The NoTsuOh festival

The Heritage Society revives a Coronation Ball that occurred in the early 1900s

Duke Ensell as 2020 King Nottoc XIX and C. C. Ensell as 2020 Queen Ailongam III (left). Justice Ken Wise as 2021 King Nottoc XX and Sara Wise as 2021 Queen Ailongam IV (middle). The Heritage Society's President Minnette Boesel. The Honorable Joe Jaworski, former Mayor of Galveston and attorney as our Master of Ceremonies (right). The Heritage Society at The Ballroom at Bayou Place. Photo Credit: Priscilla Dickson.

Time Travel to a Period of Kings and Queens in Downtown Houston NoTsuOh was a historic, week-long festival in Downtown Houston that promoted Texas agriculture, commerce, & trade in the early 1900s.  Local, prominent businesspeople were crowned for their contributions to Houston, and the whole town celebrated with festivals, crowded parades, decorated buildings, fanciful costumes, floats on Buffalo Bayou, and football games. If you are wondering why the word NoTsuOh looks strangely familiar, that is because […]

Houstonians and The Heritage Society Revive a Coronation Ball

King and Queen Duke and C.C. Ensell NoTsuOh 2020, Photo Credit:  Priscilla Dickson

The Heritage Society recreates a Downtown business tradition that occurred in the early 1900s Did you know that Houston once had kings and queens who ruled over a week-long Mardi Gras like festival with a backward theme? On Friday, May 7, 2021, a new NoTsuOh king and queen will be crowned at The Heritage Society’s Coronation Gala, to be held at The Ballroom at Bayou Place, at 500 Texas Avenue. “The NoTsuOh festival is one of the great traditions from early Houston that brought Texans together in Downtown to launch agriculture and trade,” Alison Ayres Bell, executive director of The Heritage Society, said. “From 1899 to 1915, merchants came […]