Island ETC presents Texas-based humor with their production of “The Lone Star Love Potion” by Michael Parker, opening May 10th and running through May 25th. This show will conclude the 16th season for Island ETC.

A wealthy Texas rancher named Edward Stancliffe has died, and many people have gathered for the reading of his will, including his long-suffering house staff and his last living relative. But upon arriving, the guests find that they have been left a love potion, which has effects not on the person who drinks it, but on others in the vicinity. Combine this potion with a major storm that forced the guests to stay in the Stancliffe mansion overnight, and the millions in inheritance money at stake, and hilarity is bound to ensue.

This classic setup for a farce forces the audience to wonder how much the potion is actually working and how much is only a ruse. The hopping from room to room reaches a fever pitch before the startling and humorous conclusion is reached.

Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening at 8pm. Sunday matinees will be performed on May 12th and May 19th at 2:30pm. Tickets are $30 for adults and $25 for students and senior citizens (55+). Tickets are available at islandetc.org.

Island ETC (East-End Theatre Company) is Galveston’s only professional production company that produces year-round. ETC is located at 2317 Mechanic St. in Downtown Galveston.

For further info, visit islandetc.org or call the theatre box office at (409)762-3556.

From the author of the book comes a wonderful tour and a riveting journey through the forgotten parts of downtown Galveston that were once bustling with wild parties and generous offerings of hourly love.

Join renowned author and speaker Kimber Fountain as she brings to life the tales – both tragic and triumphant – of Galveston’s Red Light District: A History of The Line.

Known today as a colorful resort destination featuring family-friendly entertainment and a thriving arts district, Galveston was once notorious for its flourishing vice economy of illegal liquor and gambling and an infamous red light district called simply, “The Line.”

This unassuming five blocks of Postoffice Street came to life every night and remained a stubborn mainstay of the island cityscape for nearly seventy years. In the late 1950s, the era was known as the “Free State of Galveston” finally came to an end, and today, almost all that remains of its history has been sensationalized and marginalized.

Galveston was more than just a city of “gangsters” and lewd women,  and Kimber Fountain pursues the authentic, sequestered story of women who wanted to make their own rules and the city that wanted to let them.

Tours are every Wednesday-Saturday starting at 7pm. Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased online at redlightdistricttoursofgalveston.com in advance or at the start of the tour (cash only).

Reservations are required for cash/onsite tickets, and both online ticket purchases and cash reservations must be made by 5pm the day of the tour.

The tour meets on the north steps of the old Galveston Post Office at 601 25th Street (corner of 25th and Church St.). Meet at the north steps located on Church Street side.

Tours begin promptly at 7pm. Please arrive at least 5-10 minutes early to ensure ample time to park and/or purchase onsite tickets. Due to mature content, this tour is strongly recommended for adults and older teens only. Tour content will not be censored for younger audiences, and teens and children must be accompanied by an adult.

Signed copies of Kimber’s books  Galveston’s Red Light District: A History of The Line and Galveston Seawall Chronicles  will be available for purchase (cash or credit) at the conclusion of the tour.

For more info go to redlightdistricttoursofgalveston.com, email GalvestonRedLightTours@gmail.com, call or text (409)526-6883. Reservations required.

From May 2nd-26th, the Galveston Art League Gallery, 2117A Postoffice St. in Galveston, will exhibit artworks that were accepted into its Spring 2019 Juried Show.

The nonprofit Galveston Art League holds three juried competitions per year, and the next one will occur in the fall. The competitions are open to everyone, and each artist may submit up to three entries. Typically a little over 100 entries are accepted for the five categories: works on canvas or board, works on paper, photography, mixed-media 2-D works, and 3-D works.

Full details― including entry requirements, fees, and cash awards to top-rated artworks ― are available in the show prospectus, which is posted about a month before entries are due. The prospectus may be downloaded from the black sidebar at GalvestonArtLeague.com.

The Galveston Art League was founded in 1914 to promote visual arts and art education. The league accomplishes its mission through its juried shows, low-cost art workshops for children and adults, nine member shows per year, and promotion of area artists in electronic and print media.

For more info visit GalvestonArtLeague.com or email gallery2117@gmail.com.

Come take a cooking class at The Kitchen Chick! Gulf seafood is all about latitude & attitudes! Chef Bailey Glover will teach you how to properly cook & prepare delicious fresh seafood dishes! We’re feelin’ crabby, how ’bout you? You will learn to make a corn, bacon and jumbo lump crab soup. Next, you will pan-fry crispy soft shell crab in a classic butter sauce. You’ll also learn to make a crispy crab cake accompanied by a creamy remoulade sauce. Finally, we’ll turn ripe summer strawberries into a rich mousse topped with chantilly cream. Life on the gulf coast sure is tasty!

$75/person.

Please call 409-497-2999 to reserve your spot! Reservations are made on a first come, first serve basis (website comments will NOT count as reservations; you must call us!). Payment is due at the time of reservation.

Please Read The Fine Print:

The Kitchen Chick will refund your tuition in full for cancellations made up to 72 hours before the class. No refunds or credits will be given for a cancellation made less than 72 hours before the class. Cancellations or changes can be made by calling 409-497-2999 or emailing alicia@aliciac1.sg-host.com. When a class is cancelled due to inclement weather, we will contact you by email or telephone and issue a full refund. If you miss a class due to weather-related concerns, our standard cancellation policy applies.

Class sizes are kept small to ensure you get to interact with the instructors. Can’t wait to get cooking with you!

Galveston’s vintage past meets present-day fun for the Eleventh Annual Galveston Island Beach Revue. Presented by Hotel Galvez & Spa® and held at Beach Central, 2102 Seawall Blvd., this year’s revue will be held on Friday, May 17th and Saturday, May 18th. The annual revue showcases vintage-inspired fun, headlined by the Bathing Beauties contest, next to Galveston’s historic shoreline. Admission is free to the revue, and complete information is available at galvestonbeachrevue.com.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for GHF to be involved in Beach Revue this year,” explains Dwayne Jones, Galveston Historical Foundation’s Executive Director. “This event is a fun and inspirational time to revisit an old island tradition. It celebrates the beach and our tourism industry all with a nod to our fascinating history.”

The Galveston Island Beach Revue was started in 2009, by Islander By Choice, LLC., in direct response to Hurricane Ike. It became one of Galveston Historical Foundation’s annual events in 2019.

Dubbed the “Pageant of Pulchritude” by C.E. Barfield, Galveston’s Bathing Beauties Contest began in the summer of 1920 and marked the kick-off for tourist season each year. By 1928, the event, which had morphed into the “bathing girl revue,” had become so popular that the Island’s population was said to have tripled during the event weekend. These Island pageants were the beginning of what we know today as the Miss Universe Pageant. The famed Galveston Bathing Beauties pageants ended in 1932 due in part to the Great Depression and were resurrected in 2009. The event’s location, held across from the Hotel Galvez & Spa®, is footsteps away from its original location in the early 1920s.

Always a crowd favorite, the weekend’s main event is the Bathing Beauties Contest. Retro swimwear is chic and vintage is king as contestants from across the country catwalk while modeling vintage and vintage-inspired swimwear and accessories that echo the “good ole days” of Galveston’s summertime history. Classic pinup styles of the sort that Esther Williams, Marilyn Monroe, and Bettie Page made famous heat up the beaches as 30 contestants vie for cash prizes and top honors.

2019 Highlights

Revue Prevue Kickoff at Hotel Galvez & Spa®

Galveston’s iconic “Queen of the Gulf”, Hotel Galvez & Spa®, 2024 Seawall Blvd., opens its doors for a special night of curated music, craft beer, speakeasy-inspired cocktails and more as part of a Friday Night Revue Prevue on May 17. This kickoff will feature the first public introductions of the 2019 Bathing Beauties at 6:30pm and is hosted by Dandy Wellington from 6 to 7:30pm. Admission is free and vintage attire is encouraged. Guests in their vintage best will be up for consideration to win a coveted Beach Revue winner’s sash for “Best Vintage Dressed”.

Bands & Bombshells Concerts

The 11th Annual Galveston Island Beach Revue isn’t just great competitors and vintage cars. It’s also a stage for vintage and vintage-inspired music. Participating artists and musicians for 2019 include:

• Swimwear Department – Swimwear Department’s songs are all inspired by their name. When the band shot its 2018 Tiny Desk Contest entry in a pool, NPR’s Marissa Lorusso called the Houston four-piece’s obsessive commitment to only writing songs about swimming holes and shopping malls “delightfully on-brand.” Their live shows feature crowd-sourced backing vocals and dance contests. Their debut album, Turn Over! Go Under! is peppered with moments of sincere nostalgia for bygone summer swims and cool mall strolls. Reminding listeners that everything changes, but there’s always fun to be had. Learn more at swimweardepartment.band.  
• The Broken Spokes – Free Press Houston’s David Garrick sums it up with “There was a time when country music had less pop and a lot less sheen, reserved for honky-tonks and dancehalls. In today’s crowded music landscape, it’s become hard and harder to find traditional country acts, but Houston’s Broken Spokes are as traditional as the genre gets. Full of twangy guitars and honkytonk undertones, the five-piece makes the kind of country music that would make Johnny Cash and Hank Thompson proud.” Learn more at brokenspokesmusic.com.

• Dandy Wellington – Inspired by the Big Band Era of Jazz, Dandy Wellington and his Band have taken the sounds of the 1930s and 40s and created a world of well-dressed music. With a passion for obscure songs steeped in the Jazz tradition, Dandy Wellington has assembled a catalog of music that evokes an atmosphere of class. From the golden age of cinema to the bounce of New Orleans, each song is hand selected and played to perfection by a band cut from the cloth of elegance. This year marks the fourth year of Dandy’s participation at the Galveston Island Beach Revue. Learn more at dandywellington.com.

Beach Revue Whisker Review

The fine folks with the Austin Facial Hair club know a thing or two when it comes to face follicles. They’re bringing their years of experience to this year’s event to host the new Beach Revue Whisker Review. Competitions will be held beginning at 3pm in Best Handlebar, Best Natural Dapper ‘Stache, and Best Barbell ‘Stache. Dress to impress and bring your best, and you just might find yourself going home with one of their coveted awards.

Classic Auto Group Hot Rod & Classic Car Show

Hot rods, rat rods, vintage trailers and more line up to take part in the Galveston Island Beach Hot Rod + Classic Car show on Saturday from 12 noon-5pm at Beach Central, 2102 Seawall Blvd. Admission is free for the general public to view the cars and is part of a full day of vintage-inspired programming. Car and trailer owners can register online at gavestonbeachrevue.com. Registration is limited to cars from 1975 or older.

Food & Vintage Vendors

Beach Revue 2019 expands this year with food trucks, novelty options, and the return of our vintage vendor area. Featuring can’t-miss vintage and vintage-inspired items, this specially curated vendor market will be available for shopping from 12 noon-7pm (or until the end of the Bathing Beauties Contest) on Saturday, May 18th.

For more information on the Eleventh Annual Galveston Island Beach Revue presented by Hotel Galvez & Spa®, please contact  (409)765-3424, will.wright@galvestonhistory.org or visit beachrevue.org.

From the author of the book comes a wonderful tour and a riveting journey through the forgotten parts of downtown Galveston that were once bustling with wild parties and generous offerings of hourly love.

Join renowned author and speaker Kimber Fountain as she brings to life the tales – both tragic and triumphant – of Galveston’s Red Light District: A History of The Line.

Known today as a colorful resort destination featuring family-friendly entertainment and a thriving arts district, Galveston was once notorious for its flourishing vice economy of illegal liquor and gambling and an infamous red light district called simply, “The Line.”

This unassuming five blocks of Postoffice Street came to life every night and remained a stubborn mainstay of the island cityscape for nearly seventy years. In the late 1950s, the era was known as the “Free State of Galveston” finally came to an end, and today, almost all that remains of its history has been sensationalized and marginalized.

Galveston was more than just a city of “gangsters” and lewd women,  and Kimber Fountain pursues the authentic, sequestered story of women who wanted to make their own rules and the city that wanted to let them.

Tours are every Wednesday-Saturday starting at 7pm. Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased online at redlightdistricttoursofgalveston.com in advance or at the start of the tour (cash only).

Reservations are required for cash/onsite tickets, and both online ticket purchases and cash reservations must be made by 5pm the day of the tour.

The tour meets on the north steps of the old Galveston Post Office at 601 25th Street (corner of 25th and Church St.). Meet at the north steps located on Church Street side.

Tours begin promptly at 7pm. Please arrive at least 5-10 minutes early to ensure ample time to park and/or purchase onsite tickets. Due to mature content, this tour is strongly recommended for adults and older teens only. Tour content will not be censored for younger audiences, and teens and children must be accompanied by an adult.

Signed copies of Kimber’s books  Galveston’s Red Light District: A History of The Line and Galveston Seawall Chronicles  will be available for purchase (cash or credit) at the conclusion of the tour.

For more info go to redlightdistricttoursofgalveston.com, email GalvestonRedLightTours@gmail.com, call or text (409)526-6883. Reservations required.

Island ETC presents Texas-based humor with their production of “The Lone Star Love Potion” by Michael Parker, opening May 10th and running through May 25th. This show will conclude the 16th season for Island ETC.

A wealthy Texas rancher named Edward Stancliffe has died, and many people have gathered for the reading of his will, including his long-suffering house staff and his last living relative. But upon arriving, the guests find that they have been left a love potion, which has effects not on the person who drinks it, but on others in the vicinity. Combine this potion with a major storm that forced the guests to stay in the Stancliffe mansion overnight, and the millions in inheritance money at stake, and hilarity is bound to ensue.

This classic setup for a farce forces the audience to wonder how much the potion is actually working and how much is only a ruse. The hopping from room to room reaches a fever pitch before the startling and humorous conclusion is reached.

Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening at 8pm. Sunday matinees will be performed on May 12th and May 19th at 2:30pm. Tickets are $30 for adults and $25 for students and senior citizens (55+). Tickets are available at islandetc.org.

Island ETC (East-End Theatre Company) is Galveston’s only professional production company that produces year-round. ETC is located at 2317 Mechanic St. in Downtown Galveston.

For further info, visit islandetc.org or call the theatre box office at (409)762-3556.