Bayou City Art Festival, volunteer review

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Upon entering the festival was this eye-catching painted van.

Ramina Nejad

Ramina Nejad

Upon entering the festival was this eye-catching painted van.

The Bayou City Art Festival is an annual outdoor festival held in Houston that showcases over 300 artists from all around the world. Westside’s National Honor Society (NHS)  had the privilege to volunteer at this commemorative event, along with volunteers for clubs and organizations from all over Houston. When you first entered, you noticed that the festival was packed with visitors, it was engaging, and made volunteering even more special. There were booths for all types of art, painting, ceramics, photography, even booths with funky clothes and home decorations. Several of the NHS students were assigned to help out in the Kid’s Creative Zone, which was essentially an area with multiple booths, that provided young kids arts and crafts opportunities,  such as painting and making dog puppets. Meeting other people volunteering, both from school organizations, as well as adults, looking to give back to their communities. Westside senior Giovanna Enriquez described her experience:

Ramina Nejad
Westside Senior, Giovanna Enriquez, helps out at the arts and crafts booth by making dog puppets for the kids.

“I didn’t know how big the festival would be until I actually got there. The kid’s section where I volunteered was full of different activities and I actually got to participate as well as help the kids. Everything from the art to the food trucks was colorful and creative, it was really fun being in the environment as a whole.”

One of the popular features to the festival were the rows of Houston emerging Food Truck scene.  Known nationally as a “foodie town”, Houston’s local fare is booming.  With straight up traditional spots like The Waffle Bus and Mexican Street Bites, to fusion trucks, where the lines were long.  Pho-jita Fusion, Krishna’s Cuisine, Gypsy Wagon, and Casian King, just to name a few.     From Tex-Mex to all-American burgers, vegan and vegetarian options, got you full, then the organic desserts from Pop Fancy Pops kept you cool!

After their volunteering shifts, our NHS’ers extra time to explore the rest of the festival, which could have been overwhelming considering the grand size of the whole event, but everything  was clearly marked and mapped out for ease of foot traffic. There were plenty of unique exhibits, including an entire area dedicated to sculpted zoo animals, as well as hyper realistic paintings that you’d never guess were painted by human hands. The best part of all of this was that since they  volunteered, the students were able to enjoy the festival at no extra charge.  With the perfect weekend weather, and variety of displays, students who thought they were just going to get needed NHS hours, were treated to a fun day.