The Texas State Cemetery is located between East Seventh and Eleventh Streets. The main entrance is actually on Navasota Street through the middle of the Visitor Center . This building was designed to resemble the barracks at the Alamo and contains a display about our state’s history.
The 22nd annual Texas Book Festival took over the Texas State Capitol and surrounding blocks this weekend. I attended sessions on both Saturday and Sunday. Several were at the huge CSPAN tent on 12th Street, and the rest were in the Capitol Extension building.
Last week Bill and I attended the induction ceremony for the 2017 Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. This always-popular event at the ACL Moody Theater quickly sold out, so we were lucky to get tickets. No photography was permitted, so I was only able to take photos before and after the actual show.
Sponsored by the Mexic-Arte Museum, Viva la Vida (Live Life) celebrated the Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) holiday. The parade started at noon and traveled along East Sixth Street before turning south for two blocks on Congress Avenue. A corresponding festival with food, displays, children’s crafts, and entertainment was set up on the streets near the museum.
Love to Death: Day of the Dead Community Altars is now open at the Mexic-Arte Museum on Congress Avenue. In conjunction with the museum’s Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) celebration, these altars (ofrendas) were created by members of the local community to memorialize deceased loved ones.
Each year Bill and I catch up with friends at the Oktoberfest celebration at the German Free School on East 10th Street. This festival doesn’t attract a huge crowd, which is why we like to meet there. It is sponsored by the German-Texas Heritage Society.
The Austin Pride Parade was originally scheduled for the last Saturday in August—the same weekend that Hurricane Harvey hit Texas. Although Austin was not impacted as much as Houston and coastal areas, that Saturday evening was a rainy, windy mess. The parade was rescheduled for a month later. This time the weather was perfect.
Sunday was the sunniest and hottest day during ACL Fest Weekend 1. Bill and I wanted to see the evening headliners, so we didn’t arrive at the festival until late afternoon. Over the years, we have learned that hot days really sap our energy. This later arrival strategy worked out well for us.
Bill and I sometimes dread the Saturdays of ACL Fest, but this year wasn’t bad at all. Cloudy skies meant slighter cooler temperatures—the daytime high was only 87°F. Zilker Park was noticeably more crowded than the first day, but it was still fairly easy to walk between stages. I think this was partly due to the expanded festival footprint, but also because UT played a home football game in the evening.
