It’s hard to believe that the Via Colori Street Art Festival has existed in its form for only 10 years. I’ve always looked at it as one of Houston’s most iconic events celebrating creativity. I’d honestly rank it right there with our many Art Crawls and our nation famous Art Car parade. Despite it’s comparatively short term of existence, it’s looked on fondly by Houstonians. And it’s for a good cause. Proceeds from the nifty merch swag benefit the Center for Hearing and Speech, so it’s a good thing that attendance rates only seem to get bigger everytime I visit. And during its big 1-0 it did not fail to deliver a More than pleasant afternoon.
Category: Cultural Festival
H-Town Sneaker Summit 2015: A Snippet
Few things resonate with America today the way that Hip-Hop does. More than just music, it’s a cultural force unrivaled by any other entities. We’ve all seen the corny TV shows and movies where the parents try to be cool by emulating Hip-Hop as they see it in the media. Of course, it’s usually for a laugh, but even exaggerated as it is, it’s made clear that the direction it hails from is what’s “in”. Spanning genders, ages and cultural backgrounds, hip hop easily sways our language and lifestyles. If you had to narrow it down, it wouldn’t be in the bass heavy beats or the shiny cars, but in the fashion. Spin it however you like, Hip-Hop is fashionable, and laying the foundation are the kicks. Right at the foot level is an aspect of hip-hop fashion that may very well dictate the rest of it.
I paid a visit to the H-Town Sneaker Summit to take a look into the mecca of sneakerheads. What I found was a wonderful Bazaar of that extends beyond the vendor and down even to the attendees. Everyone’s a curator and everyone’s a buyer.
Carnival comes to Houston – A Snippet
Prior to this weekend I didn’t know much about the Carnival celebration. I figured it was vaguely Latin American. It was also apparent that it took the color saturation slider on parades past 11 and into no mans land, and I knew it involved a lot of plucked feathers and glitter. This passed Saturday I happened to plan on cycling into downtown Houston and figured while I was there I’d catch our city’s very own little Carnival parade. What I found was much more than rhinestoned bikinis on pretty girls dancing, but a walking celebration of culture. Carnival turned out to be a vibrant display of the love and pride people had for their homelands.
2015 Houston Japan Festival
Confession time! I’ve never been to the Houston Japan Festival before! To some that might not be a big deal, but I moved to the United States in 1995 and this year marks Japan Fest’s 22nd anniversary. This means that the Houston Japan Festival has literally been in town longer than I have. Yeah, much slacking on my part.