46. Gillespie County Fair
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (830) 997-6523
Description: This is the oldest county fair in the state and is well worth a visit for a glimpse of a time when the county fair was an important date on the local calendar. The fair includes a traditional livestock show, handicrafts and home-baked goods, horse races, a carnival, and dances in the evening. The fair usually takes place at the end of Aug over 4 days and nights. Fairground admission is $5, free for children. Additional admission charges may be in place for other events.
47. Zilker Park Jazz Festival
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (512) 440-1414
Description: There is no better way to spend a warm summer night than listening to the cool sounds of jazz float across Zilker Park, the city’s favorite gathering spot throughout the seasons. Bring a blanket and something cold to drink, and enjoy the free summer festival.
48. Austin City Limits Festival
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Address: 2100 Barton Springs Rd.
Description: The same folks who brought America the legendary Austin City Limits television show on PBS sponsor this 3-day festival of music, food, arts, and crafts in the city’s most famous park. There are multiple stages across 15 acres of parkland, plus an “Austin Food Court” and an art show. Capital Metro provides transportation to the site. The festival runs a very detailed website, where lists of bands, schedules, and information can be found and tickets may be purchased. Daily or 3-day tickets are offered.
49. Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (512) 302-9889
Description: In keeping with Austin’s building reputation as a film center, this 2-week festival brings a variety of films to Austin theaters around the city.
50. Diez y Seis de Septiembre
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Description: This is a major fiesta both north and south of the border, celebrating Mexico’s demand for independence from Spain. Like the US July Fourth celebration, serious history and fun are combined on Diez y Seis. Mariachi bands perform, folkloric dancers celebrate their heritage, and everyone eats really well. Austin’s celebrations center on Fiesta Gardens, on the shores of Lady Bird Lake in East Austin. Nearby Elgin also holds its Chili Pepper Fest, with celebrations of the Mexican fiesta. There are ceremonies in Austin on the actual day of the holiday, but the fiesta is usually carried over to the weekend closest to the 16th, with events on several consecutive days. Check the local newspaper for details.
51. Oatmeal Festival
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (512) 335-2197
Description: This tongue-in-cheek Labor Day weekend festival has helped to revive a small community northwest of Round Rock on FM 243. The festivities include an oatmeal cook-off and eat-off, an oatmeal sculpture contest, and the Miss Bag of Oats (you have to be 55-plus) pageant. For the kids, there is a grasshopper parade where children can parade their pet insects. Most events are free.
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
53. Emma Lee Turney’s Round Top Folk Art Fair
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (281) 493-5501
Description: Twice a year the cognoscenti of the antiques world flock to this small Texas town. The fall event celebrates American folk art and is under the direction of the legendary antiques dealer Emma Lee Turney.
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
55. Halloween on Sixth Street
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Insider Pick:
Description: Wholesale Halloween madness is one way to describe this event. As many as 60,000 costumed revelers have gathered on the street for the celebration. Several blocks are roped off to vehicular traffic. The noise level is high, and some partygoers do become a little rowdy. This is strictly a grown-up celebration and not recommended for children.
56. Hogeye Festival
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (512) 281-5724
Description: Famed for its sausage, Elgin is a small town 19 miles east of Austin on US 290 East. This typical Texas small-town festival features cow patty bingo, a sausage cook-off (of course), a hog-calling contest, music, arts and crafts, and a street dance.
57. Live Strong Challenge
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Description: One of Austin’s most beloved residents is legendary bicyclist Lance Armstrong. According to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Lance’s cycling buddies first organized a Ride for the Roses race to show support for Lance’s battle with cancer in 1997. The original race paralleled the training ride Lance and the group made through the hills west of Austin. Today the event has become the Live Strong Challenge and takes place in four cities. It has multiple features and spans a weekend. Some 7,000 participants enter bicycling events, plus there is a gala, silent auction, a 5K fun run, a health and sports expo, a Kids CARE ride at Auditorium Shores, and music venues featuring local and national bands.
58. Oktoberfest
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (830) 997-4810
Description: Fredericksburg has a strong German heritage; in fact, some of the older residents still speak in a form of German heard in 19th-century Europe. The traditional community festival features beer-hall singing, waltz contests, and lots of sausage. Admission fee; free for those 6 and younger.
59. Austin Celtic Festival
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Description: Touted as the largest gathering of the clans in Central Austin this 3-day festival features Celtic music and dance, plus food. Admission fee.
60. Austin Junior League Christmas Affair
City: Austin, TX
Category: Annual Events & Festivals
Telephone: (512) 467-8982
Address: 900 Barton Springs Rd.
Description: A sure sign that Christmas is just around the corner is the transformation of Palmer Events Center into a shopping wonderland. More than 200 specialty merchants offer a variety of Christmas gift ideas, some easily affordable, others high-priced. Not everyone shops at the affair, although the league raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for its community projects at the event; some just stroll, sip some Christmas spiced wine, and window-shop or gather decorating ideas for their own holiday celebrations. The affair is held the third weekend in Nov. Daily admission fee.