best winter lights

Houston's most spectacular winter light shows dazzle for the holidays

The cool temps, the pumpkin spice, the Christmas decorations — the holidays are here. That means it’s the perfect time to don a winter coat and stroll through some dazzling, sparkling holiday light displays around town.

From cosmic Christmas at Space Center Houston to a wild affair at the Houston Zoo to a wondrous spectacle at Houston Botanic Garden, these 12 events are sure to light up Yuletime.

Dasher's Lightshow
Formerly Rudolph's Lightshow (all the reindeer will get a turn helming this), this drive-thru light show includes light tunnels, snowmen and acres of land. These lights will also be merrily synced to your favorite holiday tunes. Runs through December 31. 6 pm.

Galaxy Lights at Space Center Houston
Space Center Houston’s holiday light extravaganza returns for its third year with exciting new wonders. Guests will experience two high-tech, kinetic light shows where dozens of suspended lights move in precise choreographed sequences to music above the Main Plaza. Runs through January 2. 6 pm.

The Galleria Christmas Tree
The 55-foot tree just had its ceremonial lighting, featuring 450,000 twinkling lights and 5,000 ornaments in a variety of colors and shapes. The installation took more than 24 hours of work by 45 men and women. And don't forget about the 1,000 branches that were hand-fluffed! 10 am.

Holiday in the Gardens at Moody Gardens
Moody Gardens is once again bringing out all the good stuff this holiday season. Look for the Festival of Lights, holiday 3-D films, an arctic slide, train rides, pictures with Santa, and nightly fireside s'mores. Runs through January 2. 4 pm.

Holiday Lights in Clay Family Eastern Glades
This spectacle will feature oversized ornaments, tinsel-wrapped light poles, and colorful tree lights. This year, the holiday light display will make its way around the Eastern Glades’ entire half-mile, Promenade natural surface pedestrian path, encircling nine acres of open space, native plantings, and habitat. Runs through January 3. 6 pm.

The Light Park
This park features a large, animated holiday light show along with the world’s largest 700-foot animated LED tunnels. The parks, with locations both in Spring and Katy, feature a unique light show synced and choreographed to holiday music on a dedicated music station, K-GLO, the North Pole’s No. 1 hit radio station. Runs through January 2. 5:30 pm.

Lightscape at Houston Botanic Garden
Get ready to enjoy magical light displays set along a beautifully illuminated path winding through the Garden this holiday season. The captivating illuminations — including installations unique to Texas created by local and international artists — will dazzle the senses. Runs through January 2. 5:45 pm.

Magical Winter Lights
Over at Baytown's Houston Raceway, this will feature such landmarks as the entrance castle, dinosaur exhibits, and Houston’s beloved displays. Family-friendly experiences include the Santa and Mrs. Claus meet and greet, Ice Sisters meet and greet, cultural performances, carnival rides, food and games, music, and dino rides. Runs through January 2. 5 pm.

Marriott Marquis Houston presents Texas Winter Lights
This interactive light experience will feature light displays, walk-through experiences, and selfie stations. There will be a nostalgic holiday-themed movie every Thursday, nightly snowfall, and a winter-themed dining menu filled with signature cocktails, dinner, and dessert. Runs through January 3. 5 pm.

Sugar Land Holiday Lights
Sugar Land promised to dazzle with more than three million lights, eight themed areas, holiday shopping, great food, holiday movie nights, a carnival, appearances from Santa and much more. Runs through January 9. 6 pm.

Winter Wanderland
This event kicks off on November 19 with a program at 6 pm at City Hall, facing Bagby. After the short program, where they will turn on the holiday lights (100,000 twinklng LED lights installed between Lamar & Franklin!), stroll down the newly renovated corridor and experience tons of activities along the way. Runs through January 2. 6:30 pm.

Zoo Lights at Houston Zoo
Head over to Houston Zoo as they celebrate 10 years as one of Houston’s best loved holiday traditions. Stroll through the beautiful zoo grounds as you take in the sights and sounds this holiday season. (The zoo animals will be enjoying a full night’s slumber.) Runs through January 9. 5:30 pm.

Lightscape at Houston Botanic Garden.

Photo courtesy of Houston Botanic Garden

Lightscape at Houston Botanic Garden.

holidays event-planner

welcome home, wes

Wes Anderson's Houston homecoming supports historic theater restoration

A fancy, eccentric-looking crowd showed up for the Wes Anderson Homecoming Soirée, held on Friday, July 17, at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts’s Zilkha Hall.

Fans of the Houston-born, Oscar-winning auteur paid hundreds of dollars to attend this benefit event. Guys dressed up like characters from The Royal Tenenbaums. Others wore red skull caps and low-top Adidas, like the characters from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Some people working the event even wore “Lobby Boy” hats, looking like the bellboy character from The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The people gathered for two reasons: 1) to get a chance to see Anderson in person; and 2) to raise money to renovate and restore the Garden Oaks Theater, a project spearheaded by local nonprofit Arthouse Houston. Top-tier “Founders Experience” ticketholders got a chance to meet Anderson onstage for pics. The St. John's School alum also received a proclamation from Mayor John Whitmire declaring it “Wes Anderson Day.”

After that, he and actor/fellow SJS alum Michael Maggart (who has appeared in several Anderson films) held a half-hour discussion where they reminisced about making Rushmore here in Houston, Anderson’s days working at the Bookstop on W. Alabama (now a Trader Joe’s), and how he and frequent collaborator Owen Wilson used to sneak into the River Oaks Theatre. (It involved pretending to lose a pair of glasses.)

Of course, the conversation shifted to Anderson coming back home to support the Garden Oaks project. “I always say you can't build an old building,” Anderson said. “First of all, I mean, a beautiful old place has history, and has people's experiences tied into it, and it has stories involved in it. And I think an old cinema — these things are kind of endangered all over the world, and it's not just an architectural thing. It's not even just a community thing. It's a sort of delivery system for something that’s, to me, deeply important to our country.

“It’s one thing we can access these things on all these devices,” he continued. “It's a different thing when you go to a place that's designed to help you share the experience of a movie together. It's such a powerful art form. And, anyway, for me, it's worth making a bit of an effort to try to save a place like the Garden Oaks.”

After the convo, he introduced the quintet of films he curated for the event. (Unfortunately the DCP file for his 2007 short Hotel Chevalier had some technical difficulties and was cut short.) “We wanted to do a screening here, and I don't have a new movie to show,” he said. “I don't have something hot off the presses. So, I thought I'd put together a little something that just was different from what anybody else will see. So it's a sort of mixture… This is just for Texas, this little collection.”

He eventually left the stage, leaving Arthouse Houston co-founder/director Maureen McNamara and Houston Public Media host Ernie Manouse to auction off perks & gifts and encourage the audience in helping revive another legendary, local movie palace. Among other items, attendees bid for treasures such as a special John Waters backstage VIP experience at his upcoming Christmas Show, dinner with John Cameron Mitchell, and a rare set of photo portraits of a young Anderson and friends, circa Bottle Rocket. Others paid $5,000 for select seats in the future theater and $5,000 to restore one foot of the venue's neon sign.

Photo by Alan Nguyen

Mayor John Whitmire declared Friday as Wes Anderson day in the director's honor.

So far, the effort has raised approximately $1.3 million of the $4 million required to begin the renovation project. The organization needs to raise $4 million by July 30 for the project to move forward. Those interested in securing naming rights will find more information here.

“River Oaks has 245 seats,” McNamara informed the crowd. “The Garden has over 700, and that is a place that we don't have in Houston. We have a need for that, for premieres, for performances in your life, for music, for a dynamic learning & exhibition space… So, we're building new on the shoulders of our history. I hope you guys will join us, and we need people to join us in a big way today.”

wes anderson garden oaks rushmore houston fundraisers