🎗️ One Ballroom, 730 Guests, and a Record $785,000 for Interfaith

🏛️ Houston's Vote on the $50 Million Annexation Deal Slid a Week

🎪 Children's Festival Is Now Pavilion Palooza, With a World Tour

💃 In-Step Dance Center Opened a New Studio on Sawdust Road Aug 15

🌤️ Partly Cloudy · 99°F / 80°F

Humidity to 84%, wind to 9 mph.

Another one in the upper nineties, so get the outdoor jobs done before mid-morning.

Source: Vaisala Xweather

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More than 730 guests filled The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center on Saturday, August 22, dressed head to toe in black and white. By the end of the night, The Walk: The Art of Giving had raised $785,000 for Interfaith of The Woodlands, the most any Walk has ever brought in. Sewell Automotive and Wells Fargo presented the evening.

Event co-chairs Kim Bonilla and Tina Goodson built the night around a runway. Johanna Terry Events put an iconic runway stage and black and white chandeliers into the ballroom, Piney Rose Flowers and Décor handled the florals, and the show carried looks from Pell 1990, Suitsupply and Thomas Markle Jewelers.

The finale belonged to the 2026 Community Champions, who walked the runway themselves: Linsey and Ryan Bibler, Cindy and Craig Heiser, Jo Anne and Troy Johnson, Kristen Byrnes and Carrie Greenberg, and Jill Simms and Sondra Lagasse. Volunteer auctioneer Will Murphy then ran a live auction that included dinner for eight at Bar Bludorn, an Argentina Red Stag hunt for two, a Texas Red Dudley Labrador and a Hearts On Fire diamond bracelet.

Laura and David Piccione were crowned the 2026 Walk Icons. That competition alone raised $16,258, with every dollar counting as a vote, and the Picciones directed the money to Interfaith's Kits 4 Kids program, which puts backpacks and school supplies in the hands of local students. Missy Herndon, Interfaith's president and CEO, said the need for crisis assistance among families and seniors here keeps growing.

Proceeds go to Interfaith's programs across South Montgomery County: food, emergency financial assistance, Senior Services, school supplies. The organization has been at it for 53 years.

Why it matters: a record night at a gala only counts for something because the money lands as groceries and light bills for people a few streets over.

Source/Credits: Woodlands Online

Houston City Council did not vote Wednesday. Council member Edward Pollard tagged the item, a procedural move that pushes the decision out by one week. The Woodlands Township was slated to take up its own side of the agreement at a meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Under the deal, Houston would affirm that it has no intention to annex The Woodlands, a master-planned community of more than 110,000 people, in exchange for a series of payments from a joint city and township fund over the next three years. Mayor John Whitmire called it a win-win for Houston and one of its neighbors. Township chairman Brad Bailey said it would give the city short-term relief on its obligations and let The Woodlands finally put the annexation question to bed.

Pollard told reporters he had no reservations at the moment but wanted more discussion first, and that grabbing what is on the table today has to be weighed against consequences nobody has thought through yet. Sallie Alcorn, who chairs the council's budget and fiscal affairs committee, said she supports it. That committee takes up the proposal Tuesday.

What Houston gives up is real money. The Woodlands Township forecasts nearly $51 million in property tax collection in 2027, at a rate three times lower than Houston's, plus nearly $43 million in sales tax. Houston annexed Kingwood in 1996 over the objections of many of the roughly 50,000 people living there at the time. In 2017 the Legislature ended forced annexation in Texas, so residents now have to approve any absorption at the ballot box.

Why it matters: the vote that was supposed to settle a fifty-year question is now a week further out, and the committee that reviews it meets first.

Source/Credits: Houston Public Media

The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion is retiring the Children's Festival name. In its place comes Pavilion Palooza, presented by Texas Children's, running Saturday, November 7 and Sunday, November 8. The theme for the inaugural year is World Tour, and the whole site gets broken into themed areas built around countries, cultures and regions.

The Main Stage anchors it, with The Rock and Roll Playhouse headlining and a rotating set of mini concerts introducing kids to Taylor Swift, Tom Petty, Bob Marley and The Beatles. Inside the Event Center, Roots and Rhythms puts bluegrass and zydeco on a Front Porch Stage alongside paper-plate banjos and custom bandanas, while Palooza Playland gives toddlers an inflatable soft play area, a tiny instrument petting zoo and a My First Festival photo frame.

Out on the lawn, Harmony Gardens runs fabric ribbon kites, parachute racing and an origami exchange. Island Sounds has rides, inflatables, lei making and a limbo challenge. Rhythm Village pairs an African drum circle with space activities from Janet's Planet and science experiments from 1ST-Gen Scholars. Plaza de la Música brings mariachi, salsa lessons and maraca making, with The Woodlands Children's Museum running activities. Melody Motorway, sponsored by Sewell, puts kids up close with vehicles.

Admission is $10 per person and covers every performance and activity. Children 2 and under get in free. Tickets are on Ticketmaster.

Why it matters: a festival a lot of families here have measured their kids' Novembers by is changing its name, and the price is still ten dollars.

Source/Credits: Woodlands Online

In-Step Dance Center opened its new location at 314 Sawdust Road, Suite 200, in Spring on August 15. The studio takes students from age 2 through adults and teaches jazz, tap, ballet, hip-hop and more. Dana Loving Sparks directs it, and the studio was founded in 1999.

Alongside the standard schedule, In-Step currently runs adult classes in tap and hip-hop, plus a homeschool dance program during the day. Classes are open for registration and can be booked online. The business also keeps a second location at 28533 Spring Trails Ridge, Suite 200, in Spring.

Why it matters: a daytime homeschool program and adult tap classes are the kind of thing that only exists when a studio has been reading its own neighborhood for a long time.

Source/Credits: Community Impact

💼 A Mediterranean Grill Is Going Up at The Grand at 249: A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation permit puts a 2,000 square foot Great Greek Mediterranean Grill under construction in Tomball, with the roughly $450,000 build slated to wrap by November. Read more in What Now Houston

🌱 Those Swarms Are Lovebugs, and Your Clear Coat Is the Victim: They are harmless to people and pets, but their crushed bodies turn acidic within 24 hours and will eat into your paint if the Texas heat bakes them on. Read more in Woodlands Online

🍽️ Fielding's Wood Grill Closes for a Week Starting August 31: The restaurant shuts down August 31 through September 5 for a remodel and reopens with a brunch at 10 a.m. Sunday, September 6. Read more in Hello Woodlands

🗓️ Tots & Tunes | 9:30 AM | More info

🗓️ Shadow Puppet Theatre: Bullfrog Pops! | 11:00 AM | More info

🗓️ Bougie Bingo | Ale & Ivy, 305 Sawdust Road, Spring | 6:00 PM | More info

🗓️ Fall Preview Candle Night, Girls Night Out | Magnolia Ritual Texas Apothecary, 6318 FM 1488 Suite 110, Magnolia | 6:00 PM | More info

🗓️ Lynyrd Skynyrd and Foreigner | The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Drive | 7:00 PM | More info

🗓️ Storybook Theatre: Curious George Goes to a Chocolate Factory | 11:00 AM | More info

🗓️ Jack Johnson with Lake Street Dive | The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Drive | 7:00 PM | More info

🗓️ Young Makers Market | 10:00 AM | More info

🗓️ Back To School Bash | iCode The Woodlands, 4526 Research Forest Dr Ste 12 | 11:00 AM | More info

🗓️ Fall Montgomery County Home & Outdoor Living Show | More info

🗓️ Buddy Guy Blues Festival | 6:00 PM | More info

🗓️ Glow in The Park | 8:00 PM | More info

🗓️ The El Bueno La Mala y El Feo Fest | The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Dr | 3:00 PM | More info

🗓️ Taste This, Try That | Southwest Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce, 11659 FM 1488, Magnolia | 5:30 PM | More info

🗓️ Boogie Bash In September | 11:00 AM | More info

Note: Dates and times are as announced online. Organizers may make changes. Always confirm before heading out.

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Drillers struck oil west of Tomball on May 27, 1933, and the population tripled as twenty-five to thirty companies moved in. The town nicknamed itself Oil Town U.S.A. and incorporated that same year, which is the reason Houston never absorbed it.

"Two hoots and a holler away." Translation: close by, in the older unit of measurement where distance is however far your voice carries.

Three percent is fine when you are sitting next to a charger, and thirty percent is a crisis when you are not.

What kind of music do planets listen to? Nep-tunes.