KEMAH, Texas - Plenty of people rang in 2019 at the Kemah Boardwalk, one of the few spots around the Greater Houston area still offering a big New Year’s party.
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and although New York, Chicago and Los Angeles all host New Year’s celebrations, Houston does not.
“Houston’s one of the biggest cities in the state,” said Katy resident Ariel Delgado, who traveled downtown thinking there would be fireworks. “I mean, how could they not have fireworks?”
The city put an end to its party in 2015, saying year after year, it had a hard time finding corporate and community sponsors to fund the event.
This year, Sugar Land isn’t having its New Year’s Eve bash, either, citing a budget shortfall.
"We run the city like a business,” Mayor Joe Zimmerman told KHOU over the summer, “and we have wants and we have needs. Needs are things that we have to fund. We have to fund waste water we have to fund streets."
It’s left Sugar Land residents looking for family fun somewhere else.
“Even though we live in Sugar Land, we decided to come down to the Marriott Marquis and spend some time hopefully ice skating, at Pappasito’s, and then spending some time in the heated pool,” said Robert Rodriguez.
Many Houstonians will ring in 2019 watching fireworks from a faraway city on TV with hopes that maybe next year, they’ll be closer to home.
“Maybe some sort of ball drop in New York style,” said Brady Weatherly, who is in town from College Station. “Something that will be more of an attraction to the city.”