Recently in Events Category

Yeah, about that - is the current shirt you're donning boring, ratty or simply pitted out thanks to this crizazy heat and you're looking for the next fashion statement to add to your 'robe?

Well then do we have some good news pour vous! 

IBC is thrilled to unveil their latest addition to your fine tee collection and we'd like to invite you to join us all next Friday, July 22nd from 5:30-8pm at Riptide Surf Bar (also one of our fine 2011 Beach Revue sponsors!) to check it out!

The fine folks at Riptide will be offering us some fab happy hour drink specials - AND they are offering their spectacular seawall view completely free of charge!!!

So we hope you'll plan on joining us - come sip a drink, share a laugh, peek at the shirt.  You can even try your hand at winning one by "pinning the tail on the donkey" (that's actually a little hint at the shirt design!) and if you don't win, you can always buy one if you like it!  

...We think you'll like it! :) 

Friday, July 22nd 5:30-8pm
Riptide Surf Bar (904 Ave M...  9th & Seawall) 

The Galveston Historical Foundation is beginning a series of History on Tap events in which a local venue will be paired with a wine, spirit, or beer and there will be a short lecture on each.  Tonight at 7pm, the first such pairing will be held on the Elissa and the beverage of choice is none other than Elissa India Pale Ale made by the St. Arnold's Brewery in Houston (and it is fantastic by the way).

 

The first two beers come free with your $20 admission ticket (sales start at 6:30).  There will be a presentation on the making of Elissa (the beer) and why they chose Elissa (the Ship) to be the namesake.  There will be another presentation on the commencement of the effort to raise money to help Elissa (ship) sail again.  Additional beers can be purchased for $3 each.

So if you're wondering what to do this saturday night, come join us on board for a brew and know that you're helping the cause of keeping her sailing!

 

*picture of tall ship elissa courtesy of the GHF

I hope everyone is planning on attending (if not participating in!) the upcoming annual 4th of July Parade and Celebration on Monday, July 4th!

The parade will start at 10am at the Galveston Railroad Museum (check 'em out - they're open 7 days a week now!) and will end at the same place with FREE hot dogs and lemonade - plus an awards ceremony for the parade entries! 

IBC will be there again with the Bathing Beauties of the Galveston Island Beach Revue and we invite you to come catch some beads, eat some dogs and celebrate the birthday of our country.

 

 

Left: 2009 parading Bathing Beauties (pictured: Cindy Buckley, David McGivern, Dana Blue, Secelia Garrett, Carly Oquendo, Chandler Rainey, Klayre Lewis, Katrina Leonard, and Melozi Scott) Right: 2010 parading Bathing Beauties (pictured: Catherine Stroud, Scott Moga, Alicia Cahill, Alice Berry as "Miss Formica Dinette", Michael Morris, Peggy Davenport, Claire Leger, Dana Blue, Natalie Hardin)

And a gigantic thanks to our armed forces - past, present and future for serving to protect this place for all of us.

Blast!  There is a list of reasons why it sometimes stinks to work on the weekends - especially on an Island where fun, unique events are a common occurance... That and the fact that weekend days are often enjoyed pool - or beach - side with a frosty beverage in hand; which I've found to be a widely frowned upon thing to have in hand while at work... 

"Clean Galveston's" annual Back Garden Tour is another.  We have yet to be able to attend this fantastic event but continue to hear rave reviews from even the blackest-thumbed attendees (or whatever color is the true opposite of green).  Translation: you don't have to be a master gardener to enjoy the beauty and visual appeal of a well designed, executed and manicured backyard.  Plus, flowers are pretty.

The gist is this: tickets can be purchased in advance for $7 bucks.  They're $10 the day of and the hours are: Saturday June 4th from 10am-5pm and Sunday June 5th from 12 noon to 5pm.  (No after-hours backyard lurking, please -- unless you've been personally invited by the owner!)

There are 8 private backyard gardens on tour this year and you can purchase tickets at a number of locations.  Tickets are available for purchase online at http://www.cleangalveston.org/events.html and at galveston.com as well as area businesses including Tom's Thumb Nursery (2014 45th), Speedy's Printing (715 24th), Eiband's (2201 Postoffice), J Bangle's Silk Stocking Gallery (1124 25th) or the Galveston Wreath Co (1515 19th).

So get out there and enjoy how clean our Island is - maybe with a bit of sunblock too... Sheesh who turned the heat up the past few days?! 
 

**Rain dates are the following week, June 11th & 12th - just in case... 

Well, it's official.  This year's Beach Revue was another success.  I can't say enough about the Friday night Bands & Bombshells music groups who performed (The Brandon McDermott Band and The John Evans Band), the folks who dressed up and attended the downtown event, and our glorious contestants in Saturday's Bathing Beauties Contest.  Whoo-whee.  The ladies really got down to business this year.  And when I say business, I mean they brought IT.  The outfits and accessories this year blew us (and the judges) away.  And our winners really proved what this event is all about, borrowing a recipe from the Island's past and adding that extra something that pushes it over the top.

Winners are:  Crowd Favorite - Traci Lynn Cowart; 2nd Runner-up - Alice Berry; 1st Runner-up - Annette Green; and Winner - Alana Anderson.

We at Islander By Choice hope that many of you attended and enjoyed the events as much as we did, and we hope that you will continue to help make the Beach Revue a great Galveston Island event.

And finally, here's a great-big THANK YOU to all of our sponsors and individuals who assisted in making this year's Beach Revue happen.  THANK YOU!

Here's to next year...

 

Just a quick general invitation to the upcoming Memorial Day Ceremony that will be held at Seawolf Park (51st Street bridge towards TAMUG/Pelican Island, take it to the very end of the road, and you're there!) on Monday, May 30th at 11am.

FREE ADMISSION and PARKING folks - can't beat that!  From 10:30-11:30am.

They'll have a few speakers from various military branches, "Tolling of the Bell" and "Laying of the Wreath". 

Sounds like a nice thing to attend on a very important day...

(PS. Check out the Cavalla while you're over there!)

That's right boys and girls.  Unless the rapture gets us this weekend, the 2011 Galveston Island Beach Revue is upon us.  Fasten your seatbelts.

In case you need to get familiar with all that the Beach Revue entails, click here.

And in case you need some helpful hints and tips for the weekend, click here.

Otherwise, it's time to get all vintage-like and kick-off the summer season on Galveston Island.

See you there...

 

I'm sorry, that is simply not an excuse ladies and gentlemen! IBC wants YOU - all of you - yeah you too looking over the shoulder there - to enter the Galveston Island Beach Revue Bathing Beauties Contest!

There are so many ways to get a smashing outfit:

1.  The Internet.  You may have heard of it - invented by Al Gore, perfected by Chuck Norris, tainted by Snooki.  So go to Ebay, Etsy, and the entire list here that are for sale online: http://www.ibcgalveston.com/beachrevue/links.html

2.  Get out a rolling pin and the flour: we're making our own suits! (I'm obviously not a seamstress) Same link, see "patterns" http://www.ibcgalveston.com/beachrevue/links.html
(also, we met the folks over at Galveston Island Costumes yesterday who mentioned t
hat, if they have the right fabric on hand, can turn around a custom swimsuit in 2 weeks!)

3. Raid your grandma's closet.  Just check.  Please leave her arthritis shoes, though - she needs them!

4.  Go shopping!  Galveston has so many antique stores and many of them do occasionally get swimwear in, so go check it out!  Also, the Houston area (Montrose and the like) have some great vintage stores (Buffalo Exchange, Retropolis, Re-Play, etc) so just do a quick online search and get started!

5.  Borrow one!  Ask any former contestant and he or she will be able to share their stories of shopping, we can assure you!  PS.  IBC has a small cache of a few vintage suits that we are willing to loan out in moments of catastrophic-swimsuit-tailoring-disasters or just out of sheer desperation.  Don't forget - the judges are brand new each year, so just because a suit's been worn at the Revue in the past doesn't mean it doesn't have a chance to shine on you in the winners circle!

So get out there people - there are only 15 days left til the Revue!  Happy hunting!
 

There's a lot going on this weekend - it's the first weekend of GHF's Historic Homes Tour, Mother's Day is Sunday, and on Saturday there's the Trinity Episcopal School's Annual Crawfish Boil.  The Crawfish Boil is at 7pm on May 7th and is $35 bucks a head.  You can find it at 7822 Channelview Drive.

There's also a 1K and 5K Fun Run Saturday morning starting at Trinity (23rd & Winnie) at 7am and you can pickup packets thru Friday (tomorrow) at Fit To Run, 528 23rd Street.  (If you haven't stopped by to see Kimberly and Steve's new larger and fantastic retail space, please do - it's great and they are stocked full of great running gear, accessories and eats: everything that's "Fit to Eat"!)  For more info, call the Race hotline at 409-765-9391 ext 117.

Happy touring, running, eating, and mothering this weekend! ;)
 

Who loves Artwalk?!

Everyone I suppose and here's another reason why: "TWELVE" which is the latest artistic idea from the folks at Willthing will be ON at the next Artwalk, Saturday April 30th (inside "Edna's Room" adjacent to The Grand Opera House). 

I know I'm really excited about this showing because I have always loved photography - especially "amateur" photography, that is - a really cool shot taken by some Joe Schmo with no real training or expertise - just their eye, a lens and how they see something.  Thanks to digital cameras these days, it doesn't matter that I'm not very good at it, but I really do like the thought of seeing people's individual perspective of something through how they take a photo of it.

So twelve different people - all Islanders - have been armed with the same exact camera for the past couple months given the same task: capture Galveston.  One could expect an "expected" outcome:  the student takes pictures of their friends on campus, the City worker takes pictures of their job site, the historic homeowner takes pictures of their Weekend Warrior works. 

BUT, since Galveston isn't a status-quo kinda place, and we all know that her inhabitants are not status-quo kinda folks, I think we might be in for a few surprises.

And I think we're gonna get to see some pretty cool photos.