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Houston Art Car Experience 2024

You never know how far the imagination can go ​unless you visit the Art Car Parade & other vehicle events in Houston

Dates: April 11–14, 2024

Houston Art Car Experience
Houston Art Car Experience
Houston Art Car Experience

The Houston Art Car Experience (including the Houston Art Car Parade) is an annual event, featuring a display of the most amazing and fantastic vehicles you have ever seen. Claimed to be Houston's biggest free public event, it lasts for three days, drawing around 200 thousand spectators from all walks of life. As a visitor, you'll witness over 250 works of art, including cars, bicycles, motorcycles, roller-skaters, and lots of other motorized and human-powered vehicles, decorated in various themes. This is a holiday for all the crazy engineers and designers.

Main Street Drag & Art Car Sneak Peek

The first day of the festival opens with Main Street Drag–basically, a mini-parade during which car artists travel to nearby hospitals, school, nursing centres, and other locations to show off the miniature versions of the main parade. This approach allows people who couldn't normally attend, experience the parade. This get-together is planned between 9 am and 1 pm. On the same day, head to Discovery Green to get a glimpse of approximately 100 cars, SLABs, and contraptions that will be featured in the parade. The show is open from 6 to 10 pm.

The Legendary Art Car Ball

On the next day, you'll have an opportunity to enjoy the Legendary Art Car Ball–a huge show, featuring live music, food & drinks, art installations, illuminated art cars, and other performances. People dress up in wild festive costumes and join thousands of like-minders at the Orange Show World Headquarters 8-acre campus to enjoy the glittering vehicle spectacle like no other. It's open from 6 to 11 pm, and you'll have to buy a ticket for this one.

Houston Art Car Parade & More

The third day of the festival also promises a ton of fun activities. For example, you can join The Lineup Party to have a drink see how car performers get ready for the parade. The shindig starts early–at 11 am. Meanwhile, your kids are welcome to relish The Creative H-E-B zone with food stalls, interactive projects, and one-off workshops from Houston's top creative institutions. Afterwards, enjoy the actual parade, which starts at 2 pm.

The 300 participants of the parade will have you curious, shocked, and intrigued as they showcase their stunning creations. Some of the participants travel hundreds of kilometers from all over the States and other countries. Every year, the complexity and quality of the art cars improve and increase, so you'll definitely be surprised. The festival wraps up with an Awards Ceremony that allows to see whose cars were top-tier in terms of creativity and technical characteristics.

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Last updated: by Eleonora Provozin