‘Founder’s Day’ joins ‘Thunder Festival’ on Houston ballots in holiday showdown

What you need to know:

• Houston voters will decide in October whether to make the third Saturday of August an official city holiday for Houston Founder’s Day. The ballot question was added through a resident-initiated proposition.
• The Founder’s Day proposal was prompted by a separate measure that would designate the private Matanuska Thunder Festival as an official city holiday. That event is held each June at a cannabis-themed campground.
• If both measures pass, both dates will be formally recognized as city holidays. Election Day is Oct. 7. Early voting begins Sept. 22.

HOUSTON — Whether a Houston city celebration held each August should become an official holiday will go before city voters in October as the second of two related ballot questions.

The proposition, placed on the ballot through a resident-filed petition, asks whether the city should designate the third Saturday of each August as an official city holiday for Houston Founder’s Day.

The City Council tabled a similar ballot proposal during a regular meeting Thursday because it duplicated the petition-backed measure. Mayor Carter Cole placed it on the agenda to ensure the question appeared on the ballot, regardless of whether citizens gathered enough signatures, Cole said during the meeting.

About 80 Houston voters signed the ballot proposition petition, City Clerk Tani Weiber Schoneman said Thursday. About 70 signatures were required for approval.

The Founder’s Day proposition joins a separate ballot question asking whether an annual private event known as the Matanuska Thunder Festival should become an official city holiday. Cole introduced that proposal in May and the council approved it in June.

The festival, also known as Matanuska Thunder Funk, is hosted in late June and paid for by Houston Grass Station Campground. The name is a play on a potent cannabis strain known as “Matanuska Thunder F—,” or MTF. The strain is sold at Houston Grass Station, a cannabis shop adjacent to the campground. The festival is family friendly and does not include any cannabis themes, organizers said in May.

Houston Founder’s Day honors the city’s history, according to the ballot measure. A version of the celebration has been held annually for decades, Cole said.

Founder’s Day is currently hosted by the city and funded through donations and city funding, he said. Costs totaled about $17,000 last year, according to city budget documents.

In recent years, Founder’s Day has included an evening parade, pie-eating contest, children’s games and a fireworks display, according to event schedules. It is held outside the city’s public safety building and draws hundreds of visitors.

The new ballot question is intended to give residents an alternative holiday option if they do not support the Thunder Festival, Houston resident Bonnie Lilley said in an interview last month. Lilley said she helped gather signatures for the effort.

“I oppose having a marijuana strain name as our official holiday for Houston,” Lilley said. “In order to have something on the ballot where there’s more than one option for a holiday, we gathered a petition to have it on the ballot.”

Houston resident Ron Bass, who owns both Houston Grass Station and Houston Grass Station Campground and originally requested the Matanuska Thunder Festival measure, said he supports having both options.

“This shows that you’re stepping up and being here for the city because you’re giving the city something -- a very important holiday,” he said during public comment Thursday. “I hope this didn’t come out with the holiday that we put on the ballot and didn’t turn into a negative situation or negative thought. But if it did inspire you to make Houston Founder’s Day a holiday also, I’ll take it.”

If both holiday measures pass, both dates will be officially recognized in the city code.

Election Day in Houston is scheduled for Oct. 7. Early voting begins Sept. 22.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at abushatz@matsusentinel.com