Last Saturday Bill and I attended Ney Day on the grounds of the Elisabet Ney Museum in the Hyde Park neighborhood. The event honored the legacy of sculptor Elizabet Ney by celebrating women in the arts, sciences, and civic culture. This year’s Ney Day was originally scheduled for mid-May, but had to be postponed due to rain. Saturday was warm and sunny—perfect weather for an outdoor festival.
The spring version of the Pecan Street Festival took over Sixth Street (also known as Pecan Street) last weekend. In honor of its 40th anniversary, this outdoor arts and music festival has been designated as a “Heritage Event” by the City of Austin.
Beautiful spring weather was on tap for the 60th annual Zilker Garden Festival. One of the vendors told me that the weather has been wonderful for the ten years that she’s had a booth there. The annual Zilker Kite Festival, also held in Zilker Park few weeks earlier, has not been so fortunate in recent years.
Home Slice Pizza had unusually beautiful fall weather for their 11th annual Carnival O’ Pizza. This event had been delayed almost two months due to stormy weather back in September. However, last Saturday’s November weather was carnival-perfect!
In spite of overcast skies, the 21st annual Texas Book Festival attracted large crowds on both Saturday and Sunday. For the first time that I remember, the House and Senate chambers were not used. Sessions were held in nearby churches (First Methodist, First Baptist, and Central Presbyterian), Omni Austin Hotel, Paramount Theatre, and large outdoor tents. Capitol Extension rooms were also used, but many of those sessions reached their room capacity. The children’s area was relocated to Congress Avenue. The C-SPAN2 tent was moved to just south of the capitol grounds, so traffic noise was no longer a problem.
The Viva la Vida festival and parade filled downtown Austin with brightly-colored costumes and lively music on Saturday afternoon. This annual event celebrating Mexico’s Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) was sponsored by the Mexic-Arte Museum.
Bill and I always enjoy meeting friends at the annual Oktoberfest sponsored by the German-Texan Heritage Society. Held on the grounds of the German Free School on 10th Street, this annual celebration features authentic German music, food, and of course, beer.
Sunday was a full day at ACL Fest Weekend 2. The weather was lovely, and Bill and I enjoyed almost every band that we saw. Our only disappointment was that we couldn’t hear Willie Nelson. An unusually large crowd prevented us from getting close to the stage, and then we were surrounded by groups of loud talkers. We finally moved on to another stage, which worked out OK since we subsequently discovered Miike Snow. (Not to worry…Willie lives outside of Austin, and we get to see him often.)
The weather was warm and sunny for Day 2 of Weekend 2 for the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Afternoon highs reached about 90°—still hot enough to drain your energy and require a mid-afternoon milkshake from Amy’s Ice Cream. Bill and I wondered how we had survived those 100°+ days in past years.
Bill and I are attending the second weekend of the 2016 Austin City Limits Music Festival. ACL Fest is celebrating its 15th year—we’ve been at ten of those festivals—and every year there are a few changes. This year one of the main stages has been relocated, which relieves crowding around the food court, but doesn’t help with noise bleed. There seem to be fewer port-a-potties (including some new flushable versions), so it’s a long wait to use one.