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.

Like many busy seaports, Galveston had a substantial immigrant population. When disaster or disease struck, traditional family support was an ocean away, meaning that local orphanages were a critical support system for islanders. Join us for a very special evening Museum tour, not of the collections—but of the Galveston Orphans Home. Join volunteer Donna Reznicek as she provides a detailed Orphanage Tour explaining the history of the institution and day to day life for the children. This exclusive tour is limited to 20 Museum members. RSVP today at https://thebryanmuseum.org/event/GOHE/

September 16th-21st: SSBG To Host the Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge (CWVC) Sailing Challenge 2019. The CWVC Galveston Sail Training and Championship are designed as challenges for those participants interested in sailing training and competition. Together, CWVC staff, SSBG Adaptive Sailing staff, and the Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG) Sailing team will provide a one-week sail training camp that is scheduled to the minute. At this time all Veteran participant spots are filled, but spectators are invited to come, watch, and support the Veterans participating. Please contact David Gaston at (409)572-2560 or for more information. 

The 2019 Combat Wounded Veterans Challenge (CWVC) will be returning to Sea Star Base Galveston September 16th through 21st. This event will bring veterans, and their families, from not only the U.S. but two allied countries as well. All of these veterans are from the multi-national coalition which served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. 

This is a wonderful opportunity for volunteer hours, especially for our experienced sonar skippers. We will also need additional volunteers to assist with some of the family outing activities. For more information, contact David Gaston at dgaston@ssbgalveston.org or 409-572-2560. 

At its strategic perch overlooking Offatts Bayou, Sea Star Base Galveston (SSBG) resembles a five-star hotel beckoning guests to stop in. But looks can be deceiving. Sea Star Base Galveston is a youth based non-profit organization, and its mission is providing outstanding marine and aquatic programs where youth can learn teamwork and leadership skills, self-reliance and confidence, maritime career pathways, and independence of mind, body and spirit.

Please go to ssbgalveston.org/camps for information and registration, or call (409)572-2560. Sea Star Galveston is based at 7509 Broadway, Galveston.

LEARN POTTERY!…

Pottery Art Classes/Ceramics in Galveston Private Studio of artist located in mid-town Galveston.  Class times are Tues and Thurs from 9am-11am and students pay by the month, which includes 8 classes. 

Class includes all of your clay, use of all tools, glazes, paints, pottery wheel, and lessons will be taught on hand building, wheel, and your pieces are fired in the kiln.

Come learn pottery! Adult classes, Senior Citizens Welcome!

www.Studio908Pottery.com

Call to R.S.V.P. and for information: 409-795-4268

Develop a sense of purpose by Volunteering with Artist Boat at the Coastal Heritage Preserve! Build connections. learn something new, and meet new people while having fun outdoors! At a Volunteer Workday, you can help preserve and restore the native coastal prairie ecosystem. Activities might include planting native grasses, laying down seeds, taking care of our native plant nursery, removing or treating for invasive species, and more! This is held the first and third Thursdays in Galveston at the Coastal Heritage Preserve. Events are open to the public but you must RSVP to the Habitat and Stewardship Program Manager at artistboat.org.

Artist Boat’s purpose is protecting our Gulf Coast through land conservation and with fun, educational, inspiring adventures that spark creativity, awareness, and action.

Since its inception, over 100,000 participants have helped bring 40,000 students to estuaries by kayak, foot, or vessel; created over 50+ public artworks; conserved over 600+ acres on west Galveston Island forming the Coastal Heritage Preserve and creating a place for the future Gulf Coast Environmental Education Center; restored over 50 acres of dunes and prairies to assure recovery of these ecosystems following Hurricane Ike; formed the Bucket Brigade comprised of a Marine Debris Task Force; conducted interpretive tours; and beautified buckets for trash, recycle centers, and more on Galveston beaches.

For more info call (409)770-0722, email residency@artistboat.org, or go to artistboat.org.

On view through November 17th is Erin Curtis’ “Night and Day.” 

Curtis’ exhibition includes recent large-scale paintings that are dense with color and pattern. Her layered, cut-canvas works contain disrupted surfaces and reflect an interest in geometric abstraction and its historical roots in weaving, architecture, nature, and ritual. The paintings in “Night and Day” are nearly overwhelmed by an unreadable chaos that is pulled back to the edge of order by familiar patterns and forms. The exhibition will be on view through November 17th, 2019.

Erin Curtis is an artist living and working in Austin, Texas. Curtis’s work combines utopian ideals of beauty and structure, with process and chance. Primarily working as a painter, she also creates large-scale, site-specific installations and public art projects.

She has received grants from the Dallas Museum of Art, the Andy Warhol Foundation, the City of Austin and the District of Columbia. Curtis has had solo shows at Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX (2017), CalPoly, San Luis Obispo, California (2016), Big Medium Gallery, Austin, Texas (2015) and Flashpoint Gallery, Washington, DC (2015). She has created commissioned works for the Chicago Transit Authority, the City of Washington D.C., Facebook, Art in Embassies and the City of Austin. In the summer of 2019, a 20- foot tall cut brick mural commissioned by Intelligentsia Coffee will be installed in downtown Austin. Curtis attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2010 and was awarded residencies at Anderson Ranch (2012) and Vermont Studio Center (2014). In 2008-2009, Curtis was a Fulbright Scholar in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Curtis graduated from Williams College with a BA in Liberal Arts in 1999 and received her MFA from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007.

For more info go to erinelizabethcurtis.com.

In GAC’s second-floor galleries, the exhibition Exchange Rate is on view through October 6th, 2019. The exhibition features artists who incorporate currency in their work as material and subject matter. “Exchange Rate” features work by Corey Ackelmire, Mike Beradino, Rene Cruz, Kevin Curry, Kathy Hall, Mary Jeys, Virginia Lee Montgomery, Ken Little, Deborah Mersky, Phillip Pyle II, Dan Tague, The Art Guys, and Anthony Thompson Shumate.

These exhibitions are supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

GAC is the organizer of ArtWalk, which takes place every six weeks in downtown Galveston. The ArtWalk brochure, which lists participating venues, hours, information, and map can be downloaded at galvestonartscenter.org. The galleries are open to the public Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-5pm, and Sunday 12 noon-5pm. Admission is free at all times.

Galveston Art League exhibits the entries that were accepted into its Fall 2019 Juried Show. Members and nonmembers from Galveston County and beyond create works in various media; most are for sale. Hours: noon-6 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays. www.GalvestonArtLeague.com

Every Thursday 3-6pm and Sunday 9am-12 noon (note new summer hours), Galveston’s Own Farmers Market is held at The Bryan Museum Gardens, located at 1315 21st St. Come to the beautiful Conservatory and botanical gardens to relax and enjoy time and conversation with friends, family, and museum staff while shopping for locally grown produce, prepared foods, and edible farm products, plus live music, yoga, massage, crafting and Kids Corner! 

The Thursday market features all of the perks that you’ve come to expect at the market plus the added charms of the Bryan Museum’s “Wine at the Bryan” weekly event.

Thirsty Thursdays is every 3rd Thursday wherein Galveston Island Brewing donates beers first-come, first-serve to our market customers. They shop, sip and stroll the market while exploring the museum grounds & buying local foods.

The Sunday market also features wonderful goods and the charm of Bryan’s courtyard. It is always free to browse and most events are FREE to participate. 

At every market, there will be:

• Live music
• A chance to learn more about The Bryan Museum
• FREE recycling with Keepin’ It Green: Every week, they accept your clean, rinsed recyclable plastics, glass, aluminum and paper/cardboard. KIG comes to pick it up every week aftermarket.
• Family-friendly activities sponsored by partners like Rosenberg Library, Galveston Island State Park, Galveston Island Humane Society, etc.

GOFM is always “BYOC” – bring your own cup. They have eliminated single-use cups for the free Sunday morning coffee station and Thursday water station. Support the initiative by cleaning out your cupboards and donating unwanted mugs to market for others to use.

Save the date for Float the Boat 2019, the annual Artist Boat fundraiser and gala. This year, Artist Boat celebrates its 15th birthday Saturday, November 16th, 6-9:30pm at The Trolley Station, 2021 Strand, Downtown Galveston.  The event will include a plated gourmet dinner, live music, live and silent auctions; plus you can enter to win a kayak! Listen to live music from Alligator Handshake while enjoying beer, wine & signature cocktails from Del Papa, a gourmet dinner, dessert, and the live and silent auction! This year’s theme is ‘Shapes of the Sea.” This year’s event will be honoring the West Galveston Island Property Owners Association, a long time supporter of Artist Boat. WGIPOA’s mission is to preserve and protect the Gulf and bay shoreline and the quality of life as the west end continues to develop. Purchase tickets at artistboat.org. Sponsorships are currently available. You can purchase Raffle tickets at artistboat.org/float-the-boat/.

Artist Boat’s purpose is protecting our Gulf Coast through land conservation and with fun, educational, inspiring adventures that spark creativity, awareness, and action.

Since its inception, over 100,000 participants have helped bring 40,000 students to estuaries by kayak, foot, or vessel; created over 50+ public artworks; conserved over 600+ acres on west Galveston Island forming the Coastal Heritage Preserve and creating a place for the future Gulf Coast Environmental Education Center; restored over 50 acres of dunes and prairies to assure recovery of these ecosystems following Hurricane Ike; formed the Bucket Brigade comprised of a Marine Debris Task Force; conducted interpretive tours; and beautified buckets for trash, recycle centers, and more on Galveston beaches.

For more info call (409)770-0722, email residency@artistboat.org, or go to artistboat.org.