Editor's note: As we look back at the most-read society stories from 2024, we see Houston philanthropists filling the tables and dance floors at lavish luncheons and glittering galas. Readers also savored a peek inside a glam Houston Rodeo VIP tent, mourned the loss of a Houston-born movie star, and more.
Here are the 10 most popular society stories of the year:
1. Houston moms sparkle with international flair at fashionable luncheon. One doesn’t have to meander far from home in Houston to have a worldly experience. On Saturday, May 11, 2024 — a day before Mother’s Day — a stopover for the 11th Annual International Mother’s Day Luncheon presented by LCAHouston sure beats the layover often necessary to gallivant across the globe. Leave the luggage at home for this one, kids.
2. Peek inside Rodeo Cook-off's most over-the-top tent: champagne, caviar, and Big stars. In the Texas-sized universe that is the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, few things are more exclusive than the private tents of the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, which turned 50 this year. And arguably, the hottest, most in-demand wristband for the Bar-B-Que Contest (we know it as the Cook-off) is the Cotton ‘Q Club, hosted by Cook-off sponsor Cotton Holdings. We peeked inside.
3. Intrepid actor Shelley Duvall, who grew up in Houston, dies at 75. Shelley Duvall, the intrepid, Texas-born movie star whose wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, died on July 11, 2024. She was 75.
4. 3 Houston A-list chefs headline fundraising dinner honoring Julia Child. Three of Houston’s best chefs teamed up to pay tribute to a culinary icon. Chris Williams (Lucille’s), Aaron Bludorn (Bludorn, Navy Blue), and James Beard Award winner Chris Shepherd collaborated on a meal that honored the legacy of Julia Child, February 8 at the historic Eldorado Ballroom.
5. Music legends turn tunes into $1.25 million raised for Texas Children’s. Let's pack 16 Grammy awards from among 47 nominations, American Idol fame, a bunch of Billboard chart-topping hits, and a touch of Broadway spirit into a big party ballroom. One could say that "An Evening With Legends" truly “had it all,” which also happens to be the title of Katharine McPhee’s 2010 single that reached No. 2 on the adult contemporary charts.
Katie Dillon, David Foster, Katherine McPhee, and Lisa McCoy.
Photo by Jenny Antill; Courtesy of Texas Children’s Hospital
6. Sold-out crowd toasts Houston's culinary stars at 2024 Tastemaker Awards. A sold-out crowd filled Silver Street Studios on March 27 for the 2024 CultureMap Tastemaker Awards. Held annually since 2014, the ceremony recognizes the best of the best in Houston dining. It draws a who’s-who of chefs, bartenders, restaurateurs, and other notables who gather to celebrate Houston’s dynamic culinary scene.
7. Young professionals celebrate Houston Symphony’s grand finale. Ravel’s full Daphnis et Chloé with chorus and music director Juraj Valčuha on the podium. Former Houston Symphony dirigent Christoph Eschenbach leading the massive Symphony No. 8 by Bruckner with more horns and Wagner tubas than one can count. As the 2023-24 Houston Symphony season came to a sweet and satisfying cadence, it was the Young Associates Council group that marked such a celebratory coda with a gathering at Asia Society Texas Center on Wednesday, May 22.
8. Alex and Reagan Bregman get Wild at star-studded launch party for bomb new food line. Only Alex Bregman, his tireless crew, and his endless business and charity interests could make Major League Baseball’s quiet offseason seem so 24/7. The latest: Wild Sol, the spicy and saucy new Southwest food brand that Alex and his wife Reagan have created — and just toasted with a totally fire launch party at EaDo hotspot Chapman & Kirby.
9. Pulitzer winner Anthony Doerr headlines Houston's sold-out Poets & Writers Ball. All the literary light shined bright at the 2024 Inprint Poets & Writers Ball featuring Pulitzer Prize winning author of All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr. The record-breaking evening at the River Oaks Country Club celebrated both the power of literature and Houston’s foremost literary organization and raised over half a million dollars for Inprint’s many literary performance and educational programs, as well as support for Houston-based emerging writers.
10. Magical moonlight soirée celebrates 100 years of MFAH’s artful women. Something for the kiddos, a luncheon for sartorialists, and a pastoral evening soirée. Such was the bustling weekend at the former home of the First Lady of Texas, Ima Hogg, concluding on April 14 with the 2024 Bayou Bend Garden Party, themed “Moonlight Sonata.”
Katie Dillon, David Foster, Katherine McPhee, and Lisa McCoy.
Photo by Jenny Antill; Courtesy of Texas Children’s Hospital