Hey Everyone!
I had such a great time trend spotting last week at Austin City Limits! If you weren’t aware of Austin City Limits {AKA ACL Fest} is a music festival based in Austin, TX at Zilker Park. The festival brings three days of food, art, and music to Austin with over 130 acts!
This year’s headliners included {but not limited to} Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Weezer, The Black Keys, Florence and the Machine, the Lumineers, Avicii, and Jack White. With 8 stages, and many talented bands, there are over 70,000 hard core fans that attend the festival each day.
Eating in Austin is different than your average affair. What makes them so unique is the majority of my meals {some of the best I’ve ever had} came out of a truck!
My favorite meal was from Torchy’s Tacos…{See [don't taste] below}
One of the coolest things about Austin is their dedication to “going green”.
The festival encourages visitors to recycle by offering the chance to win a free tshirt in exchange for a bag full of recyclables {genius!}.
Austin’s efforts don’t stop there…festival goers were encouraged to use public transportation or better yet, BIKE! When we first entered the festival I saw more bicycle racks than I’ve seen in a lifetime. Little did I know people would still be fighting for a place to lock their ride!
In the heat of Austin water was a trend you didn’t want to miss. H2O was served out of boxes instead of plastic bottles to reduce plastic waste. Even better, don’t buy a box, fill up your reusable bottle at a free water refill station hosted around the festival grounds.
Over 200 volunteers per day are working inside the festival wearing “Rock and Recycle” tees help to spread the word of ACL’s green efforts by offering to refill water bottles, taking recyclables, and making sure fans throw there waste in the correct bins.
After all is said and done the festival as a whole helps to maintain Ziker park. A percentage of each ticket sold goes back to the improvement and upkeep of one of Austin’s favorite parks. I was blown away by the efforts of ACL, Local Volunteers, and Festival Goers as a whole. Their commitment to their favorite bands matched their commitment to their love for the planet which {sadly} is not something you see everyday.
Have it be known, Austin is no longer just “Keeping it Weird” they are also “Keeping it Green”.
Have you guys ever been to Austin, TX? What is your FAVORITE thing about the city?
See ya next year Austin!!
PS look for more blogs on some of the amazing trends I saw while visiting the music capital of the world {AUSTIN, TX}!
