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January
Red Eye Regatta,
512-266-1336. New Year’s Day: Austin Yacht Club
February
Carnival Brasiliero,
512-452-6832. Features Conga lines, costumes, and samba bands. Started
in 1975 by University of Texas students from Brazil. First or second
Saturday of the month.
March
South by Southwest
(SXSW), an internationally renowned music, film and multimedia
conference that packs the city every March.
Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo:
15 day wild west extravaganza features rodeos, cattle auctions, youth
fair, parade, and live country music. 512-467-9811. First half of the
month.
Spamarama
in late March offers awards for creative cooking with Spam.
Jerry Jeff Walker's
Birthday Celebration,
featuring three days of dancing and rodeos and a Saturday night serenade
by JJ.. 512-477-0036.
Zilker Garden
Festival,
Zilker Botanical Gardens. Flowers everywhere, along with gardening
demonstrations and entertainment. 512-477-8672.
April
Capitol 10,000
Texas’s largest
10K race covers the distance from the state capitol building through
West Austin to Town Lake. 512-445-3598. Early April.
Old Settlers Bluegrass
& Acoustic Music Festival
More than 30 bluegrass bands take part in the festival. Songwriter
workshops are also offered along with arts and crafts and children’s
entertainment. 512-346-1629.
Eeyore’s Birthday
Party,
Pease Park. Costume contests, live music celebrate A.A. Milne’s Eeyore
who always wanted someone to remember his birthday. 512-448-5160.
Austin Fine Arts
Festival
Austin museum of Art at Laguna Gloria on the shores of Lake Austin.
Features a juried art show, auction, and much entertainment for
children.
512-458-6073.
May
Cinco de Mayo:
Fiesta Gardens. Flamenco dancers, Tejano music, tacos, tamales, and
general celebration of independence from Mexico. 512-499-6720.
Old
Pecan Street Spring Arts and Crafts Festival
Sixth Street. Excellent food and shopping accompanied by band music on
Austin’s restored Victorian Street. 512-441-9015. First weekend of the
month.
June
Green Mesquite Rhythm
& Blues Festival
Juneteenth Freedom Festival
Huge 5 day celebration of African-American emancipation features
parades, gospel singing, and a jazz and blues festival. 512-472-6838.
July
The 4th of July is celebrated as the Freedom Festival in Austin,
with live music, lots of food and a gigantic fireworks display in Zilker
Park. Austin Symphony Orchestra performs. 512-476-6064.
Aquafest,
held on weekends in late July and early August. Events include water
sports exhibitions and tournaments, music and dance festivals, and a
parade-by-night at Town Lake's Auditorium Shores.
August
Fall Creek Vineyards
Celebration and Grape Stomp
512-476-4477.
September
Diez y Siez
Fiesta Gardens.
Mariachi and Folk Dancers, conjunto and Tejano music, along with piñatas
and clowns are all part of the celebration of the independence of Mexico
from Spain.
Fall Jazz Festival
Zilker Hillside Theater. Two days of free concerts by top local jazz
artists. Mid- September.
October
Halloween
ushers in a mad block party along 6th St, though the next day's
November
November 2: Día de los
Muertos (Day of the Dead)
celebrations offer Latino music, a parade and food. 512-480-9373.
Thanksgiving Day
football game between UT and Texas A&M.
December
Zilker Park Tree
Lighting of
a 165 foot tree is followed by the Trail of Lights, a mile long stretch
of life-sized holiday scenes.
Christmas Open House,
French
Legation. French Santa and costumed guides host this lively gift bazaar,
held in an 1840 historic house. 512-472-8180. First Sunday of the month.
Armadillo Christmas
Bazaar,
Austin Music hall. Tex-Mex food, live music and an art, craft and gift
show. 512-447-1605. Two weeks before Christmas.
Arts
and Entertainment
Ballet Austin
( 512/476-2163) features five productions each season, including the
holiday classic, Nutcracker, at the Performing Arts Center and Bass
Concert Hall, adjacent to the Huntington Art Gallery.
Austin Symphony
( 512/476-6064), founded in 1911, is the city's oldest performing arts
group. The concert season runs from September to April at Bass Concert
Hall, and holiday Pops Concerts are offered at Palmer Auditorium.
Austin City Limits.
Every Friday, get a behind-the-scenes look at the longest-running music
showcase on television.. 6th floor lobby, KLRU Studio, 2504-B Whitis
St., 512/471-4811.
Palmer Auditorium: on
Austin's Town Lake
The plan to renovate
Palmer Auditorium into a gem of a performing arts center is a key part
of the City's bold initiative to create what Mayor Kirk Watson has
called "a Great Urban Park" on the banks of the Colorado River.
Projected for completion in or after 2009, the dream calls for a
‘concert hall, seven theatres, and at least half a dozen rehearsal
facilities, as well as enough classrooms to serve upward of 100 aspiring
artists simultaneously.’
Austin Chamber Music Center
is a teaching and performing group which features an Intimate Concert
series open to the public but held in elegant private homes.
512-454-7562.
Austin Lyric Opera
512-472-5992
Austin’s first professional opera company was founded in 1985, and now
presents four productions annually in Bass Concert Hall. Major national
and international artists perform. |
