Saturday at Market Square Park

Grab some good "green" fun at Sustainable Living Fest at Market Square Park

Check out the bands at the Sustainable Living Fest, this year held in MarketSquare Park.
Sustainable Living Fest/Facebook
Featured designer at the eco-fashion show, Sherry Eichberger of One Green Street
Sherry Eichberger/Facebook
The Honky Tonk Blood Brothers band plays 5-6 p.m.
The Honky Tonk Blood Brothers/Facebook
Hannah Jones is a star model in the fest's eco-fashion show.
Photo by Shawn Welling
Find plenty of locally grown fresh produce for sale.
Sustainable Living Fest/Facebook
Come one, come all!
Sustainable Living Fest/Facebook

Celebrate a “green” family day Saturday at the free Sustainable Living Fest as the organization plants its roots in a beautiful and most-fitting venue, Market Square Park. You’ll discover farmer market-fresh produce for sale, great eats from popular food trucks, homegrown musical talents, interactive demonstrations and, special this year, an eco-fashion show featuring creations by Sherry Eichberger, designer and founder of One Green Street, an organic lifestyle destination.

Also on the runway see clothing and accessories from Heights Beatniks, Fashion Plate Lifestyle, Hello-Lucky, P.S. You’re Lovely and Jocas Handbags. Houston's own "Hippie" Hannah Jones of America's Next Top Model fame is one of the models in the show.

"The Sustainable Living Fest is about celebrating this movement and this city."

A family-friendly bike ride led by The Green Bicycle Initiative of Houston hits the road from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., with the fest opening to the public at noon. The Wheel Workers take center stage at 1 p.m. offering its diverse sound and instrumentation involving violins, keyboards, trumpets, clarinet, theremin and banjo, along with more traditional rock instruments.

During the 2 p.m. Local Love Awards honoring the brightest luminaries of Houston’s green scene, Laura Spanjian, city of Houston sustainability director, will discuss the new Houston B-cycle initiative. The project is a bike-sharing program with stations currently at George R. Brown Convention Center, Market Square Park and City Hall.

The tunes continue at 3 p.m. with live music by Runaway Sun, a Texas rock quartet dripping with whiskey and blues. The band’s debut LP, The Bridge, was recorded at Houston’s legendary SugarHill Recording Studios.

The eco-fashion show begins at 4 p.m., followed by Houston’s own rock royalty, the Honky Tonk Blood Brothers, converging on Stageville at 5 p.m. for an hour-long concert to close out the festival.

Throughout the day, 50-plus exhibitors are scheduled to greet participants at their “cities” and “towns,” such as Balance Town with representatives from Camp Gladiator and Green Planter Sanctuary and Casa Town with Becker’s Books and New Living. Heart of Texas Green Expo is an example of just one group at Community Hub, and Urban Harvest Farmers Market is a member – with many others - of the Earth Town team.

Children of all ages will find plenty of fun at Kidtopia workshops, from making recycled art led by members of The Center for Recycled Art to turning bottle caps into decorative creations to learning earth plaster, adobe and mosaic techniques.

The Friends for Life mobile adoption vehicle will be on site for cat and dog meet-and-greet opportunities for fest-goers and information on fostering, adopting and volunteering. And don’t forget to bring along your disposable containers to drop off at the plastic and aluminum redemption center in exchange for five cents for every item contributed (limit 20 per person).

“Before there were superstores, there was the general store,” a note on the Sustainable Living Fest website explains. “Before organic was a decision one made, it was a way of life. More and more, Houstonians are making decisions that are about returning to these values while remaining firmly cemented in the now. The Sustainable Living Fest is about celebrating this movement and this city."

For more information, visit the Sustainable Living Fest website.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”