Playland Park (Houston, Texas)

Playland Park was an amusement park formerly located in San Antonio, Texas. Playland Park opened in 1943 and was owned by Jimmy Johnson. Prior to this it operated as a small venue at Brackenridge Park. It was the original home of The Rocket, a popular wooden roller coaster currently located at Knoebels Amusement Resort. Ed Gaida, who lived at Playland Park and had access to records and archives, wrote a book about the park and its owner. Playland Park closed on September 1, 1980. For several decades, the original "Playland" sign stood at the original gate as the last remnant of the park. Today, the location is a campus of the Alamo Colleges District and no trace remains of the original park. Playland Park of San Antonio, Texas should not be confused with Playland Park of Houston, Texas which operated around the same time and had a wooden roller coaster similarly named The Skyrocket. These two parks operated independently of each other.

The Giant Skyrocket was a wooden roller coaster designed and built by Audley Ingersoll in 1924 for the now defunct Luna Park in Houston Texas. The roller coaster is significant for a variety of reasons. It is one of the largest roller coasters ever built and was Houston's first major roller coaster. It was later relocated to Houston's Playland Park with involvement by John A. Miller and H. S. Smith before ultimately being closed in the early 1960s.

On November 5, 2021, a fatal crowd crush occurred during the Astroworld Festival, an annual musical event hosted by American rapper Travis Scott. The event was hosted at NRG Park in Houston, Texas. Eight people were pronounced dead on the day of the incident, and two more died in the hospital over the following days. The Harris County medical examiner’s office declared the cause of death to be compressive asphyxiation, while the manner of death was ruled as an accident.On June 29, 2023, a Texas grand jury declined to indict Scott or anyone else associated with the concert.

NRG Stadium (previously known as Reliant Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. Construction was completed in 2002, at a cost of $352 million and has a seating capacity of 72,220. It was the first NFL facility to have a retractable roof.The stadium is the home of the National Football League's Houston Texans, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Texas Bowl, many of the United States men's national soccer team's matches, Mexico national football team friendlies where El Tri serves as the host, and other events. The stadium served as the host facility for Super Bowls XXXVIII (2004) and LI (2017), and WrestleMania 25 (2009). The stadium will host the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship and multiple matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.NRG Stadium is part of a collection of venues (including the Astrodome), which are collectively called NRG Park. The entire complex is named for NRG Energy under a 32-year, $300 million naming rights deal in 2000.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, also called RodeoHouston or abbreviated HLSR, is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the exception of 2021 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously held in the Astrodome. It is considered to be the city's "signature event", much like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Dallas's Texas State Fair, San Diego's Comic-Con and New York City's New Year's Eve at Times Square.In 2017, attendance reached a record high of 2,611,176 people and 33,000 volunteers. In 2007, the rodeo was deemed "the year of the volunteer." The event is 20 days long. It is kicked off by the Downtown Rodeo Roundup held near Houston City Hall, the Downtown Rodeo parade, and the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run – a 10k and 5k walk & run and the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. The show features championship rodeo action, livestock competitions, concerts, a carnival, pig racing, barbecue and the Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition, shopping, sales and livestock auctions. Traditional trail rides, which start in different areas of Texas and end in Houston, precede the Rodeo events. The City of Houston celebrates this event with Go Texan Day, where residents are encouraged to dress in western wear the Friday before the rodeo begins.The rodeo has drawn some of the world's biggest recording artists, including Gene Autry, Beyoncé, blink-182, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Selena, Reba McEntire, Kiss, Kelly Clarkson, Demi Lovato, Charley Pride, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Alan Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Janet Jackson, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Kenny Chesney, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, John Legend, Taylor Swift, Gwen Stefani, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others.

Bo's Place, established in 1990, is a nonprofit organization based in Houston, Texas. It offers free support programs for children, ages 3 to 18, and their families who have experienced the death of a child or an adult in their immediate family, as well as programs for grieving adults. Services include grief support groups offered in English and Spanish, community outreach programs, education and training, and an information and referral line staffed by mental health professionals. The referral line assists individuals that have experienced a death as well as family, friends, co-workers or other concerned individuals who want guidance to support the bereaved. Bo's Place serves over 1,200 children and adults each year and families stay an average of 14 to 16 months. Bo's Place is funded by donations. Approximately 40% of Bo's Place revenue comes from special events such as its Annual Hearts of Hope Luncheon, with the remainder sourced from foundations, corporations, faith-based organizations, individuals and other organizations. Bo's Place is not a United Way organization and does not receive government funding.

Carruth Plaza is a Western sculpture garden in Houston, Texas. It is part of NRG Park. Completed in 2003, the plaza was named after Allen H. "Buddy" Carruth, former chairman of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

The Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston Presented by the Greater Houston Honda Dealers was an annual auto race on the IndyCar Series circuit. It was held in a street circuit located in downtown Houston for four years, then returned after a four-year hiatus for two years on a course laid out in the parking lot of the Reliant/NRG Park complex. Before resuming in 2013, the last race was held on April 22, 2007, (with the IRL merger canceling the 2008 event just two months prior to the event).

NRG Park, formerly Reliant Park and Astrodomain, is a complex in Houston, named after the energy company NRG Energy. It is located on Kirby Drive at the South Loop West Freeway (I-610). This complex of buildings encompasses 350 acres (1.4 km2) of land and consists of four venues: NRG Stadium, NRG Center, NRG Arena and the NRG Astrodome. The complex hosts many sporting events and conventions each year, the largest of which are Houston Texans home games, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The complex is served by the Stadium Park / Astrodome station, a light rail station on the Red Line of the METRORail light rail system. It also includes one of the world's largest parking lots (holding 26,000 total) and sees nearly 750 events yearly. Until 2005, the lot also served as a parking lot for Six Flags Astroworld, which has since closed. Since 2018, it served as the site of the Astroworld Festival, an annual music festival run by Travis Scott, which became the site of a deadly crowd crush in 2021.

Colt Stadium was a Major League baseball stadium that formerly stood in Houston, Texas. It was the temporary home of the expansion Houston Colt .45s for their first three seasons (1962–1964) while the Astrodome was being built, just to the south of it. After its use in Houston, it was dismantled and moved for use in two Mexican cities.

The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas, United States. It was financed and assisted in development by Roy Hofheinz, mayor of Houston and known for pioneering modern stadiums. Construction on the stadium began in 1963, more than a year after the ceremonial groundbreaking, and it officially opened in 1965. It served as home to the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1965 until 1999, and the home to the Houston Oilers of the American Football League (AFL)/National Football League (NFL) from 1968 until 1996, and also the part-time home of the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1971 until 1975. Additionally, the Astrodome was the primary venue of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo from 1966 until 2002. When opened, it was named the Harris County Domed Stadium and was nicknamed the "Eighth Wonder of the World". After the original natural grass playing surface died, the Astrodome became the first major sports venue to install artificial turf in 1966, which became known as AstroTurf. In another technological first, the Astrodome featured the "Astrolite", which was the first animated scoreboard. The stadium was renovated in 1988–1989, expanding seating and altering many original features. By the 1990s, the Astrodome was becoming obsolete. Unable to secure a new stadium, Oilers owner Bud Adams moved the team to Tennessee after 1996, and became the Tennessee Titans in 1999. The Astros played at the dome through 1999, then relocated to Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park) in 2000. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo continued to be held at the Astrodome until the opening of the adjacent NRG Stadium in 2002 (which coincided with the debut of the Houston Texans, the team that replaced the Oilers). Although the Astrodome no longer had any primary tenants, it regularly hosted events during the early 2000s. It was used as a shelter for residents of New Orleans affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Astrodome was declared non-compliant with fire code by the Houston Fire Department in 2008 and parts of it were demolished in 2013 after several years of disuse. In 2014, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Texas Cyclone was a wooden roller coaster at the defunct Six Flags AstroWorld in Houston, Texas. Designed by Don Rosser and William Cobb, it was manufactured by Frontier Construction Company and opened to the public on June 12, 1976. Well-known for its airtime, the roller coaster was 93 feet (28 m) tall, 3,180 feet (970 m) long, and had a ride time of two minutes and fifteen seconds. Texas Cyclone was modeled after the original Coney Island Cyclone, which AstroWorld had originally intended to purchase and move to their park before realizing the process would be too expensive.