Welcome to this week's "Gish Picks", where I highlight family-oriented cultural events, products or services. Please note that I "highlight" these events, but I don't know if they are appropriate for your particular children, so choose wisely based on age, maturity and interests.

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Now, GO FIND FUN!

THE CONROE SYMPHONY SALUTES OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE MILITARY.

This sounds fun! The Conroe Symphony Orchestra ends their season with an old- fashioned patriotic concert next Tuesday, June 30 at 6pm at the Ark Family Church. “A Salute to the Armed Forces” was organized in honor of those who have or are currently serving in the military and will include favorites such as “The Star Spangled Banner”, “Camptown Races”, and “Stars and Stripes.” As is tradition for the Conroe Symphony, service personnel in uniform, including military, law enforcement, fire department and emergency services personnel, and their immediate families, will be admitted to the concert at no charge. Don’t eat before you go, because immediately following the concert, there will be a hot dog cookout outdoors at the new Ark Church pavilion.

Tickets are $15/adults and $5/children under 12; group discounts are available. The Ark Family Church is located at 450 Humble Tank Road in Conroe.

WELL, "HELLO, DOLLY!".

The Music Ministries of Bellaire United Methodist Church presents "Hello, Dolly!" which includes a cast of four children, seven youth and more than two dozen adults all the way into their seventies! The story, based on Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, is of a widow in the late 1890s who dabbles in many things to make a living, and has become quite the adept matchmaker and “professional meddler.” Dolly decides it is time to rejoin the living and sets her sights on one Horace Vandergelder, the well-known Yonkers “half-a-millionaire” to be her next husband. After two (purposely) ill-fated attempts at matching Horace up, Dolly finally reels in her man after leaving him dazed, confused and unable to get her out of his mind.

Performances are this Friday, June 26 and Saturday, June 27 at 7pm and Sunday, June 28 at 3pm in the Family Life Center of Bellaire United Methodist Church, 4417 Bellaire Boulevard. Tickets are $12/adults and $8/children under 12 and will be sold at the door as available. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the church office during the week, by calling 713.666.2167, or emailing music@bellaireumc.org.

CHILDREN ARE WELCOME AT THE HOUSTON POLO CLUB.

If you think polo is out of your league or not for you because you have kids, guess again. The Houston Polo Club has opened their games to members and non-members alike – tickets are only $15 (open seating) and $20 (reserved seating). To make it more fun for families, the Club has a special “Children’s Chukker” tent that will have rotating activities just for kids each week. Organizations under the tent this season were Monart School of Art; Imagination Campus; The Health Museum; UH College of Technology Robotic Camps and Art Mix Creative Learning Center. Get on your pony and ride on down this Sunday, June 28 at 6pm because it’s the last match of the season. Happy trails!

THIS WEEK'S ATTRACTION...HOUSTON'S TUNNELS. For more attractions, go to www.gishcreative.com/attractions.htm.

Boy, is it hot…so I have a cool suggestion for you: downtown Houston’s tunnel system where breezes are always blowing (and not just from the swish of business people!). Years ago, the tunnel system started as a link between two movie theatres and today it’s more than six miles long, providing access to hundreds of restaurants and retailers. My son and I traipsed that underworld the other day and had a great time. Time your visit around lunchtime so you can take advantage of one of the many food vendors and make sure you pop upstairs every once in awhile to see the historic and commercial buildings. The tunnel is a great place for pure exercise and fun window shopping as well as a chance to see majestic views of Houston. The tunnels are connected to a series of modern skywalks as well as observation decks at JPMorgan Chase Tower (600 Travis), which at 75 stories tall is the tallest building in Houston, and one of the top 10 buildings in the United States. The observation deck is on the 60th floor and is open during business hours. Wells Fargo Plaza (1000 Louisiana) is the second tallest building in Houston with 71 stories and the tallest all-glass-exterior building in the Western Hemisphere. You can take an elevator up to the 58th floor to get a wonderful view of Houston. The tunnel system is only open during business hours, Mondays through Fridays from 6am-6pm.

The Houston Downtown Management District publishes a fine map of downtown that includes the tunnel system as well as lots of information on their website. Sandra Lord of Discover Houston Tours takes folks through the tunnels weekdays and Houston Greeters (www.houstongreeters.org) will also tour the tunnels by request.

HERE'S A PARTY FOR ADULTS: DIVERSEWORKS PRESENTS "LUCK OF THE DRAW 8: WHEN ART ATTACKS!"

DiverseWorks transforms into a hunting ground for devoted art fanatics, (aka Art Zombies), during "Luck of the Draw 8: When Art Attacks!" next Wednesday, July 1, at 6:30pm at DiverseWorks Artspace, 1117 East Freeway. This is a chance to see my photographs as well as those of my son, Alexander Buchanan (pictured). This unique fundraiser is geared to making collecting contemporary and local art an easy task. Avid collectors can choose to purchase one (or more) of the Top 20 Art Chance Exclusive Access tickets for $250/each to be among the first to choose from the more than 200 fabulous artworks featured. Or if you're a prudent collector, a $125 Art Chance ticket gives you a shot at one of the remaining artworks in the auction. All artworks in "Luck of the Draw 8" are approximately 8.5” x 11” and created by renowned artists including Sharon Engelstein, Floyd Newsum, Beth Secor, and Howard Sherman. Both the Top 20 Art Chance Exclusive Access ticket and the Art Chance ticket include admission to the party. And if you just want to party with the DW crowd, DiverseWorks welcomes you with a downright cheap $25 ticket. The art chance and admission ticket allows you to eat all the delicious nibbles from Catering by Culinaire, enjoy libations by Real Ale Brewing Company and Dripping Springs Vodka and laugh endlessly at the comic patter of auction master of ceremonies Nancy Ford. Funds raised by the DiverseWorks 2009 Summer Auction benefit the arts and arts education programs budget of DiverseWorks Artspace.

Tickets for "Luck of the Draw 8: When Art Attacks!" may be purchased online, on site or by calling 713.335.3445.

DREAM TREE: TEXAS CHILDREN’S INVITES KIDS TO SHARE THEIR DREAM.

Texas Children’s Hospital has had a dream of building a community children’s hospital in West Houston. They’re so excited that this dream is coming true that they are inviting school-aged children (K and up) from the area to share their dreams - wishes for themselves, their family or friends – to be featured in a special “Dream Tree” celebration. On July 8th, Texas Children’s is “topping out” the West Campus construction site--a ceremony where a tree is raised to the highest point of the completed beam structure. The “Dream Tree” will be decorated with colorful ribbons, each representing a dream submitted by a local child. It will be displayed on the top of the West Campus building for all to see. In addition, six lucky children, selected by random drawing from all dream submissions, will be featured in the ceremony to help raise the Dream Tree, and all dreams will be displayed on the Texas Children’s website. There is no cost involved…just plenty of good imagination! Texas Children’s goal is to gather dreams from children all over the greater Houston area especially since experts say dreaming is healthy for kids.

Hurry and submit your child’s dream before June 30th! Submit online or visit at any of five West Houston area YMCA locations: Langham Creek Family YMCA; Clay Road Family YMCA; Katy Family YMCA; Alief Branch YMCA; and Cypress Creek Branch YMCA.

Sarah Gish
Gish Creative
1940-A Fountainview, PMB 116
Houston, Texas 77057
phone/fax: 713.532.1173

email: sarah@gishcreative.com
web: www.gishcreative.com
and: www.thesummerbook.com
and: www.saveourlandmarks.org

© 2009 Sarah Gish

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