Where to drink right now

Raise a glass to this month-long drink fest that benefits the Astrodome

There are fewer things in Houston as beloved as the Astrodome. And while Houstonians may disagree on what should become of the 8th Wonder of the World, there's no doubt about the iconic structure's place in history.

That's why the Astrodome Conservancy has made it its mission to save the Dome and ensure its bright future as one of Houston’s indelible landmarks.

Dome enthusiasts can help the cause. October launched the conservancy's month-long fundraiser, Drink Out the Dome. Houstonians can purchase an Astrodome-themed libation from one of 12 bars across the city, with $1 going to the Astrodome Conservancy and its efforts.

Here's a list of participating bars and their drinks:

8th Wonder Brewery
Cosmic Dome, made with with vodka, Blue Curaçao, coconut syrup, and lemonade.
Space Spritz mocktail, a blend of Ocho Verde THC, cranberry, and sparking water.

Ale & Ivy
The Biggio Buck, made with Tito’s Vodka, blood orange, orange juice, ginger beer, and blueberries.

Drift
Luv Ya Blue! made with Deep Eddy lemon vodka, coconut, and Red Bull.

Home Run Dugout
Yordan Mojito, a combination of Cruzan Rum, scratch-made blackberry syrup, lime, mint.

Kanpai Club
The Astrodomo, made wih Shōchū, Falernum, miso orgeat, passion fruit, and lemon.

Patterson Park
Wonder Dome, a blend of Empress cucumber gin, lemon juice, rosemary infused simple syrup, cucumber, and Angostura bitters.

The Railyard
#34 Old Fashioned crafted with Skrewball peanut butter whiskey, The Railyard Bar single barrel Buffalo Trace, caramel simple syrup, and chocolate bitters, and garnished with a toy.

Senate Avenue Brewing Company 16
Golden Dome, an English-style golden ale.

The Pit Room
Faux’m Party with blanco tequila, triple sec, lemon juice, lime juice, light agave, Dome Faux’m cream ale and TPR smoked salt.

Walking Stick Brewing Co.
Golden Dome, an English-style golden ale.

Wicklow Heights
AstroTurf cocktail made with Blue Chair Bay Rum, lime juice, Ancho Reyes Chile Poblano Liqueur, mint leaves, and melon liqueur.

Woodland Social
Clutch City Marg crafted from Milagro Silver Tequila, mango, lime, and hibiscus.

The Cosmic Dome cocktail 8th Wonder's Cosmic Dome cocktail is made from vodka, Blue Curaçao, coconut syrup, and lemonade. Alex Montoya

Alex Montoya

The AstroTurf cocktail is made with Blue Chair Bay Rum, lime juice, Ancho Reyes Chile Poblano Liqueur, mint leaves, and melon liquor, and is available at Wicklow Heights

To kick off the fundraiser, 8th Wonder Brewery hosted a community event on September 21. Festivities included a market organized by KDA Markets featuring vendors with Astros and other Houston-themed apparel and merchandise, as well as additional vendors with confectionery and food items, home goods, and other fun finds. Additionally, attendees had the first opportunity to purchase 8th Wonder’s Drink Out for the Dome beverages, the Cosmic Dome cocktail and the Space Spritz mocktail.

Astrodome Conservancy Executive Director Beth Jackson and several Conservancy board members were in attendance, as was event sponsor Propel Air Fans founder Joseph Kho, who brought out the company’s new Model 2 standing fan to keep attendees cool outside.

Come back to Tailgate
Fans of local sports, food, and cocktails can plan to return to 8th Wonder on Monday, November 11 for The Tailgate, CultureMap's all-out party devoted to everyone’s favorite way to get in the gameday spirit.

The event, presented by Verizon, goes down from 6-9 pm, and tickets are already on sale.

Attendees can look forward to sports-inspired bites from some of their favorite Houston restaurants, premium cocktails, memorabilia from Texas legends, and plenty more game-day fun.

Popular Houston restaurants and chefs will create tailgate-inspired dishes for attendees to sample and vote for their favorite. The event will also shine a spotlight on local sports organizations, including the Astros, who will show off their Shooting Stars dancers as well as the 2017 and 2022 World Series Trophies.

A limited number of Early Bird tickets are on sale now at discounted rates of $35 for general admission (regularly $50) and $60 for VIP (regularly $75).

For more information about the event, check out this story.

astrodome conservancy astros cocktails fundraisers

safe suburbs

Houston neighbor shines on new 2025 list of safest American cities

Photo courtesy of Visit Pearland

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New Year's resolutions can come in many forms, and if relocating to a safe Houston-area suburb is high on the list for 2025, Pearland is the place to be.

Pearland was declared the No. 13 safest city in America for 2025 in a new study by personal finance advisors MoneyGeek. The website's experts examined the most recent FBI crime statistics (from 2023) to determine the cost of crime in 292 U.S. cities with populations over 100,000 residents.

The estimated cost of crime in this Houston suburb – which the study calculated as the "societal cost of crime per resident" – was $471 in 2023.

Pearland's crime cost per capita is far lower the national crime cost, which was $2,178 per resident.

The report also analyzed the city's violent crime and property crime rates, and Pearland had the 11th lowest rate of violent crime in 2023 with only 106 crimes committed for every 100,000 residents.

The city didn't fare as well with its property crime rate; there were 1,669 property crimes committed in 2023 per 100,000 residents, which was the 68th lowest rate out of all 292 U.S. cities.

However, that's still a better rate than most places in the country. Pearland residents can be smug that they don't live in Oakland, California, which had the highest property crime rate in the nation with 10,117 crimes committed per 100,000 residents.

Finally, MoneyGeek determined each city's total cost of crime, which the study defines as the "economic losses attributed to crime and its cost to society (individuals, community and nationally) in millions."

In this metric, Pearland had the seventh-lowest total crime cost, which was less than $60 million in 2023.

While some of these statistics may seem scary, Tulane University associate professor of political science Geoffrey T. Dancy warns it is unwise to make assumptions about a city based solely on its crime rates.

"We live in an unequal society," said Dancy in the report. "One often overlooked indicator of that inequality is who gets to engage in the politics of safety. Those who are objectively safe often fear crime and act on it in the counterproductive policies they support. Those who are actually victimized by crime and terrorized by gun violence pay the price and are rarely heard."

Elsewhere in Texas, the Dallas suburb of Frisco nearly topped the list as the No. 2 safest city in America with a $287 crime cost per capita. Other safe Texas cities in the report include Plano (No. 18), Sugar Land (No. 20), McKinney (No. 22), Round Rock (No. 26), Grand Prairie (No. 42), and League City (No. 48).

The top 10 safest American cities for 2025 are:

No. 1 – Ramapo Town, New York
No. 2 – Frisco, Texas
No. 3 – Irvine, California
No. 4 – Fishers, Indiana
No. 5 – Lakewood Township, New Jersey
No. 6 – Cary, North Carolina
No. 7 – Pembroke Pines, Florida
No. 8 – Elk Grove, California
No. 9 – Surprise, Arizona
No. 10 – Sterling Heights, Michigan

For the purpose of the study, violent crime rates were determined based on the number of murders and non-negligent manslaughters, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults per 100,000 residents; and property crimes were defined as the rates of burglary, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft offenses per 100,000 residents.

houston suburbs rankings pearland

Where to drink right now

Raise a glass to this month-long drink fest that benefits the Astrodome

safe suburbs

Houston neighbor shines on new 2025 list of safest American cities

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