Austin has more festivals and events than I can count on my fingers! So, instead of talking about every single event I narrowed it down to my top five favorite Austin festivals and events.
South By Southwest or SXSW is one of the biggest festivals that is held in Austin. This is the festival that gave Austin, TX its nickname of the live music capital of the WORLD. This festival started back in 1987 as a music festival held downtown. Now the festival has added technology and film to the music scene. People fly in from all over the world to take part in this Austin event. Bands fly in to play in front of record producers in hope of finding a label. Indy films are played in hopes of finding the next big director. The event has lots of food, drinks, music and is one of the most fun festivals held in Austin where millions of people attend.
Austin City Limits Music Festival started in 2002 and as since grown and expanded into two weekends held at Zilker Park. The music festival has acts from all genres and even include something for the kids with a kiddie stage. The event is light hearted and nice to attend in the Fall since it is held in October.
A festival that helps keep Austin weird is the beloved Eeyores Birthday event. Austin has celebrated Eeyores Birthday for 53 years and it proves to be a good time for everyone. This is the festival where everyone can celebrate their birthday and just enjoy the day. The event is held at Pease District Park in Austin, Texas and has live music from 12 noon to 6 pm. As always admission is free for everyone.
Austin also likes to keep it hot and spicy with the Annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival Contest. Anyone can join and taste a lot of salsa! But be careful some are extra hot. The contest always picks the salsa contest winners and it is always fun to sample some of the different salsa that are not your typical sauce in a jar. You can read more about Austin by clicking here.
Another favorite festival is the Rot Biker Rally. This is a festival for bikers and people from all over the United States drive into Austin to show off their motorcycle. During this festival you will see hundreds if not thousands of motorcycles, bikers and biker clubs coming in to eat, dance and drink. The festival is very lively and you will spot some of the most unusual motorcycles. This year the festival will be held from June 9th through June 12th. If you plan to attend this festival you will need to schedule your hotel early because the hotels in Austin well sell out. The main event is held at the Travis County Expo Center and you must be 18 years or older to attend. The amount of bikes that pour into Austin is amazing and the diversity can’t be found any where else. This truly helps keep Austin Weird and lively.