WLN 2025

All the White Linen Night parties happening in the Heights and beyond

White Linen Night happens this Saturday, August 2.

Photo courtesy of White Linen Night in the Heights

It appears that the annual summer tradition known as White Linen Night has turned into an event that’s gone city-wide.

While the main action still goes on at the original celebration on 19th Street this Saturday, August 2, other parts of Houston – from River Oaks to The Woodlands to Sunset Heights (which will have an alternative, denim-covered celebration at several dive bars) – will also be welcoming fancy-dressed folk to their respective shindigs.

To show how much WLN has blown up, here’s a rundown of 25 spots in the Heights and elsewhere that’ll be getting their white on this weekend:

The 19th Street Merchants Association will once again have its annual White Linen Night on 19th Street. This year, the event will introduce new features, including the option to purchase VIP tickets, and a streamlined entry process. 6 pm.

Agnes and Sherman will offer some on-the-go treats as well as a swinging alley party for those attending the celebration on 19th Street. Sherm’s Takeout Window will serve scallion waffles and drinks to-go, while Agnes’s Alley will be home to a shindig featuring a live DJ, light bites, and a full bar. 6 pm.

Ardest Gallery in the Woodlands will have a WLN happy hour, featuring a pop-up exhibition with works from local artist Annette Palmer. She’ll be showing off her new “Ascend” series of textured monochromatic paintings. 4 pm.

Aye Candy in Spring Branch will be the site for an WLN afterparty. Guests dressed in all white will get to toast the night with a complimentary glass of champagne upon arrival. 5 pm.

Casa Ramirez Folkart Gallery will be open to art lovers. They’ll have live music provided by BOSSA II (Jesus & Maria Lozano with percussionist Stephen Araujo), new art from Lizbeth Ortiz, along with light sparkling beverages (both alcoholic and non-) and chilled water. 6 pm.

Cedar Creek Cafe will be spinning the disco ball during its white-hot WLN party. The Moment Band will provide live music, and DJs MLE and Dirty DIZZ will be behind the turntables. Along with food and drink specials, a Boozy Kona Ice Truck will be outside. 6 pm.

Christian’s Tailgate Bar and Grill will take over White Oak Drive for a night of fun, fashion, food, and music. Along with the craft cocktails and beer specials, the party will also have food trucks, photo ops, a DJ spinning all night long, and – wait for it – karaoke! 4 pm.

Dirt Bag will veer from traditional plant sales and host a Build-Your-Own Succulent or Cactus Bar. And for those who don’t wanna spend all evening walking around with their new plant, Dirt Bag will tag it and hold it for shoppers to pick up at its Montrose shop after the event. 6 pm.

EZ’s Liquor Lounge will host the Western Jelly Band, followed by spinning grooves from DJ EV at 10 pm. Ninfa’s on Navigation will have food, and there will be “parking lot fun.” 7 pm.

Fielding’s River Oaks will have its WLN a day early with a “White Linen Patio Pounder” on Friday, August 2. Attendees who dress up in their best duds will have a chance to win up to $500 in Fielding’s gift cards, along with a special Patio Pounder Bar Menu. 4 pm.

First Saturday Arts Market returns with “Off The Street - A White Linen Night Art Event,” an outdoor art market. There will be an array of fine art, as well as live music by DJ EV and artisanal coffee and cider from Vivre Coffee and Houston Cider Co. 6 pm.

Heights Bier Garten will give the white-wearers an open-air spot to sip cocktails, enjoy live music, and even take part in a best-dressed contest. It will also have an on-site 360 photobooth and free sips from featured sponsors Herradura Tequila and Gin Mare. 7 pm.

The Kid will have its air-conditioned patio and main bar area available for folks to enjoy WLN festivities. Of course, drinks like White Linen Spritz, White Claws, and white tea shots will be served. 4 pm.

The Little Juice Shop will keep patrons refreshed during WLN. It will have exclusive drink specials (including a special hangover juice for the afterparties), giveaways, swag bags, cocktails/mocktails, and complimentary free rides.

M-K-T and Houston Plant Market will have a full lineup of live music, entertainment, and shopping with over 50 vendors. Dy’Lan Ashton and Ashten White will provide the grooves, and Topo Chico, Smartwater, and City Orchard Craft Cider will serve complimentary drinks. 5 pm.

Moonshine Deck will take over 20th Street with an event called “White Linen: Desert Disco.” Expect food, all-day DJs, VIP areas, signature cocktails, snowcones, photo ops, and a freakin’ mechanical bull! 11 am.

Onion Creek Cafe will host a “White Oak Inferno Party,” for all those white-wearers who love disco. There will be food and drink specials, as well as disco beats and live sets from DJ Panda, Beat Sicarios, and funk band D!GGY. 6 pm.

Permission Whiskey & Service Co. will have a nice little soiree on WLN. DJ LowKey and DJ gusgus will perform back to back, while Darian Hernandez plays live guitar in the early hours. They will also have confetti cannons, shot specials, and a few surprises. 5:30 pm.

Pippa & Pearl will host “Lemons & White Linens,” an evening of “community, compassion and cool lemonade,” on WLN. Proceeds will go to the families of the Camp Mystic campers and counselors who lost their lives during the recent Central Texas floods. 5 pm.

PIzaro’s Pizza will be serving pizza by the slice (made in an Ooni Koda pizza oven) for 19th Street event goers to enjoy. The two options will be New York-style cheese for $5 and the popular D.U.M.B.O for $6, with a variety of wine options as well. 6 pm.

Planet Curls will be hosting a WLN outdoor art market/block party. The Hates, Ganesha, Keno Sims, and 30footFALL’s Butch Klotz will provide the musical entertainment, as the event promises to offer “vibes, food, [and] baddies.” 5 pm.

The Pure Parenting Shop will have an early WLN celebration for parents and kids. Attend demo classes, story times with crafts, and meet their tenants. Attendees can also find out about upcoming classes for parents and kids. 10 am.

The Shiloh Club, the Heights’ oldest dive bar, will be starting its WLN festivities really early. Admission is free all day and night, so you can slip in anytime and enjoy all the music, food, and drink specials this spot will be serving. 10 am.

Sunset Heights Black Denim Night is an alternative to WLN, offering low-key good times and air-conditioned shuttles running bar-to-bar. Heights Drive Inn, Dan Electro’s, The Post, and Johnny’s Gold Brick are some of the spots that’ll be taking part. 6 pm.

The Whimsy Artisan Boutique will have a mini pop-up filled with local art, good vibes, and playful surprises. Explore work from over 180 Houston artists and makers, while also enjoying music and mingling with fellow art lovers. 5 pm.

Movie Review

Cookie Queens goes behind the scenes of Girl Scout Cookie season

Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Girl Scouts in Cookie Queens.

Few people are strong enough to resist the lure of Girl Scout cookie season every year, with the cookies’ limited availability and unique flavors a strong incentive to indulge. But only the girls and their families who have sold the cookies know the joys and stresses of trying to get people to buy them, a process that is detailed in the new documentary, Cookie Queens.

The film by documentarian Alysa Nahmias uses the stories of four different girls to represent the nationwide ritual for the Girl Scouts. They include 12-year-old Olive in Charlotte, North Carolina, a longtime top seller; 8-year-old Shannon Elizabeth in El Paso, Texas, who wants to earn the reward of going to camp; 5-year-old Ara in San Diego, California, whose goal is modest compared to most other girls; and 9-year-old Nikki in Chino, California, who has to compete with her older sisters in the cookie-selling bonanza.

The girls represent a cross-section of both ages and backgrounds, with some girls coming from wealthy families and some girls dealing with more limited means. And how much money your family has makes a big difference, as not only does someone richer have more freedom with their time and supplies, but all scouts are required to reimburse the organization for every box they take in, regardless of whether they’re able to sell it or not.

That caveat makes the journeys of the four featured girls feel wildly different. It’s clear from the start that Olive and Nikki’s families don’t give a second thought to the personal economics of selling cookies, with each girl taking in thousands of boxes at the beginning of the six-week selling season. With both Olive and Nikki rightfully confident that they’ll have no problem offloading their supply, their stories turn to how selling is personally affecting them, with each trying to reconcile the fun of doing it with the pressure they feel from their family members.

Shannon Elizabeth’s story is more harrowing, as her parents feel a strong desire to help her accomplish her lofty goal, but worry that the cost might literally be too high for the family as a whole. More than once, the parents are shown fretting that they won’t have the money to pay back what they owe should they fall significantly short in their sales. Their selling approach, which includes walking through an empty swap meet and standing outside a chain restaurant at night, only adds to their stress.

The most fun story to watch is that of Ara, whose innocence is matched by her confidence. Her parents teach her how much money they’ll owe with her small goal of 55 boxes, but right away she takes on more responsibility than expected. She’s shown making sales pitches and tallying the total number of boxes she’s sold with little-to-no help from either her mom or dad. With her high voice, glasses, and a monitor on her arm to manage her diabetes, she becomes the cute and sympathetic part of the film.

There are times that the film starts to feel more than a little manipulative, however. While many of the moments documented come off as organic, some of them seem like Nahmias is actively guiding the participants in order to get a better story. This is especially evident with Shannon Elizabeth and her family, whose early struggles turn into a miraculous feel-good story by the end, a turnaround that seems implausible at best. Everything with them might have been aboveboard, but Nahmias and her team edit the family’s journey in a way that pushes a bit too hard for emotion.

Cookie Queens, which was produced by a company owned by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, helps to give insight into the business of selling Girl Scout cookies for those who’ve only been on the purchasing end of the transaction. The dedication of each girl toward selling their allotted supply proves fun and interesting, even if the filmmaker tries to gild the lily on occasion.

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Cookie Queens is now playing in theaters,