1. art and entertainment
2. shows and events
3. festival

The
A Newsletter of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership
On May 4 and 5, The Bayou Beckons took over
Houston’s downtown waterfront! As the event expanded to
cover two days this year, over 2,000 participants,
volunteers and spectators came down to Sesquicentennial
Park and Allen’s Landing to take advantage of Buffalo
Bayou as a diverse recreational resource.
More photos from
The Bayou Beckons
inside…
From the Editorial Pages of the Houston Chronicle ….
Imagine That
IMPROVE HOUSTON BEFORE ADVERTISING ITS QUALITIES
H O U S T O N C H R O N I C L E E D I T O R I A L B O A R D | J U LY 2 1 , 2 0 0 2
… “Before the next image campaign, Houston should finish the
work on downtown streets and the light-rail projects and commit
itself to swift completion of a linear park along Buffalo Bayou to
the Port of Houston. Then it will have a seamless, attractive urban
landscape pleasing to residents and worth advertising to visitors.”
Make Houston a Magnet
for Creative Class
RICHARD FLORIDA | JUNE 23, 2002
“ …Focus on quality of life and livability, from the urban core out
…Efforts to limit and control billboards, plant trees and restore
and revitalize the bayous are exactly what is needed to create the
livability and quality of life members of the Creative Class
desire…
… Invest in active outdoor recreation – the amenities that the
Creative Class desires. Keep in mind that Creative Class people
enjoy active, participatory forms of creation…They look for urban
parks, bike trails and running paths, not just professional sports
stadiums…”
Buffalo Bayou Master Plan to be Released
After 18 months of extensive community outreach and consensus-building,
the Buffalo Bayou Partnership will release its long-awaited Buffalo Bayou
master plan, a document that will guide the development of our city’s historic
?
waterway over the next 25 years.
Sponsored by the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, City of Houston, Harris
County and Harris County Flood Control
District, the plan has been coordinated by the
Thompson Design Group (Boston), a firm
internationally recognized for reconnecting
cities to their waterfronts.
We invite you to join Mayor Lee Brown,
Judge Robert Eckels, and other governmental,
business and civic leaders as we unveil the
Buffalo Bayou master plan.
MONDAY
SEPTEMBER 23, 2002
10:30 AM
PRESS CONFERENCE
NOON
PANEL DISCUSSION
THE WORTHAM
THEATRE CENTER
Invitations will be mailed in
the near future.
The Buffalo Bayou
Partnership thanks
the following
businesses,
organizations, and
individuals for their
generous support of The
Bayou Beckons 2002.
Reliant Energy/
Entex Regatta
Over 130 canoes and
kayaks made waves on
May 4th in the 31st Annual Buffalo Bayou Regatta,
sponsored by Reliant Energy/Entex.
C O - S P O N S O R S A N D PA R T N E R S
Harris County Storm Water
Management Joint Task Force
Houston Chinese American Lions Club
Reliant Energy/Entex Regatta Corporate Cup winners
Tom Helm and Carl Taylor of BHP Billiton celebrate their
victory, with Buffalo Bayou Partnership Board of
Directors Chair Toni Beauchamp.
ADMIRAL CLASS
Reliant Energy/Entex
COMMODORE CLASS
Houston City Council Member Mark
Goldberg and Mike Garver of BRHGarver Construction, Inc. took first
place in the Contractors’ Cup, an
opportunity for engineering and
construction firms to compete with
each other in a category separate
from the other corporate teams.
Budweiser
HEB/Central Market
Hines
Houston Chronicle
KHMX-Mix 96.5
CAPTAIN CLASS
ACT Pipe
BRH-Garver
Claire Caudill
City of Houston Convention &
Entertainment Facilities Dept.
City of Houston Parks
& Recreation Dept.
Locke Liddell & Sapp
Oshman’s Sporting Goods
Pappas Restaurants
Pate Engineers
Turner Collie & Braden
United Engineers
Vinson & Elkins
W.M. Dillard & Associates
FIRST MATE
3D/International
Bank One
Bayou Place
BCM Genetics
Beyer Construction
BHP Billiton
Chuck Carlberg & Mack Fowler
C.E. Shepherd Co.
Clark Condon Associates
Cobb Fendley & Associates
Rey de la Reza Architects
Excalibur Construction
Lynne Johnson
Pacific Dental Benefits
Picnic
SLA Studio Land
The SWA Group
Treebeards
ANYTHING THAT FLOATS JUDGES
Houston Dragon Boat Festival
The Houston Dragon Boat Festival, a new
addition to this year’s
Bayou Beckons,
featured 12 teams of
25 paddlers competing
in 250-meter dragon
boat races.
At the Dragon Boat Festival, over 1,500 spectators
and race participants spent the day celebrating
Asian culture at Allen’s Landing.
Anything That Floats Parade
The Children’s Museum of Houston posed
before “dining” on the bayou in their prizewinning craft, “Floating World Cuisine.”
Emily Cole, former Principal,
Jeff Davis High School
Bob Eury, Central Houston
VOLUNTEER GROUPS
Reliant Energy/Entex
Downtown Houston Association
The Bayou Beckons 2002 was made
possible through the dedicated efforts
of the following committee members:
Emily Cole
Leigh Cutler
Scott Deaner
Donna Grimes
Guy Hagstette
Eugene Lee
Shawn McFarland
Anne Olson
Amy Pruett
Caroline Quan Long
Bob Scheffler
Chad Shaw
Terri Thomas
KIDFISH
The Texas Parks &
Wildlife Department’s
2,800-gallon KIDFISH
tank gave kids the
opportunity to learn
how to cast a line and
catch a fish.
School of Fish
Education Pavilion
At the School of Fish
Education Pavilion, 10
organizations provided
environmental and educational activities, all aimed
at combining creativity
and learning in a bayou
setting.
Lighting Up the Bayou
The Buffalo Bayou Landscape will benefit from a major lighting and
public art master plan being developed by artist Steven Korns of
Amherst, MA and L’Observatoire and Halie Light, international lighting design firms based in New York City. Conceived in conjunction
with planned recreational trails, parks and cultural and commercial
development, the comprehensive lighting and public art plan will
establish a distinctive visual identity for the downtown bayou corridor.
As part of their work, the lighting consultant team has analyzed
Buffalo Bayou according to three levels of experience – perception
from within the bayou, perception from nearby, and perception at a
distance. In all locations, lighting will create a setting and mood, drawing people’s attention to specific elements and features that comprise
the bayou environment.
Beginning with fundamental trail lighting and extending through
treatments of peripheral space, the bayou will be viewed as a place
alive with vegetation, water and its patterns, cycles and movements.
Buffalo Bayou Lighting Concept
“To love nature, catch it as it changes.”
— JAPANESE SAYING
• Trail lighting (first order lighting) will be provided by a consistent, specially designed Buffalo Bayou fixture. To identify the trail
at a distance, additional “point sources” will be placed on the light
fixtures.
“Lighting in the Buffalo Bayou domain will draw people’s attention to the movement,
rhythms, and patterns of the living bayou. How it changes.
• Environmental lighting (second order lighting) will illuminate key
surfaces such as walls, and the undersides of bridge decks and
columns. An entire category of lighting invention and innovation
will involve the lighting of Buffalo Bayou trees.
Lighting can reveal elements of change in the bayou experience at night, create a stronger
perception of the bayou with the senses, and integrate the bayou’s living dynamics into the
city’s fabric.”
The bayou changes throughout the day in many ways that are familiar to us, demonstrating
momentary, daily, monthly, yearly, and random cycles and patterns. How the bayou
changes reveals how it is alive.
— Buffalo Bayou Lighting and Public Art Master Plan
• Public art/special event lighting (third order
lighting) will draw visitors’ attention to special
bayou features. Treatments may range from completed “rooms” to individual remnant structures
to such artistic treatments as lighted photographs,
video projections, and sculptural reliefs. With its
large geographic area and varied conditions,
Buffalo Bayou can benefit from a wide range of
lighting and public art treatments, involving both
temporary and permanent works.
Buffalo Bayou Partnership received the Houston
Business Journal’s inaugural Landmark Quality of Life Award at a
spring ceremony held at The Houstonian. In citing the organization,
the HBJ awards committee said: “The Buffalo Bayou Partnership
has affected the downtown landscape and developed projects
geared toward enhancing the quality of life for Houston residents. It
has lobbied for beautification of the Bayou and striven to create a
waterway where residential, commercial and industrial properties
can co-exist successfully.”
HBJ’s Landmark Awards recognize commercial real estate deals
and developments that make a significant impact on the Houston
landscape. This year’s awards were co-sponsored by Stewart Title.
Welcome – Trust for Public Land
The Buffalo Bayou Partnership extends a Texas-size “welcome” to the Trust for Public
Land (TPL), a national non-profit land conservancy organization that recently opened
its first office in Houston.
We are very pleased that TPL Houston director Linda Shead is sharing office space
with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership at its new home at 1113 Vine Street, Suite 200 in
Houston’s Warehouse District.
Since its founding in 1972, TPL has helped safeguard millions of acres of natural,
scenic and historic lands throughout the U.S. Here in Houston, TPL will be busy developing a land acquisition strategy for the Galveston Bay area. This program will assist
local governments around Galveston Bay in providing public access to the bay and its
tributaries, while conserving wetlands and other special habitats.
As the Buffalo Bayou Partnership progresses with its land acquisition efforts, we hope
to collaborate with TPL on open space and conservation projects.
O AT I N G
B
on the Bayou
Mike Garver (center), immediate past chairman of the Buffalo
Bayou Partnership, receives the Landmark Quality of Life Award.
Pictured with Mike are: (left to right) Ed Lester, Stewart Title; J.
Fred Baca, Houston Realty Breakfast Club; Ed Wulfe, Wulfe & Co.;
and D’Artagnan Baker, Fox 26 News.
Anne Olson, Buffalo Bayou
Partnership president, received The
Park People’s 2002 Leadership
Award in recognition of her “outstanding commitment to the acquisition and development of park
lands and green corridors along
Buffalo Bayou.” The Leadership
Award was jointly presented to
Anne and her husband Tom, who is
director of Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s Sheldon Lake
Environmental Center and former executive director of the
Houston Arboretum & Nature Center. Tom was cited for his”outstanding commitment to preserving the natural world and using it
as a classroom for the education of young people.”
The “Downtown Yacht Cruise,” a new addition
to this year’s “Best of Buffalo Bayou” tour
series schedule, was a huge success on June 1.
The sold-out trip aboard a 51-foot yacht took
30 participants from Allen’s Landing down to the
Turning Basin at the Port of Houston, and back
downtown. Historian Janet Wagner provided
an interesting and educational guided tour
along the way. St. Arnold’s Brewery donated
refreshments for the cruise.
June 1 proved to be
a day of exciting
recreational activity
on Buffalo Bayou; nearly
10 large boats were
docked at the same time
at Allen’s Landing!
A fleet of Houston Yacht
Club members, who are
also power boat owners, switched course for a day, choosing to spend their
Saturday on Buffalo Bayou over Galveston Bay. With special permission from
the Coast Guard, they motored through the Turning Basin and ended up at
Allen’s Landing. They moored there to stretch their sea legs before heading
back to the bay.
NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
HOUSTON, TEXAS
PERMIT NO. 9469
Buffalo Bayou
Partnership
1113 Vine, Suite 200
Houston,TX 77002
713-752-0314
Mission Statement
“The Buffalo Bayou Partnership
serves as an advisory resource
and liaison among groups
pursuing development of Bayou
amenities and the many privateand public-sector entities with
interests in and/or jurisdictions
over various Bayou functions. It
also coordinates integration of
major amenities into the Bayou
Greenbelt and seeks ways to
increase community involvement
in Bayou-related activities.”
BUFFALO BAYOU PARTNERSHIP BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Besides being the home of major destinations like Sesquicentennial Park
and Allen’s Landing, Buffalo Bayou’s banks are lined with secret trails and
small natural gardens far off the beaten path.
Beginning with this newsletter issue, we will introduce you to these little
known spaces that make Buffalo Bayou such a unique urban oasis.
Officers
Toni Beauchamp, Chair
Gerald D. Higdon, Vice Chair
Susan Keeton, Secretary
Directors
Situated on the north side of Buffalo Bayou,
directly across Memorial Drive from the
Houston Police Officer’s Memorial, and just
steps from the bayou’s hike and bike trails, is a
slightly elevated pocket of land shaded by
mature oak
trees. Neatly
groomed paths
weave through
this quiet park,
which boasts
new metal
benches, trash
receptacles,
engraved moss
rocks, and
native perennial shade plants.
Unofficially
named “Jane’s
Garden,” this
peaceful outdoor, urban
retreat along Buffalo Bayou is a memorial to
Jane Howe Gregory, a Houstonian, a master
gardener, a nature enthusiast, an active community volunteer, a wife, and a friend, who died of
cancer in April 2001.
Jane’s family and friends wanted to honor
and celebrate her life in a way that would reflect
her passions and interests. They realized that
creating a small memorial garden in this ideal
location would provide not only a spot for private contemplation, but also would ensure a
place for the public to enjoy views of the downtown skyline, the bayou, and the nearby Henry
Moore sculpture. This commemorative project
was a collaborative effort of
the Buffalo
Bayou
Partnership,
City of
Houston Parks
and Recreation
Department,
Joint Villages
Parks and
Landscape
Committee,
Houston
Seminar and
Jane Gregory’s
family and friends. Those
involved in the project hope that Jane’s Garden
will be an example and an inspiration for the
creation of other pocket parks around Houston,
with an ultimate goal of enhancing our city’s
quality of life.
JANE’S GARDEN
In cooperation with the City of Houston Parks & Recreation
Department, the Buffalo Bayou Partnership is re-landscaping flower
beds along the Buffalo Bayou greenway with native grasses, wildflowers, and shrubs. If you would like to make a gift to our “Naturally
Native Landscaping Fund,” please contact us at 713-752-0314.
Holly Anawaty
Alan Atkinson
James C. Box
Brady Carruth
Claire Caudill
William M. Coats
Kay Crooker
Iris Cross
Algenita Scott Davis
Rey de la Reza
Marsha Dodson
Leslie Elkins
Robert M. Eury
D.V. “Sonny” Flores
James W. Fonteno, Jr.
William R. Franks
Pat George
Lainie Gordon
Lynne Johnson
Willie Jordan
Ann Kelsey
Truett Latimer
Eugene Lee
Caroline Quan Long
Diana Davila Martinez
Anne Mendolsohn
Georgianna Nichols
Sarah Peterson
Jack Rains
F. Max Schuette
Louis Sklar
Robert Smith, III
Terri Thomas
Dinah Acord Weems
Scott C. Wise
Anne Olson,
President
Aaron Tuley,
Director of Planning
Leigh Cutler,
Special Events /PR Assistant
Sara Stevens,
Planning Assistant
Ex-Officio Board
Mayor Lee Brown, City of Houston
Max Castillo, University of Houston - Downtown
John E. de Bessonet, Harris County Park Planning
Judge Robert Eckels, Harris County
Commissioner Jim Fonteno, Harris County Precinct Two
Guy Hagstette, Downtown District
Pat Henry, Texas Department of Transportation
Artie Lee Hinds, City of Houston Municipal Arts Commission
Thomas Kornegay, Port of Houston Authority
Commissioner El Franco Lee, Harris County Precinct One
Robert Litke, City of Houston Planning and Development Department
Barry Mandel, Theater District Association
Mike McClellan, White Oak Bayou Association
Roxan Okan-Vick, City of Houston Parks & Recreation Department
Commissioner Steve Radack, Harris County Precinct Three
John Sedlack, Metropolitan Transit Authority
Kevin Shanley, Bayou Preservation Association
Scott Slaney, American Society of Landscape Architects/Houston Chapter
Art Storey, Harris County Public Infrastructure Department
Michael Talbott, Harris County Flood Control District
Dawn Ulrich, City of Houston Convention & Entertainment Facilities
Department and Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau
Jon C. Vanden Bosch, City of Houston Public Works
& Engineering Department