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For: White Linen Night in the Heights 2008

Contact:  Karen Mann 713.703.0520 Karen@karenmann.com

Attached: Photo of White Linen Night Retail Display

SULTRY, STEAMY, EXOTIC WHITE LINEN NIGHT HEATS UP –

DISCOVER THE HEIGHTS TREASURES –

OUTDOOR MARKETS, ART GALLERIES, SHOPS, LIVE MUSIC, FASHION, FOOD, AND COOL SUMMER DRINKS. 

Houston Heights, March 13, 2008 for Immediate Release:  White Linen Night in the Heights - The event is Saturday, August 2, 2008, 4pm-10pm, and the area is the Houston Heights, home to more professional artists than any other area in Texas. The Heights is Houston's most unHouston-like neighborhood. Houston's oldest planned community circa 1890, the Heights’ Victorian and classic Bungalow architecture provide a contrasting backdrop for the modern, hip, eclectic, funky, chic, and quirky goings-on during the event - White Linen Night in the Heights. It’s home to many notable best-ofs, quirky bars, and offbeat markets. And these are atypical markets - selling herbs, homemade soaps, organic vegetables, and then the other kind that sells original art outdoors and designer olive oil and entertains with live music, freshly-hand-rolled cigars, and kegs of free beer and more. Hot southern nights just beg for this kind of thing. 

THE EVENT: 

Billed last year by the organizers as sultry, steamy, exotic, and artfully provocative, White Linen Night brought out an estimated 13,000 visitors in its first year. 20,000 in its second. This year, from 4:00 to 10:00pm, art lovers will wear white linen and take to the Heights streets - one of the hottest professional art scenes in Texas - and an area that promises “small town cool in the center of the big city.” The event, a celebration of art, culture, and community, will offer complimentary cooling summer drinks and recipes sponsored and provided by Bacardi, entertainment, boutiques and shops, art galleries, fresh hand-rolled cigars in a number of locations, some of the best restaurants in Houston, and eclectic bars - with free (matching) white pedi-cabs, motorized rickshaws, and shuttles for transportation. White Linen banners will identify the participating shops, restaurants, and galleries. Visitors will stroll in their white linen, sip beverages, browse, listen to music, shop, hail a pedi-cab or catch a shuttle from boutique, to restaurant, to gallery, to bar, to market, and back again. Admission, transportation, and parking are free. 

THE DAY:

Conveniently, this day in August is also Heights 1st Saturday, from 10am - 6pm. Originally a brainchild of a small band of visionary and dedicated small-business owners, it brings visitors to the neighborhood to discover the Heights’ best-kept secrets. The first Saturday of every month, Heights 1st Saturdays have been happening since 2001, when the eclectic boutiques, antiques shops, and the Yale Street Arts Market open their doors, plan special events, artists show and sell their work, and musicians play outdoors. Free shuttles carry visitors from business to business, providing some historical-and-otherwise insights into this unusual culturally and architecturally diverse and quirky neighborhood.

 MORE TO DO: 

Many best-of-the-best call the Heights home. Crowned so by a local alternative arts and entertainment magazine and by the somewhat stuffier and more mainstream Houston Business Journal, the Heights boasts the best chicken-fried steak, best new restaurant in Houston, best tacos and homemade salsas, best native plants, and best late-night restaurant (24 hours to be precise). With names like The Boom Boom Room, Jimmy’s Ice House, Eclectic Home, Glass Wall Restaurant, Jubilee, Tansu, Urban Rendezvous, M2 Gallery, The Homestead, Oolala, and the famous Harolds in the Heights, visitors can expect something for every taste. And be satisfied. 

AFTER HOURS: 

After the bars close and the party’s over, it’s all within 5 minutes of downtown and some of the most hip boutique hotels – like the newest transformation of the Warwick: Hotel Zaza, The Hotel Derek, Hotel Icon, the Magnolia Hotel, and then there is the Inn at the Ballpark if you want to be able to walk to watch the game on Sunday. More information can be found at www.WhiteLinenNightHeights.com or by calling Karen Mann at 713.703.0520. 

When: August 2, 2008, 4:00 pm – 10:00 pm (extended hours!)

Where: Houston Heights - 19th Street, Studewood, White Oak, Heights Blvd, Washington, Yale

What: Art, entertainment, shopping, white linen fashion, dining & eclectic bars, signature drinks

Why: Champion art, culture & community, a New Orleans/Heights-style Saturday night in August

Who: Art galleries, retail boutiques, restaurants, eclectic bars, professional businesses

Free shuttles, free parking, complimentary hospitality receptions, more info at www.WhiteLinenNightHeights.com  (300 DPI PHOTOS AVAILABLE)        

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