As the nation's fourth largest city, Houston offers a wide selection of recreational opportunities, ranging from professional football, basketball, and baseball to permanent companies in opera, ballet, theater, and symphony. Houston's retail offerings are world class, with several major shopping malls and urban entertainment centers. With mild annual temperatures, abundant lakes, rivers, and wildlife areas, and more than 400 parks, Houston is also very much an outdoor city.
A principal point of interest is the Johnson Space Center, which offers self-guided public tours every day except Christmas. A unit of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), the center features a museum, tours of the Mission Control Center, and viewing of samples returned from the Moon. Space Center Houston allows visitors to "experience" manned space flight, explore shuttle and skylab facilities, and operate the simulator.
The historically minded may be interested in the San Jacinto Battleground State Historical Park, the world's tallest masonry structure. It houses documents, art, and memorabilia, and is a permanent berth for the battleship USS Texas, a veteran of both world wars and the only surviving dreadnought of its class.
Hermann Park includes the Houston Zoological Gardens, Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and the first desegregated public golf course in the nation. Among other parks offering sightseeing opportunities are Memorial Park, featuring an arboretum, herb gardens, and a botanical hall; Sam Houston Park, with seven historical buildings located downtown; and Tranquility Park, in the Houston Civic Center. In the Harris County Park system attractions include Armand Bayou Park and Nature Center, with its wilderness preserve, nature trails, working turn-of-the-century farm, and scenic Armand Bayou boat tours; Mercer Arboretum, featuring gardens, a wilderness preserve, and nature trails; and Bay Area Park, featuring a marsh walkway. Moody Gardens on Galveston Island features a tropical setting with white sand beaches, penguins, and a discovery pyramid.
Houston ranks second only to New York City by number of theater seats in a concentrated downtown area. Moreover, it is one of only a handful of cities in the country to feature permanent dance, theater, symphony, and opera companies. The Wortham Theater Center, a $75 million complex housing the Houston Grand Opera and the Houston Ballet, is the centerpiece of Houston's vital cultural community. That community is supported by a one percent hotel tax dedicated to the city's arts, which have become nationally prominent. The city also features Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, home of the Houston Symphony and Society for the Performing Arts; the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, the home of Theatre Under the Stars and the SFX Broadway Series; and the Alley Theatre, one of the oldest resident professional theater companies in the nation.
Other famed theater groups include Stages Repertory, Main Street Theater, A.D. Players, De Camera of Houston, Theatre LaB Houston, Opera in the Heights, and the Ensemble Theatre, one of the nation's most respected African American theaters.
The Houston Symphony was formed in 1913 and performs more than 200 concerts each year in Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, plus summer concerts in Miller Theatre. Among other musical groups are the acclaimed Houston Grand Opera; the Houston Opera Studio, an international apprenticeship center; the Houston Youth Symphony; and the orchestras of four local universities. The Houston Ballet, a professional company, performs at home and abroad. Other dance companies include the Delia Stewart Dance Company, the Discovery Dance Group, Allegro Dance Group, Chrysalis Dance Company, City Ballet of Houston, Cookie Joe and the Jazz Company, and Several Dancers Core.
With 15 world-class museums, Houston is the fourth largest museum district in the nation. The Houston Museum of Natural Science, located near Hermann Park, features the Burke Baker Planetarium, the Wortham IMAX Theatre, and the Cockrell Butterfly Center, as well as exhibits in space science, geography, oceanography, medical science, and Texas wildlife. The Museum of Fine Arts-Houston is the sixth largest museum in the United States and houses more than 27,000 works from antiquities to the present. It also features the Bayou Bend Collection of American decorative arts, housed in the historic home of local philanthropist Ima Hogg and surrounded by 14 acres of gardens. Houston also boasts the world-famous Menil Collection, 15,000 pieces representing twentieth-century, medieval, and Byzantine art, antiquities, and tribal art. The Contemporary Arts Museum exhibits modern works and is free to the public.
Other facilities include Children's Museum of Houston, Holocaust Museum Houston, Art Car Museum, National Museum of Funeral History, Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, American Cowboy Museum, the Moody Mansion & Museum, Museum of Health & Medical Science, Museum of Printing History, and the Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum, repository for the only intact Byzantine frescoes in the Western Hemisphere. Among the area's galleries are Farish Gallery and Sewall Art Gallery, both on the Rice University campus, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Gallery, on the University of Houston campus.
Arts and Culture Information: Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau, 901 Bagby, Ste. 100, Houston, TX 77002; telephone (713)227-3100; toll-free: 800-4-HOUSTON
Houston celebrates with countless festivals throughout the year. A Grande Parade is held downtown each January in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. The late-winter Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo commands Reliant Stadium and draws a crowd in excess of 1.8 million over three weeks. Spring is welcomed by the Budweiser Original Zydeco Jamm Festival, an outdoor celebration featuring zydeco music and Cajun-Creole cuisine. April brings the Houston International Festival, a multicultural event spanning 20 city blocks and attracting more than one million visitors across 10 days of performances, art expositions, and open-air markets. The Texas Renaissance Festival is held for eight themed weekends in October and November, while later in November Houston gathers for Washington Mutual's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In December Moody Gardens presents a Festival of Lights, the Heritage Society holds a Christmas Candlelight Tour, and lighted boats are displayed in the Christmas Boat Parade on Clear Lake.
Ethnic celebrations are held throughout the year. They include the Greek Festival, Bayou City Cajun Festival, Japan Festival, Asian Pacific Heritage Festival, Cinco de Mayo Celebration, Scottish Highland Games & Celtic Festival, Fiestas Patrias, Houston Turkish Festival, Festa Italiana, and the Texas Championship Pow Wow. Texans' love of a variety of cuisines is apparent from Houston's numerous food celebrations, such as the Clear Lake Crawfish Festival, Houston Pod Chili Cook-Off, Bayou Boil, and the Pasadena Strawberry Festival, held 20 minutes southeast of Houston. Celebrations of arts are nearly as frequent. Spring brings the Dance Salad Festival, which presents dancers from the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa, followed by the Houston International Film Festival. ArtHouston, Houston International Jazz Festival, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Bluegrass Festival, and Caribbean Luau are held in succession between mid-summer and early autumn.
Some events celebrate the unusual, and others are held just for fun. The Houston Comedy Festival features 20 performances across 8 days in April. Galveston Island hosts the FeatherFest, a birding celebration coinciding with the annual spring migration of nearly 300 species. Each May corporate and community teams race 40-foot dragon boats in the Dragon Boat Festival. Ballunar Festival Liftoff, presented by the Johnson Space Center each August, features a weekend of hot-air ballooning, sky-diving exhibitions, and food and entertainment. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and the Navy's Blue Angels thrill spectators with aerial acrobatics each October in the Wings Over Houston Airshow.
After losing the Oilers to Tennessee in 1996, Houston regained a National Football League (NFL) franchise when the Houston Texans took the field in 2002. Their home is the 69,500-seat Reliant Stadium, featuring the world's first retractable roof in the NFL. Reliant also hosted Super Bowl XXXVII in February 2004, at which the New England Patriots beat the Carolina Panthers. The Houston Astros, a franchise of the National League of Major League Baseball, play home games at Minute Maid Park. This park was christened Enron Field upon its completion in 2000, then renamed Astros Field when Enron Corp. went bankrupt in 2002, and later that year took its current name in a $170 million, 28-year naming deal with Minute Maid Co., which has been headquartered in Houston since 1967. The Toyota Center opened in September 2003, and is home to the Houston Rockets, of the National Basketball Association; the Houston Comets of the Women's National Basketball Association; and the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League. Houston Energy, a franchise of the Women's Professional Football League, play their home games at Rice Stadium.
Collegiate teams participate in most major sports by Houston-area academic institutions. Football is particularly notable, with Rice University in the Western Athletic Conference, the University of Houston in Conference USA, Texas Southern University in the Southwest Athletic Conference, and Houston Baptist University in the Trans America Athletic Conference. Horse racing can be enjoyed at Sam Houston Race Park, while dogs race at Gulf Greyhound Park. More than 150 of the world's best golfers vie for a $5 million purse in the Shell Houston Open Golf Tournament each April.
Harris County and the City of Houston's 429 parks embrace 43,700 land acres and 12,200 water-covered acres. They offer such attractions for the recreation-minded as seven 18-hole golf courses (plus dozens of non-municipal public and private courses), 43 swimming pools, 236 tennis courts, 174 baseball/softball fields, 124 football/soccer/rugby fields, 164 basketball courts, 80 hiking and cycling trails, 55 community recreation centers, and Lake Houston. Cullen Park, one of the largest municipal parks in the nation, boasts a velodrome equipped for Olympic cycling events. A driving range is available at Memorial Park, fishing is enjoyed at Eisenhower Park, and a three-story man-made mountain graces Herman Brown Park. Harris County parks include Clear Lake Park, with boating and fishing; Alexander Deussen Park, with boating, fishing, and camping on Lake Houston; Bear Creek Park, with an aviary on Addicks Reservoir lands; Bay Area Park, with canoeing; and Tom Bass Regional Park, offering fishing. Houston lies within an hour of 70 miles of Gulf Coast beaches; deep-sea fishing on the Gulf is available through charter companies.
Annual events invite participants of all athletic levels. In March the Tour de Houston attracts competitors in a 20- or 40-mile bike race. For many, the Tour de Houston is a warm-up for the BP MS 150 Bike Tour. Held each April, it is the largest non-profit sporting event in Texas, drawing 12,000 riders and raising more than $47 million in the last two decades to combat multiple sclerosis. Also held in April is the Running of the Bulls, a 5K run attracting 2,500 participants. The Hoopla Streetball Tournament, a weekend of three-on-three basketball games as well as other family attractions, is also held in the spring. The Buffalo Bayou Regatta, Texas' largest canoe and kayak race, is held each October.
The 375 stores and restaurants of The Galleria, the fifth largest shopping center in the nation, are visited by more than 20 million shoppers each year. Katy Mills Mall houses 200 retail outlets in 1.3 million square feet of space. Uptown Park is a European-style shopping center featuring unique wares. The largest market on the Texas Gulf Coast is Traders Village, a collection of 800 dealers sprawled over 105 acres each weekend. Early 2005 brought the grand opening of Market Square Market, an outdoor marketplace held each Saturday in historic Market Square Park. Antiques and collectibles shoppers seek out Antique World II, Trader Village-Houston, and the Houston Flea Market, while those seeking Western gear head to Stelzig of Texas and The Hat Store.
With more than 6,100 restaurants and 600 bars and nightclubs in the Houston area to choose from, diners can enjoy a great variety of menus and cuisines. Gulf seafood, such as oysters, shrimp, lobster, and fish, is a regional specialty; other regional specialties include Texas beef, barbecue, Southwestern mesquite-grilled food, Tex-Mex and Mexican fare, and traditional Southern dishes like catfish and chicken-fried steak. Ethnic and international establishments in the Houston area offer the cuisine of 35 countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Morocco, and India.
Visitor Information: Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau, 901 Bagby, Ste. 100, Houston, TX 77002; telephone (713)227-3100; toll-free; 800-4-HOUSTON