Main Street belongs to VIVA Sunday.

Sunday is already spoken for.

Main Street belongs to VIVA Beaumont from three to eight, downtown, and is completely free. We’ll be there, so if you see the love, Beaumont table, come say hello. I would genuinely love to meet the people on the other side of this email.

But don’t skip straight to Sunday.

Friday night, the Art Museum has Lotería, and the tickets are free. You do have to claim one, which feels like a very Beaumont kind of assignment: free fun, but somebody still needs you to handle one small piece of business first.

Over at Lamar, a new play opens this week, directed by a Groves girl who chose a story set in a tiny Oklahoma oil town because it reminded her of home. Southeast Texas recognizing itself in Oklahoma. I like that already.

And this afternoon, City Council is voting on a proposed garden that, so far, nobody has voted against.

A festival, free Lotería, a play that feels a little like us, and maybe a new garden before the day is over.

Beaumont gave me plenty to work with this week.

Seven yeses and a garden

The gist: Seven people voted on this last month. Seven people said yes.

The plan is for 1.5 acres just south of 2060 Irving Avenue, near Saint Anthony Street and the Charlton-Pollard Alumni Memorial Park, and it is a lot more than a few garden beds.

Raised beds. Fruit trees. Greenhouses. Composting. A small aquaponics display. Even an outdoor kitchen with a brick oven.

Christopher Jones and the South End Charlton-Pollard Greater Historic Community Association have held the lease since April, when City Council approved it for five years. They want school field trips, volunteer workdays, harvest days, and neighbors actually growing food together.

Planning and Zoning signed off last month. City Council takes up the plans at 1:30 this afternoon.

Why it matters: The South End lost its grocery access years ago, and now the people who live there are asking for room to grow food themselves. So far, every person asked to vote on it has said yes.

TUESDAY

Department of Art and Design Faculty and Staff Exhibition · through Friday, 9 am to 4 pm · Dishman Art Museum

Cattail Marsh Van Tours · 2:30 pm Tuesday, 9:30 am Thursday · Cattail Marsh · registration required

Swing Out Civic Club · lessons 7:30 to 9:30 pm Tuesday, $7 · dance 9 pm to 2 am Friday, $10 · BYOB

America 250: Three Presidents · through Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm · Stark Museum of Art, Orange · free Lincoln, Grant and Garfield. Worth the drive.

WEDNESDAY

Business Development Group Meeting · 9 am · 1800 Lakeshore Drive, Port Arthur · guest speaker Brandon Willis

America 250: Three Presidents · through Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm · Stark Museum of Art, Orange · free

The Color Orange Exhibition · through Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm · Stark Museum of Art, Orange · free

THURSDAY

BBB Professional Women's Conference · 8 am · Doggett Ford Park · tickets required

Fall 2026 SETX Nonprofit Exchange · 10 am to noon · Southeast Texas Nonprofit Development Center · registration required

Art in Motion: Yoga in the Gallery · 5:30 pm · AMSET · free, registration required

Hamilton Loomis · 7 pm · Bayou Cafe, Vidor

Melon Jelly Second Thursday Blues Jam · 7 to 10 pm · Crazy Cajun

John Conlee · doors 7 pm · Honky Tonk Texas, Silsbee · $25

Thursday Night Tournaments · 7 to 10 pm · Soggy Bottom Saloon · poker and pool · happy hour until 9

FRIDAY

SETX Women of Influence September Meeting · 9:45 to 11 am · Wesley Methodist Church

Speakeasy Friday at Bon Vivant · from 3 pm · Bon Vivant

Deaf DJ Nico DiMarco · 6 pm · Rockin A Cafe · $20, $10 B3 personnel, free for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind guests

Lotería Night at AMSET · doors 6, games 6:30 · AMSET · free ticket required

Classic Movie Night: West Side Story · doors 6, film 7 · Jefferson Theatre · $6 adults, $4 children

Melon Jelly · 7 pm · Texas Rose Saloon

SATURDAY

Beaumont Farmers Market · 8 to 11 am · Beaumont Athletic Complex · free · also Kid's Day

SETX Sickle Cell Walk and Block Party · sign-in 8, walk 9 · Crockett Street · $15 · performance by MzzButtaBabii

Community 5K Run/Walk · 9 am · Claiborne West Park, Vidor

Peaches & Prosecco: Fall Into Fitness · 9 am to noon · 6165 Muela Creek Drive

Critters & Creatures: Animal Crossing · 9 am to 4 pm · Beaumont Children's Museum · $8 children, $6 adults

Yoga at Cattail Marsh · 9:30 to 10:30 am · Cattail Marsh · free, registration required

Art Day · 10:30 am to 10 pm · The Yogurt Bar

DNCE's Mid-County Crafty Fall Market · 11 am Saturday through 6 pm Sunday · Central Mall, Port Arthur

Keegan McInroe · 7 pm · Riverside Tavern, Port Neches · free

Salsa at For The Record with Grupo Batacha · 8 pm to midnight · For The Record

SUNDAY

Grandparent's Day · 11 am to 9:30 pm · The Yogurt Bar

VIVA Beaumont Hispanic Heritage Festival · 3 to 8 pm · Main Street downtown · free

Hymn Fest · 5 to 6:30 pm · St. Mark's Episcopal Church · free

COMING UP

Crosswalks: Downtown Walking Tour · Fridays and Saturdays starting Sept 18, 5 pm · $20 · meeting spot comes with the ticket

ABRA Cadabra: Celebrating the Music and Magic of ABBA · Friday, Sept 18, doors 6:30, show 7:30 · Jefferson Theatre

Bored Teachers: Is It Friday Yet? Comedy Tour · Saturday, Sept 19, doors 6:30, show 7:30 · Jefferson Theatre

Go 4 The Bell Gala · Saturday, Sept 19, 7 pm · Beaumont Civic Center · dinner, auctions, Chris Cagle and the Jamie Talbert Band · tables and sponsorships still open

See Everything Happening →

A Groves girl picked a play that looked like home

Caitlin Parker grew up in Groves and went to Lamar. So when it came time to choose the play that would open Lamar's theatre season, she picked one set in Kingfisher, Oklahoma.

Small town. Oil money. Everybody knows everybody's business. Religion running underneath all of it.

Not exactly unfamiliar territory.

Parker told the Beaumont Enterprise that people raised in the South rarely get to see stories onstage that feel like the places they came from. So she put one here.

The play is Tim Blake Nelson's Eye of God, and fair warning, it is dark. A young woman named Ainsley marries a man she has been writing to in prison, and he will not tell her what put him there. Alexia White plays Ainsley. Lamar senior Bailey Jenkins plays Jack and says it is his favorite role he has had at the university.

But here is the part I really like.

The students are sharing the stage with professional actors Joseph Lyle Taylor and Jay Sullivan, both of whom have performed at Lamar before. Taylor plays the town sheriff.

His deputies are freshmen.

First semester of college, and your scene partner does this for a living. Parker says Taylor has taken those freshmen under his wing, and that working beside a professional gives young actors something a classroom cannot duplicate. They get to see how the work is done while they are doing it. Onstage. In front of an audience.

That is a pretty good first semester.

One note before you make plans: Eye of God contains mature material, so this is not a take-the-kids night.

Performances are September 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, and 19 at 7:30 PM, with 2:30 PM matinees on September 13 and 20, in Lamar University's Studio Theatre.

Tickets and details →

Reporting by Andy Coughlan for the Beaumont Enterprise.

Practical things that make life around here a little easier.

10 things Southeast Texans keep in the trunk

Hurricane season runs through November 30, and after Edouard last week, this feels like a pretty good time to check the trunk.

We’re usually pretty good about getting the house ready. The car is easier to forget.

You don’t need to turn it into a survival bunker. A few useful things tucked in the back can make a power outage, a long wait, or one of those very Southeast Texas weather days much easier.

1. A charged power bank.
A car charger only works if the car starts.

2. A gallon of water.
Two if you have the room.

3. Food that can handle a Beaumont trunk in September.
Crackers, jerky, nuts. Not chocolate. You know what September will do to that.

4. A real flashlight.
Your phone is the thing you’re trying to save.

5. Bug spray.
Because Southeast Texas.

6. An old towel and a dry pair of shoes.
You already know why.

7. A printed insurance card and a few important phone numbers on paper.
Turns out we keep an awful lot of important information inside something with a battery.

8. Cash in small bills.
Handy when the power is out, and the card reader is too.

9. A basic first aid kit.
Keep medications with you instead. A hot Beaumont trunk is no place for them.

10. Keep the tank at least half full during hurricane season.
Much easier to do on an ordinary Tuesday than when everybody in town suddenly has the same idea.

And since you’re already doing the responsible-adult thing, give me two more minutes.

Sign up for STAN, the Southeast Texas Alerting Network, so important local emergency and weather notices can come straight to your phone.

And if someone in your household has medical, mobility, transportation, or other needs that could require extra assistance during an emergency, register them with STEAR by calling 2-1-1.

That’s it.

This isn’t doom. It’s just living here, same as knowing which streets hold water and keeping bug spray within reach.

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Give your AI a drawer

One last thing before Byte by Byte moves out of love, Beaumont.

If you use AI for more than one part of your life, start using Projects. ChatGPT calls them Projects. Claude does too, if you’re on a paid plan.

The easiest way I know to explain a Project is a drawer.

One drawer is Vacation. Inside it go the hotel ideas, the flight research, the budget, the packing list, and every conversation about that trip. Close the drawer.

Another one is Work. Different conversations, different files, different instructions. Nothing from the vacation drawer is sitting out on the counter while you are trying to work.

That is a Project.

I use them to keep my businesses separate. love, Beaumont has its own. Lovebug Party has its own. When I open one, everything that belongs to that work is already there.

So here is your last assignment. Pick the one thing you keep coming back to and give it a drawer.

It clicks the moment you stop thinking of it as a tech feature and start thinking of it as a place to put your stuff.

And with that, six weeks of Byte by Byte is a wrap. There is plenty more worth showing you, it just does not belong in a Beaumont newsletter, so I am giving it a place of its own. I run two businesses by myself. AI does the busy work. I'll show you how I'm building it.

If you want to come along, hit reply with BYTE and I'll put you on the list. If you don't, nothing changes here. love, Beaumont stays about Beaumont.

The good stuff is out there; it's just scattered across a dozen places nobody has time to check. Gathering it up is the whole job.

Pick one thing in here and go do it. Then tell somebody about it.

See you around town.

Jenny Lee · Locally written. Community trusted.