Since 1963, Austinites have been celebrating Eeyore’s Birthday Party on the last Saturday in April. This event started with the English Department at the University of Texas, but has now expanded into a popular all-day festival. The free party is sponsored by non-profit Friends of the Forest Foundation, which donates the proceeds from food, T-shirts, and other sales to local charities.
The Big Squeeze is a statewide accordion contest for players under the age of 21. The finals were held on the patio outside the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum last Saturday. The competition is sponsored by the non-profit Texas Folklife.
Since Bill was busy with the Moontower Comedy Festival, I decided to attend Friday’s MJ&M Presents Jack & Friends at the ACL-Live Moody Theatre. MJ&M is short for Mack Brown (former UT football coach), Jack Ingram (singer/songwriter), and Matthew McConaughey (2014 Academy Award winner for Best Actor). These three have teamed up to host an annual set of fundraisers to benefit children’s charities. In addition to the Friday event, earlier in the week there was also a golf outing, a fashion show, and a concert featuring Sheryl Crow.
Last evening Bill and I had almost reached our dinner destination, Chuy’s, when we realized that the trailers at the much-anticipated trailer park on Barton Springs Road were actually serving food. As much as we love Chuy’s, we just couldn’t resist a cones-and-cupcakes supper.
An estimated 4500 people attended the dedication ceremony for the Texas Capitol Vietnam Veterans Monument last Saturday. The monument is situated on the northeastern corner of the Capitol grounds. Five bronzed members of an infantry patrol are situated above relief panels representing all military branches. The base pedestal matches the distinctive red granite of the State Capitol building.
Once again, our capital city made national news this week as CNN reported that Austin tops the list of fastest growing cities with metro areas of over 1 million residents. Based on the number of in-flight construction projects downtown, that’s not surprising. We have so much construction here that even the sidewalk construction sheds are being painted with murals.
We had just barely recovered from SxSW, and already it was time for another music event! Last weekend Austin hosted with HONK TX, an annual festival of community street bands. Over 20 bands from around the country converged here for three days of parade-marching, costume-dressing, and, most importantly, music-making.
So far, 2014 has been quite a year for Austin. The Oscar Meyer Weinermobile has been here, not once, but twice. And now the MetLife Blimp has been flying overhead for the past few days. Apparently this blimp, named Snoopy Two, is waiting around for the Valero Texas Open golf tournament, which starts Thursday in San Antonio.
Today was the last day of South by Southwest. So many bands to see, so little time! I also made a quick visit to the Flatstock (band poster) show in the Austin Convention Center. I won’t bore you with a list of everyone we saw, but here are a few highlights…
Perfect festival weather brought the throngs to SxSW Music today. Bill and I crisscrossed Austin: Whole Foods HQ area, Austin Convention Center, Rainey Street, East Austin, 2nd Street District, Butler Park, Rainey Street, and Warehouse District. We didn’t track the distance, but probably walked over ten miles. Here’s a few highlights of the day…