The Big Bubble

You just have to wait till the tanks charge for the next excitement.

HAHA I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!!! It’s so silly and cute! If you’re a Houston fan, this is something you should do.
You press the secret button and a series of bubbles appear in the bayou.
Think of the story, «Oh yeah, yesterday I drove all the way downtown to push a secret button in Houston.»

I love quirky stuff and insider secretive things. The big bubble deff fits the bill.
I don’t live in Houston. In fact I live 3 hrs away and rarely visit. But when I’m here in town for the weekend, the big bubble is on my list to check out without a doubt.
The bridge is not hard to find. There are street parkings close by so no need to worry about that. I spotted the button right away and pushed it. BOOM! There it was! The big bubble merged in the middle of the river!!! Awesome sauce!!! Mission accomplished! I then pushed it again and again. Oh how addicting!
I bet lots locals pass by it everyday but know nothing about it. Guess what? I do and I don’t even live here. Haha! Gotta love the power of Unilocal!BOOM!

It didn’t work!

Worlds biggest disappointment. No bubbles anywhere. Even had a second person run up and down bridge on both sides and nuthin.
Be prepared for nothing happening

Choose who you decide to take here wisely. Some may ceaselessly complain that you forced them to make a long, treacherous journey in the scorching heat that can only be described as Houston summer only to find a well-​hidden button that simply makes bubbles in a murky river.
They may even complain about the walk on a chilly Houston winter’s day. We’re talking 50 F on the day I went. Others (like me, a bit nerdier than the rest) may find the adventure to find the secret button thrilling and pressing the button itself quite enjoyable.
It’s something fun to do when you’re already in the Theater District or nearby area for some reason or another. But at the end of the day it’s exactly what you imagine it to be: a button that makes bubbles in water.

Am I glad I saw it? Of course!
It’s not worth going out of your way to visit, but if you are having a lazy stroll along the bayou I would consider it a must.
Once you get to Preston street, the red button is fairly easy to find on the southeast pillar of the bridge. It’s a small red button at street level overlooking the bayou.
I pushed it three or four times and all of us enjoyed the spectacle.

This is a fun semi-​city secret. So happy to find the bubble has a Unilocal page of its own!

How could you not like pressing a button in downtown Houston and watching Buffalo Bayou start to bubble! The longer you hold it the better it gets. I find myself alway stopping here when running through Buffalo Bayou Park. It’s a great way to release stress or relax.

While the fiancé had 2 weeks off of work and I couldn’t stand the boredom that was setting in and he was sitting around pouting about having nothing to do I remembered seeing this on reddit and thought we should go check it out.
It is a little bit hard to find but well worth it. It is probably best to go with another person so you can stand on the bridge and watch the bubble appear. It is pretty cool. Definitely a quirky cool thing to do to kill a bit of time when in downtown Houston.

Use Edgar’s review below for great directions! Yes it is a unique thing to do, no doubt, but half the fun was finding it.
Best done while doing a series of things like a scavenger hunt or checking out town since I can’t help but think one may be disappointed by the boring bulge of bubbles in the bayou. Still worth the drive for a first timer!

I was expecting a huge spectacle of a bubble but I was still satisfied with making the bayou gurgle a bit.
You have to be quick when you press the button. In order to see the full effect of the bubble you have to run to the center of the bridge.
For optimal bubble viewing, bring a friend to push the button.
Definitely worth pressing the button but would not go out of your way to find the bubble, unless you are just dying to check it off your list.

It’s a button. It’s red. You push it. A noise emerges from somewhere yonder. You scurry to the middle of the bridge. The sound and emergence of air bubbles brings me back to my childhood when farting in a pool would bring me much joy.
Thanks Houston. Xoxo

Forget that there are wonderful fountains around the corner, we searched high and low for about 20 minutes until we realized that the button was ON the bridge. Perhaps if I had read reviews by my friendsters I would have known this… Whoops.
(So to reiterate… it’s on Preston Street Bridge in the pillar closest to Wortham Theater.)
A few recommendations:
1) Do not go after a big rain. The bubbles we saw were more like a bit of a bayou burp.
2) Perhaps during the fall or winter would be best when the foliage isn’t blocking the view right from the button pushing location. (We ran back and forth from the button pushing location to a point in the bridge to watch the two second burp)
3) Enjoy a bit of the rest of the bayou — perhaps roll down the grassy hill?
I feel that I have done my civic duty by aerating the bayou. Your welcome Houston. Your tax payers didn’t even pay for my service.

Somehow I find myself doing scavenger hunt-​like things with fellow Unilocaler and friend, Karen N. This weekend was no exception as we hunted for the big bubble.
We had no clue where to find the bubble and it’s not clearly marked. It’s located in the first pillar ON the bridge. And from where you press the button you cannot see the bubble so press and prepare to run to the middle of the bridge. There’s time to get there for a second or two of bubbles in the water.
Spent about an hour looking for it to find we were parked maybe 200ft from it to begin with. No harm, no foul. Do it.

Oooh baby, baby, ba-​babybaybe, oohh baby baybeh.
Just push it.
Get up on this (bridge). The red button’s on the Preston side, next to Wortham.
It’s free and mysterious, then you see it gurgling. *
Ah, push it. Push it real good.
*Unfortunately, my last visit did not yield said results. The bayou may have been too flooded.

Saw button.
Pressed button.
Waited.
Bubble appeared.
Left satisfied.
A++ WOULD PRESS AGAIN

Who couldn’t love The Big Bubble? Once you discover the magic behind making The Big Bubble happen, you can sit entranced for a good while. For example, I amused myself for a solid 15 minutes. Your mileage may vary.
As Melissa, Kimberly, and David have all noted in their reviews (Hey! How come they got to this before me?), there is no plaque, sign, or other overt note to tell you what the big red button is for. Press the button, listen to the air pump kick on, and then the Big Bubble flooshes in Buffalo Bayou. The recharging takes about 10 seconds but you can press it all day for free.
I peered over the rail to see if anyone was passing by (kayak, bike, or pedestrian on the path) so I could time the bubble and hopefully surprise them. I can report that I must have tried a dozen times but either I was off or the other person wasn’t looking at the bayou at the right time. And, I couldn’t just yell from my perch: «Hey, you! Look over there!» (waving my arm). I think they would’ve thought I was a nut. Correction: I think the pair of Canadians that I talked to on their audio tour may have thought so.
So, back to pushing the button for kicks. It’s art, it’s helping to aerate the bayou, and it’s a cheap bit of goofy entertainment. All a good thing.
Recap so you can go enjoy it for yourself:
1. Next to Wortham Theater (home of the Houston Grand Opera) downtown.
2. There are 7 pillars of art. Find the end closest to the Preston Street Bridge.
3. The pillar on that bridge second from the end is the one you want.
4. At the base of the pillar is the big red button.
5. Push the button. Peek over the rail to your right to the bayou.
6. Watch the bayou bubble up.
7. Giggle or squeal if you want. (purely optional)
Parking: You can park in the main post office lot for up to 30 minutes for free and walk the one block past the George H.W. Bush (the elder, not the younger) monument. Have fun, y’all!

So much fun!!!
Although if it weren’t for Melissa M.‘s great directions we probably wouldn’t have found it! So thank you Melissa!
We were wandering downtown with my friend from Holland and I remembered reading about this and thought it would be fun to visit. I mean c’mon how fun is it to make the water fart? In truth, pretty darn fun, especially if you have the sense of humor of a 13 year old boy, like my friend and I do. I’m not I can add much more than the other reviewers but if you get a chance, check it out.
It’s free, it’s silly and it will make you giggle. What more can you ask for?

Who doesn’t love something unexpected and cool? While reading something on the internet, I stumbled across a little article about something called «The Big Bubble» and became intrigued. An art installation piece by Dean Ruck and commissioned by the city and it’s been there since 1998? I had to see it.
Located in Buffalo Bayou, at the Preston Street Bridge, it’s easy enough to find if you know what you are looking for. You can park on Preston and then head to the bayou. On the second of seven pillars (the Seven Wonders pillars) there is a red button tucked underneath and on the wall. There is no information, plaque, or anything to tell you what the red button is for… it’s part of the mystery. If you are brave enough to push the button, then quickly look over the side of the bridge for the second part.
As you look over the side of the bridge, a huge amount of air is released, resulting in: The Big Bubble!
The big bubble was commissioned by the city because aeration of slow moving water is necessary, but adding the bit of mystery and interactivity makes it super cool. It doesn’t work every time (they had it offline the first time we tried it, we assume for maintenance) you push the button but when it does work it doesn’t take long for the air to refill into whatever tank holds it below the surface (10 seconds). Also, it will periodically release the air on its own for aeration purposes if no one has pushed the button recently.
Go check it out for yourself and be a part of Houston art.