I look for the large yellow metal contraption on top of the warehouse every time I drive down Studemont/Studewood near I-10. I am still unsure if it is related to the train tracks nearby, if it is a smokestack of some sort, may be a water tower or something else entirely. But, that shape has stood atop that building for as long as I can remember passing it. It has always had the text “Arne’s” on it, and somehow I have always associated wholesale priced party supplies. It seems like a Houston rite of passage to identify the many products one can find inside the walls of Arne’s Warehouse.

Started by Arnold Grossman in 1976, the retailer is able to stock not only Party Supplies (claiming to host a Texas Sized Selection) imported for a small markup passed on to the consumer, but still beats most other competitors prices. Additionally, Arne’s has an Annex for Pet Supplies and more.

As I plan my daughter’s upcoming birthday, I am pretty excited to see what I will find, but I also am happy to support a locally owned business well before just shopping the web for similar or the same products.

The track this week is Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration”. It seems to fit the location well enough, and while this is random, I do remember seeing Kool & The Gang play The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in the early to mid nineties. For the many ways that one parent influenced my musical tastes over the other, somehow still, my Father was excited to see “Jungle Boogie” performed live. I am missing rodeo right now, thanks to Covid changing a second year of performances. But, I will rely on memories for now, even if it was weird seeing funk being played on a rotating stage above a stadium floor of manure and dirt.

But, while we are at it, let’s find the things in our lives worth celebrating and letting loose a little bit. And as always, take care of one another, y’all.