sean Cannon, previously of Louisville (KY) Public Media, and investigative reporter Heather Schroering, whose work includes the first podcast on Tiger King Joe Exotic, as well as WeCrashed, the story behind WeWork. Their reporting draws on previous work done by journalist David Kushner and the Houston Press, as well as numerous police reports and other legal documents highlighting lax security at the festival, a toxic work enviro
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Texas’ most diverse county finally gets its first Pride festival

While Houston is in the middle of back-to-back competing Pride parades, queer residents and allies in Fort Bend County will soon be able to celebrate their own Pride festival without having to make the 45-minute drive into Downtown.

Hunny Phillips, who founded Fort Bend County Pride as a 501(c)(3) last year, said she was getting tired of having to drive to central Houston for access to queer community celebrations, whether that be Pride events or even just a night out in the Montrose.

"I'm a H
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Houston rodeo's economic impact second only to Super Bowl

The economic impact of 2024's Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo season rivaled that of SuperBowl LI, which Houston hosted in 2017, according to a Houston Business Journal report.

This year's rodeo was the highest attended since 2017, after years of scaled-back festivities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The total economic impact for the three-week event was $326.41 million, an increase of nearly 44 percent over 2019, the last time RodeoHouston measured its economic impact.

HBJ also reported that
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Houston Pride parade to get extra security this year after alerts

"We want to reassure our community that your safety is our utmost priority," Pride Houston 365 said in a statement released earlier this week. "Pride has always been an event to celebrate despite hate and fear. We are taking every measure possible to ensure that our festival and parade remains a safe space for everyone to come together in celebration and solidarity."

The move comes after a series of warnings issued by the FBI, the U.S. State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security w
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Museum of Fine Arts, Houston unveils renovated Korea Gallery

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's Korea Gallery, the first gallery dedicated to Korean art in the southern United States, will reopen on May 16 after a renovation and newly configured installation.

The gallery, part of the museum's Arts of Asia collection, includes several new acquisitions and loans that have been added to the museum since the gallery first debuted in 2007. The works span several centuries, with a heavy focus on the 500-year-long Joseon Dynasty, a transformative period in Kore
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Take a little trip: Museum showcases Texas' lowrider culture

Austin's Bullock Texas State History Museum is opening a new exhibit on lowrider culture that will highlight the Mexican American origins of the vehicular art form.

The show, called Carros y Cultura, will include not just classic lowrider cars, but also custom lowrider bicycles from Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Laredo, Pecos and other Texas locales.

Lowrider car culture began in Los Angeles in the post-war era when Mexican Americans began customizing cars as a way to express individua
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Slow, low and bangin': Houston car culture, explained

Texas culture can get boiled down to barbecue and country music, but some things are unique to a city like Houston. One of them? Swangas, which confused some drivers in Austin recently.

This week, a user posted to the Austin subreddit a photo of an otherwise staid-looking Kia sedan sporting major rims. The post now has more than 900 comments, asking everything from, "What is the point of these?" to, "How is this legal?" A good number of the comments reference classic Houston rap, including Lil'
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Not everyone is celebrating Houston's dueling Pride parades

During a council meeting last week, District H Councilmember Mario Castillo, who is gay, voiced concerns about the city having two Pride parades, calling it a “leadership gap in the community.” Mayor John Whitmire agreed, saying that he wants to bring the two Pride organizations together for a joint celebration.

New Faces of Pride consists of former members of Pride Houston 365, who split with the original group over allegations of financial mismanagement and other issues. Meanwhile, Pride Hous
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Houston rodeo announces dates for 2025

Mark your calendars, rodeo fans. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo will be returning for 2025, and has just announced the dates for the nearly century-old event. The 93rd Houston rodeo will take place Tuesday, March 4 through Sunday, March 23.

That means the opening date of the rodeo will coincide with Mardi Gras 2025—the perfect opportunity for the festival to book a zydeco band for the event's ever-popular concert series. The Rodeo Run and Parade will take place on Saturday, March 1, with
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Houston Pokémon fans battling local toy store 'scalping' rare cards

MadRat Toys owner David Doehring confirmed to the site that he purchased "about 100" of the Pokémon bundles. He told the publication that the shop had to turn to Costco because the packs were sold out elsewhere and unavailable from distributors that sell directly to hobby and toy stores. LoneStarLive confirmed that, unlike distributors, Costco did not have purchasing limits on the packs. Each box includes about 50 cards, and the set of two boxes retailed for about $37 at Costco. The sets are now
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Houston rodeo broke lots of records this year, including attendance

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo had its best year since before the COVID-19 pandemic, breaking attendance records, selling out concerts, and even tying a record for the most expensive steer sold during the cattle auction.

It's the best year for the annual festival since 2017, according to rodeo officials, showing that the nearly century-old event is back on track after two years of cancellations due to the pandemic.

The official attendance for the 2024 rodeo was 2,553,185 people across 23
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Legendary Houston rodeo clown is retiring after this weekend

On the first day of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, volunteers waited by the entrance gates, ready to hand out that day's giveaway: a bobblehead statue of celebrated rodeo clown Leon Coffee.

Now, as the rodeo wraps up its third and final weekend, Coffee has announced that he'll be hanging up his suspenders. After half a century, he's retiring as a rodeo clown. He'll instead return next year to the rodeo's fan zone, as well as entertaining rodeo goers in the stands.

"I wouldn't take a mil
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Pornhub blocked Texas users. Now, they're looking for VPNs.

Less than 24 hours after adult video site Pornhub blocked users in Texas from accessing its content, Google searches for VPNs have soared in the state.

VPNs, or virtual private networks, are software that spoof an internet user's physical location. They are often used to access streaming content only available in other countries, blacked-out sports games, and other geographically limited internet content.

New data on Google search trends, compiled by tech site SlashGear, show searches for VPNs
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Pornhub blocked in Texas, thanks to Ken Paxton

"As you may know, your elected officials in Texas are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our website," the statement reads in part. "Not only does this impinge on the rights of adults to access protected speech, it fails strict scrutiny by employing the least effective and yet also most restrictive means of accomplishing Texas’ stated purpose of allegedly protecting minors."

That law, previously known as House Bill 1811, was passed in the 2023 legislative session and
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Oddities Expo returns to Houston with more creepy curiosities

Lovers of the weird, macabre, creepy crawlies and more need not wait until Halloween to get their morbid fix. The Oddities and Curiosities Expo is headed back to Houston, this time with an expanded schedule featuring more than 150 vendors plus taxidermy workshops, tarot readings, sideshow performers and more.

The Expo last visited Houston in 2023 for a single day. This year, the event will take place March 16 and 17 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Attendees can expect preserved animal
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What to do (and what to skip) at the Houston rodeo this year

Rodeo season is in full swing, and with three weeks worth of concerts, competitions and other events, it's easy to get overwhelmed with everything that the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo offers.

The last time Chron wrote a Rodeo dos and don'ts guide was in 2020. That year's festivities were unfortunately cut short just a week in due to the growing COVID-19 pandemic. Plenty has changed at the rodeo in the past four years, so here's some advice on what to hit and what to miss, whether this is y
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Black queer Houstonians getting a needed community space

A permanent community space for Black queer Houstonians is set to open next month in the Third Ward thanks to the Normal Anomaly Initiative, a nonprofit working to uplift queer Black folks through business mentorships, medical assistance, community services and more. The space, called the BQ+ Center for Liberation, will open in a former home at 2310 Arbor St. on March 15, kicking off Normal Anomaly's three-year anniversary and the organization's Black Queer Advancement music festival, which will
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Houston to host city-wide art crawl celebrating Black History Month

Houston's creative community will host a city-wide art crawl during President's Day weekend to honor Black History Month and showcase several exhibits focused on African American culture and art.

Black Art Houston, which takes place Feb. 17–19, is a collaboration between the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and several other institutions, including the Holocaust Museum Houston, Sanman Studios, the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston, The Reading Room HTX, Project Row Houses and more. The weekend wil
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Where to celebrate Lunar New Year in Houston

Feb. 10 marks the turnover of the lunar calendar when the Year of the Rabbit gives way to the Year of the Dragon. The celebration begins with the new moon and continues for 15 days, ending with what's known as the Lantern Festival, which falls on Feb. 24 this year.

In the Chinese zodiac, dragons represent charisma, confidence, and talent; but it's actually considered bad luck when one's Chinese zodiac birth year, or ben ming nian, rolls back around. For dragons born in previous years (2012, 200
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Biggest PlantCon yet promised for Houston plant lovers

PlantCon, the festival for budding green thumbs and houseplant experts alike, has announced that it will return to Houston for a second year. The convention will take place April 13-14 at NRG Center.

PlantCon's roots began with an early pandemic-era Facebook group in which Houston-area houseplant enthusiasts and new plant parents would trade tips and care information. As the Facebook group swelled to more than 8,000 people, organizers decided to host a meetup, which took place in the IKEA parki
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'Trains Over Texas' exhibit celebrates Houston's graffiti artists

The Houston Museum of Natural Science's annual holiday display, Trains Over Texas, now includes model train cars graffiti'd by local street artists and muralists. The project is the brainchild of museum employee Manny Arciniega, whose role includes building and maintaining exhibits at HMNS. Arciniega said he's been toying with the idea of adding painted-up cars to the train exhibit for a few years. When he randomly approached HMNS director Joel A. Bartsch with the idea earlier this year, Bartsch
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Eight events Houston can look forward to in the new year

Whether you had a great 2023 or you can't wait to leave the year behind, there's plenty for the people of Houston to look forward to in 2024. For starters, it's a leap year—which many people consider to be good luck. There's also big events like the college football national champion at NRG in January, and our favorite annual events, from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to Astros' Opening Day. Below, we've rounded up eight more reasons to welcome in the new year, from celestial events to ce
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Why is all of Houston getting engaged at this park?

Like many people in the early days of the pandemic, Houstonian Jay Gonzales had a lot of free time on his hands. Though he previously ran a moving business, few people needed his services, so he started looking for something new to do. Scouring social media, he came up with an idea.

He saw lots of outdoor gatherings like gender reveals and birthdays, where people were celebrating with elaborate decorations and giant lit-up letters. That led to the creation of his current business, Superstar Mar
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