Events
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.