From Juneteenth celebrations to Fourth of July happenings, here are 13 Sugar Land and Missouri City area events to add to your calendar this summer. This list is not comprehensive and details are subject to change.

Juneteenth Celebration: The 24th annual celebration will feature a family night out on June 19 followed by a parade and concert in the park on June 20.

• June 19, 6 p.m. & June 20, 6-11 p.m.

• Free (admission)

• 1340 Independence Blvd., Missouri City

Family Program: Wild Animals!:Wild Things Zoofari will be at the Sugar Land Branch Library to teach kids about animals, wildlife conservation and give them the chance to meet all kinds of exotic animals.

• June 24, 3-4 p.m.

• Free tickets (available starting one hour before showtime)

• 550 Eldridge Road, Sugar Land

Red, White & Boom: The Fourth of July celebration will feature fireworks, live music, inflatables and World Cup-themed activities. Residents may claim up to four complimentary tickets.

• July 4, 6-10 p.m.

• $14 (per ticket)

• 1 Stadium Drive, Sugar Land

Missouri City officials are seeking feedback for an update to the city's Parks, Recreation & Open Spaces Master Plan.

The five-year review and update to the 2021-2031 master plan aims to guide the next generation of park improvements across Missouri City, city officials announced in a June 5 Facebook post.

Get involved: Missouri City residents are encouraged to complete the online survey as city officials prepare to update the plan, according to the post.

The survey asks residents about how often they visit parks, their distance to a park as well as what they would like to see in future park updates and programming.

What else: The city will also host a public input meeting Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at Missouri City City Hall, located at 1522 Texas Parkway, Missouri City.

The Transportation Advocacy Group of the Houston Region, or TAG Houston, held a webinar on the future of advanced air mobility June 3.

What’s happening: Sergio Roman, Texas Department of Transportation's director of emerging aviation technology under the aviation division, led a “pragmatic discussion” on the future of advanced air mobility. This includes unmanned drones and electric vertical takeoff and landing—or eVTOL—aircraft, to transport people and materials.

“We've all seen all the marketing sketches and autonomous passengers, drones zipping over gridlocked highways and completely untethered from the realities of public policy, physical concrete or power grids,” Roman said.

Explained: In March, the Federal Aviation Administration bestowed TxDOT with Project Nexus under the integration pilot program, or eIPP.

While Project Nexus encompasses Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and the Choctaw Nation, Roman said Houston will make its role vital in this undertaking as an immense industrial coastal corridor.

On the horizon: “In a perfect world,” Roman believes Phase 3 would begin in August or September of 2028.

Need to catch up on Community Impact’s coverage from this week? Check out five trending stories in the Greater Houston area from June 8-12.

1. Vegetarian restaurant Simply South to open in Katy
2. EVO Entertainment is coming to Fulshear next year
3. New and upcoming stores in The Woodlands Mall
4. Doctors on inaugural year of Houston Methodist Willowbrook’s new OB-GYN residency
5. Katy ISD will use two stadiums for future graduations

As the 2026-27 school year nears, the number of people selected to participate in Texas’ education savings account program has topped 100,000.

The overview: To date, just over 102,000 students have been accepted into the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, which gives families state funds to send their children to private schools or homeschool them.

However, being awarded funds does not mean a student is guaranteed to be able to use that money at a participating private school this fall.

Zooming in: Over 2,600 private schools have been approved to accept TEFA funding, per the state comptroller's office. State law does not require schools participating in the program to accept all interested families.

Next steps: Families accepted into the program have until July 15 to do one of the following:

• Confirm enrollment at a private school involved in the program
• Notify the state of their homeschooling plans
• Opt out of the program