Houston celebrates 713 Day early at Giant Texas Distillers 8%
By Elizabeth Conley0% Tanya Babbar14% Staff Writers0%
7/12/2026, 10:20:05 PM
Keywords: Treatz Made By Thicca, Tajin, Htx, Gofundme, Abc13, Z Ro, Brittany Scranton, Jon Martinez, Mike, Houstonians, Dennis Hagans, Clutch City Cruisers
BS Summary: This article contains 27 faulty reasoning types, including Representativeness Heuristic, Appeal to Authority, and Availability Heuristic, with Anecdotal as the most egregious example at 8.4% saturation with 94 hits. Analysis detected 1,049 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,119 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 24.8% and a BS Rank of 8% (20,160 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 92.10% of the article peer group.
'We create our own way': Houston celebrates 713 Day with slabs, barbecue and local music
By Elizabeth Conley , Tanya Babbar , Staff Writers July 12, 2026
To the sound of rapper Z-Ro and the smell of barbecue, Houstonians celebrated 713 Day a little early on Sunday.
Hou City Fest held 713 Day on Sunday afternoon and evening at Giant Texas Distillers in East Houston.
The day kicked off at 11:30 a.m at Market Square Park with a ride to the distillery led by bike club Clutch City Cruisers.
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Once the party had moved to the distillery parking lot, hundreds of people celebrated through rain, heat and humidity, everything that makes Houston Houston.
Vendors sold tacos, beer, watermelon, barbecue, deep fried Oreos, crochet, Rockets and DJ-Screw T-Shirts, Henna and dirty sodas.
A little beyond the sea of vendors, Houston's iconic slabs stole the show.
The car owners lounged in front of them with their social media handles painted on the windows.
Jon Martinez, known on Instagram and license plate as Bagd Lac, stood in front of his purple slab, rhapsodizing about how it feels to drive it.
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“Oh man, we feel like we run the whole road,” Martinez said.
“We hog the whole lane, you know what I mean?”
Martinez was born into the slab culture.
Since he was little, Martinez said, he can remember people in his life and the slabs they had.
The treasure of it all is hard to explain to someone not from here, he said.
“We poke out for a reason,” Martinez said of swangas on their wheels.
“We take control of the lane … We run our own vibe.”
“One thing about Houston is that we create our own way,” he added.
Vendor Brittany Scranton, whose business goes by “Treatz Made By Thicca,” stood near her booth of funnel cakes, hot Cheetos boudin balls and deep-fried Twinkies as it started to drizzle.
Sheltering under an event tent before getting back to business, Scranton hesitated to say too much about her native city.
If you say too much about Houston, more people might move here, she said.
“But hey, we love y’all,” Scranton said.
“Houston is the place to be, the place to grow family.”
Scranton also came to celebrate the life of Miguel Padilla, better known as Mike in Houston’s slab community.
Padilla was killed in a shooting outside Paradise City gentleman's club in April, ABC13 reported .
Padilla was “lovingly known as ‘Nawfside Linco’” and was a “proud member of the Blue Line,” slab group, according to his GoFundMe.
“Mike brought people together through his love for the scene,” according to the fundraiser page.
“Everywhere he went, he brought energy, unity, and unforgettable moments.
But beyond the cars and the culture, Mike was a loving father, devoted husband, and a true provider.”
Sunday’s celebration saw every age, from toddlers and their parents to teens with pocket money and adults with Tajin-rimmed cocktails.
No one was out of place.
“They always say don’t leave Houston on a Sunday, so you know, 713 Day today is only right,” said Dennis Hagans, owner of the Chicken Coop HTX, a food truck out of Humble.
“A lot of people, whenever I travel, and I tell them Houston, I tell them Texas, they kind of think cowboys and ranchers,” Hagans said.
“But then whenever you really start thinking about Houston, they’re like oh, the cars, and the rims and the music, right?
So, it’s really that whole culture that brings everything out.”
Senior Staff Photographer
Elizabeth Conley is a senior staff photographer for the Houston Chronicle.
She can be reached at elizabeth.conley@houstonchronicle.com .
With over 20 years of experience, Elizabeth has been a Gerald Loeb finalist and recognized for her work by the National Press Photographers Association, Texas APME, Editor and Publisher Magazine and Michigan Press Photographers Association.
She is was an International Women’s Media Foundation fellow (Tanzania, 2017), an International Journalism for Environmental Reporting fellow (North Dakota, 2016), a Kalish Photo Editing fellow (Ball State, 2010) and a Kiplinger Fellowship for Public Affairs at Ohio State University (Columbus, 2009).
Elizabeth moved to Houston from Detroit after working over a decade at The Detroit News, specializing in long-term multimedia projects and sports photography.
Having been a professional photojournalist for over 20 years, she still feels she has the best job in the world every time someone lets her share their story.
Check out more of her photos by following her on Instagram and Twitter .
Breaking News Reporter
Tanya Babbar is a breaking news reporter for the Houston Chronicle.
Before returning to Houston, Tanya was a Hearst Fellow who covered business news in Connecticut for CT Insider.
She also previously worked as a general assignment reporter for the Chronicle.
She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2024.
While in college, she covered culture for The Pitt News and worked as an editorial intern for TribLive.com, Public Source and The Pittsburgh Media Partnership.
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