Charity shopping event kicks off fall activities
This weekend’s Shop ‘Til You Drop organized by the CyFair Women’s Club is among a variety of events that local organizations are planning for the fall, including races, concerts and even a Halloweenthemed festival for pets.
Shop ‘Til You Drop will be the women’s club’s largest, featuring more than 300 vendors selling a variety of merchandise. Vendors will set up inside and outside Cy-Fair ISD’s 51,000-square-foot Berry Center, 8877 Barker Cypress in Cypress, during the free Sept. 12 event that will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with proceeds going to local charities and college scholarships.
“Last year’s event benefited 22 Cy-Fair ISD high students with scholarships,” club president Patricia Swagerty said.
Nonprofits that benefited from last year’s event include the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, Teen Life Center, Nabor House, St. Vincent De Paul Society, Boys and Girls Country, Langham Creek High School Band and Dream Dachshund Rescue.
It’s the women’s club’s biggest event of the year, and each of its 71 members contributes, Swagerty said. It originated as an annual craft show sponsored by the group in the late 1990s, according to the organization’s website, www.cyfairwomensclub.org.
This year, the club sold all vendor booths for the event weeks ahead of time and closed certain merchandise categories to ensure a better variety for the thousands of expected shoppers.
This year’s vendors feature local merchants and orga-
nizations selling manufactured and handmade items including clothing, jewelry, food, home décor and other products and services. Vendor fees help finance the club’s philanthropic endeavors throughout the year.
“I enjoy working with the club because I feel that I am a part of the Cy-Fair community and not just a resident,” Swagerty said. “It is important to help my community. I am proud of the work we do. I am making a difference in my community as a member of the Cy-Fair Women’s Club.” tobyMac coming
Other fall events at the Berry Center include two performances by Christian hip-hop artist tobyMac on Oct. 2-3 and the Cy-Fair school district’s health expo on Oct. 10.
Former dcTalk member tobyMac’s solo career continues to draw large audiences and critical acclaim. His “This is Not a Test” tour will make two stops at the Berry Center at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 2 and at 7 p.m. on Oct. 3. Presented by local Christian station KSBJ, tickets start at $30 and the concerts include three opening acts: Colton Dixon, Britt Nicole and Hollyn.
The school district’s second annual health expo will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 10 and will feature performances and demos of healthy activities for the family, with participation from more than 45 local vendors and groups. Tap dancing, cup stacking, jump rope, choirs and martial arts demonstrations are planned as part of the free event. Memorial Hermann is this year’s underwriter.
For more about events at the Berry Center, visit www.berrycenter.net. Fun on campus
This year’s Northwest Harris County Heart & Stroke Walk will be at Lone Star College-University Park on Oct. 3, while the community college district’s CyFair campus will offer a flag football breast cancer fundraiser on Oct. 20 and two weekends of performances of “Tuesdays with Morrie” presented by its drama department in November.
The 2015 Northwest Harris County Heart & Stroke Walk is set for 7:30 a.m. Oct. 3, this year at a new location at LSC-University Park, 20515 Texas 249 in Houston. The annual event is organized by the local chapter of the American Heart Association. It is free to participate, but walkers who raise at least $100 receive a Heart Walk T-shirt. Learn more at www.heartwalk.org.
A flag football tournament fundraiser benefiting the Susan G. Komen For the Cure will be at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 20 at the CyFair campus, 9191 Barker Cypress Road in Cypress. Administration, students, staff and faculty can participate by paying $5; food and prizes will be distributed afterward.
The play “Tuesdays with Morrie” will be performed Nov. 13-15 and Nov. 20-22 at Lone Star CollegeCyFair. Tickets are $18 for adults. The two-person production, written by Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom, follows Albom’s real-life re-connection with a former college professor suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Learn more at www. lonestar.edu. Art cars, tribute bands
A special event is planned almost every weekend this fall at Trader’s Village to draw a crowd to the 105-acre market at 7979 N. Eldridge Road in Houston. Highlights include the ninth annual Fiestas Patrias celebration on Sept. 13, the Rock and Pop Tribute Band Festival on Sept. 1920, the 14th annual Village Art Car Show on Oct. 4 and the 16th annual Boo Bash on Oct. 31. Admission is free for all events, but parking is $4 per vehicle.
To honor Fiestas Patrias, a Mexican holiday also known as Diez y Seis de Septiembre, Trader’s Village on Sept. 13 will present live music from Los Gavilanes De La Cumbia and Avizo featuring Chris Q and Shelly Lares.
Telemundo Houston, KTMD-TV Channel 47 will be on location broadcasting, and cultural activities will include cuisine, costumes and homage to folk heroes. Live music starts at 1 p.m.
The two-day Rock and Pop Tribute Band Festival will feature the music of classic rock artists popular in the 1960s through the ‘80s. Subdivided presents a tribute to Rush at 12:30 p.m. Sept. 19, Black Dog performs a tribute to Led Zeppelin at 2:30 p.m. and The Fab 5 salutes The Beatles at 4:30 p.m. On Sept. 20, Benestar pays homage to Pat Benatar at 12:30 p.m., Def Leggend performs the songs of Def Leppard at 2:30 p.m. and Infinite Journey performs as Journey at 4:30 p.m.
More than 75 art cars are expected to participate in the 14th annual Village Art Car Show beginning at 10 a.m. Oct. 4. Members of the Houston Art Car Klub are invited, and the cars will be on display under the gray covered expo area at Trader’s Village.
Guests are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes on Oct. 31 during the 16th annual Boo Bash event, and many of the more than 1,500 vendors at Trader’s Village will give out candy to youths during the market’s billed “monster-sized Trick-or-Treating” event. The event will be from 1-4 p.m. and live entertainment and spooky family activities are planned. Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department and Harris County 911 will display trucks and distribute goodie bags.
For more about events at Trader’s Village, visit www.tradersvillage.com/ houston or call 281-8905500. 3 plays
Three plays are the cornerstones to the new season at the Houston Family Arts Center, known for its family friendly theater and arts education offerings.
“Lend Me a Tenor” continues through Sept. 27, “Into the Woods” runs for four weeks beginning Oct. 16 and the stage adaptation of “It’s A Wonderful Life” opens the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and continues until Dec. 20.
Adult tickets for “Lend Me a Tenor” are $23. Written by Ken Ludwig, “Lend Me a Tenor” is a comedy set in 1936 that finds the fictional Cleveland Opera Company in need of a tenor when its production’s star overdoses on painkillers. Hilarity ensues when a stand-in fills the role and confusion runs rampant once the real performer regains consciousness.
“Into the Woods,” written by James Lapine with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, is a fantasy musical classic that blends characters from the “Cinderella,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Rapunzel” and “Little Red Riding Hood” fairy tales into a quest to break a wicked witch’s curse. It premiered on Broadway in 1987 and won several Tony awards. Its production on the Houston Family Arts Center’s stage is set for four weekends Oct. 16 through Nov. 8. Adult tickets are $26.
Just in time for the holidays, the local theater will present a Doug Rand adaptation of the screenplay of the 1946 movie “It’s A Wonderful Life,” Nov. 27 through Dec. 20. The heart-warming life story of George Bailey and how it all goes unexpectedly wrong one Christmas Eve morning has been a holiday favorite for generations.
The Houston Family Arts Center’s Garza Mainstage is at 10760 Grant Road in Houston. Learn more and buy tickets at www.houstonfac.com or call 281-685-6374. Doggie Halloween
A monthly farmer’s market and a Halloweenthemed festival for pets and their owners will bring the community out to Bridgeland this fall.
On every second Sunday from 12:30-3:30 p.m., a community-organized market features vendors selling fresh items including local produce, eggs from free-range chickens, goat cheese, honey, jellies, pasta and pickles in the parking lot at 16902 Bridgeland Landing in Cypress adjacent to Bridgeland activity center.
On Sept. 13, Stephanie Baker presents a class about fall gardening with a live performance by students from School of Rock in Cypress.
On Oct. 11, MB Vintage presents a class about essential oil with live music by Grifters and Shills.
The farmers market is at 16902 Bridgeland Landing in Cypress. Learn more at www.farmersmarketatbridgeland.org.
On Oct. 24, the community’s seventh annual Howl-O-Ween Fest will feature nationally known pet trainers and performers, and guests are encouraged to bring their dressed-up but leashed pets in costumes. The event will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.
Todd Oliver and his talking dogs will headline the event — he was recently a finalist on “America’s Got Talent” and has appeared on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” Also performing will be the canine and feline group Panfilov’s Performing Pets, which has appeared on stage at the Ringling Brothers Circus.
KTRK Channel 13 meteorologist Casey Curry will host a pooch fashion show, and the festival also includes kids’ activities, pumpkin decorating and trick-or-treating for pets.
Learn more at www. bridgeland.com/howl-oween-fest.
Bridgeland is between U.S. 290 and Interstate 10 on Fry Road. Golf fundraiser
The 2015 Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce FORE Cy-Fair Golf Tournament begins with an 11 a.m. shotgun start at Blackhorse Golf Club on Sept. 29.
Registration for chamber members begins at 9:30 a.m., and the public is invited to attend the 4 p.m. awards dinner, with tickets costing $25.
Sponsorships begin at $150.
Proceeds benefit the Adam Skinner Memorial Scholarship of the Cy-Fair Educational Foundation. Texas Emergency Care Center of Cypress is back for the fifth year as the event’s underwriter.
Blackhorse Golf Club is at 12205 Fry Road in Cypress. Project Pink
Raising money to support breast cancer research, the ninth annual Project Pink event is set from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 24 at North Cypress Medical Center. Single tickets are $65.
The event features lunch from Merche Restaurant, a fall fashion runway by Macy’s and speeches by physicians and breast-cancer survivors. The event usually sells out and in the past eight years, it has raised more than $300,000 for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Houston affiliate.
North Cypress Medical Center is at 21214 NW Freeway in Cypress. Learn more at http://ncmc-projectpink.com/.
Brandon Moeller is a freelance writer