Zilker Garden Festival is a fun festival for anyone with a thumb, green or otherwise, hosted in the…read moreZilker Botanical Garden. Not too big, not too small, it's bustling with a variety of items for sale. There are plants of all kinds, potted plant arrangements, outdoor decorative items, locally sourced food and bath and body products, jewelry, clothing, and baked goods for sale. The plants alone are a gardener's dream, and the prices are quite reasonable. There's a food court with picnic tables; the choices are good but expect high prices and little seating, like all festivals. Even better for the true 'greenie' are the professional talks on horticultural and outdoor topics, different on both Saturday and Sunday. As if that's not enough, there's live music too. I'd recommend coming early on Saturday if at all possible, as many plants are sold by Sunday. Leave extra time to walk around and see the gardens after all the booths and you'll be a happy camper. Bring a wagon if you have kids or plan to purchase plants. Don't forget bottled water, cash, and a hat. In 2014, the entrance fee was $7. Parking is in Zilker Park on the south side of Barton Springs, not the botanical gardens. Follow signs to the right for event parking. Parking is $5. Sure enough, the Zilker Garden Festival has been going for over 50 years. And for good reason!

I have gone to the ZGF every year for the past 20 years, but this will be my last year. Parking at…read morethe 4 Pay as you Park meters took almost 50 minutes. For the second or third year, there are more jewelry, craft & home improvement vendors than plant vendors. I don't go to the ZGF to buy a mop or new windows. Very sad to see it decline.

Holy Kugelschreiber, this was awesome…read more Don't worry, there will be PLENTY of sausage and beer. The word "tastings" had me a little nervous. But never fear, there is plenty sausage and beer, here. mwahaha! rhyming's great. Definitely worth it. I'll be going again!

Oy. My head has a hurtie. That is to say, I had way too much fun at Austoberfest yesterday! When I…read morewas told there would be free samples, I assumed they would be tiny and boy was I wrong! We were each given a very tall pilsner glass and 10 generous samples per person. I waved the tipsy flag about 5 in after eating approximately one million pounds of sausage. My favorite link of the day was from La barbecue. It was smoky, spicy, savory, and delicious. I also enjoyed the warm pretzel we shared and awesome kraut. My husband was especially excited that the Derailers were playing and I somewhat remember watching a few songs. I would like to thank all of those who made Austoberfest such an amazing event, the fun loving people of Yelp Austin for granting me access, my German heritage for creating in me a love of all things brews and brats, and metro for being my DD so that all I had to do was wobble myself back to the station and enjoy an air conditioned drunken snooze back home. In addition, I would also like to thank the pecan street festival going on next door who made the funnel cake I just had to have. My only regret was not taking more pictures at the event, especially in the funky cool set up photo booth, but there is always next year! Until we meet again, Prost!

It's been a while since I've been to an ACL, but this was one of the best ones I've been to!…read moreIt was super good and all the headliners were people that I really wanted to see I went weekend too, so the dust was very strong and very prominent. But wearing a mask and a bandanna definitely helped. I feel like the festival also has more interactive booths with the companies like T-Mobile, American Express, DoorDash, patron, etc. I don't remember this being a huge thing the past 10 years. So it was nice to be able to do other things in addition to watching performances. The food was pretty pricey, but I did find cilantro had the best prices for the amount of food given. Their bang bang chicken bowl was only $16 and it was pretty filling. Also took advantage of the DoorDash free food in the afternoons. My favorite booth was the Google play interactive booth. You get to play a game and if you get above a certain score, you got a $10 gift certificate to use anywhere.

My husband and I returned to ACL this year. As usual it was a lot of fun with tons of walking. So…read morebe sure to wear comfy shoes. It was super hot and in the 90s. So we took a bottled water to drink while we walked down to the festival. We took empty refillable water bottles into the festival to fill up and have to stay hydrated. They have several water stations spread out around the festival. We took our see through backpacks to carry our necessities such as our portable fans and our portable chairs. The security was good this year. They moved quickly and were friendly. This year for food I tried Southside Flying Pizza, Show Me Pizza, and The Mighty Cone. The food was good. All different in terms of taste and texture. This year the bathrooms were okay. They were stocked with toilet paper but some were dirtier than others. It just depended on which section you would go to and what time of day. Don't forget to take travel sized tissues, hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes just in case you need them. Overall it was a great time. You will enjoy it if you don't mind the festival atmosphere, listening to different bands, and trying some of the many options of food. I look forward to seeing who will come next year.

More like Austin Booze & Wine it seems like each year this festival becomes more and more spirit…read moreand wine forward rather than food focused which is disappointing. A lot of food vendors ran out before even halfway through the festival, and there were probably four to one wine versus food throughout the main area. There was another area near the fire pits that only had a few food offerings but all liquor vendor brand activations which meant (surprise, surprise) by the time that we left at 4pm (an hour before close) people were spilling their drinks on my shoes and trying to chat completely wasted. Ugh. No thanks. Maybe I would try the Friday night event next year, which seems to be more food focused, but I will not do the Saturday or Sunday thing again. Lots of other higher quality food events and many at a lower price point.

This is literally the best festival that Austin has. It is worth every penny. This is my fifth year…read moreattending and it never disappoints. Each day you get to taste a ton of different food and drinks. Every day they will have the same drink vendors, but they do change the food vendors. So it is worth getting the two day ticket, especially the price. Just makes it more worth it than paying just for one day. The DJ they have is amazing. They have had them for God knows how many years now. He puts on such a fun vibe. At the end of the festival, everybody gathers around him and it's just mingling and having fun and dancing and drinking. Definitely everybody that comes to this event is just so happy and sociable.

I went to the 2014 Austin Carnaval an event virgin and left a bonafide Brasilero woman!…read more From the walk to the Palmer Events Center to the Carnaval itself to the VIP lounge, the whole experience was a colorful blur of gyrating painted and feathered nudity to samba beats and boozey revelry! On the way from the parking lot to the Palmer Event Center, we just had to follow the colorful and scantily clad masses to find the fun! And though I expected an out of control night of pure debauchery based on previous reviews, the night was enjoyably tame. We got there around the 10pm mark and the party was already in full swing with the samba dancers and drummers showing off their mad crazy skills! From the minute we walked in the door our asses didn't stop shaking til they hit the cold leather of the car seat 3hrs later! I loved how open and friendly everyone was! Especially those in full on crazy and fabulous costumes! We watched the "parade" from the stands and then when the dance floor opened up joined a conga line right to the front of the stage where we shook it like a polaroid picture! The entertainment was just amazing and the energy permeated and flowed through the gleefully sweaty crowd! It wasn't nearly as awful as I imagined it would be in the crowd, it was packed, but not claustrophobically so. And, to my surprise, there was not nearly the amount of nudity I expected...I mean bare bootys and boobies abounded, but in a tasteful and non-gratuitous way. I ended up backstage because of my VIP pass because no one could tell me how to get to the "lounge", but that ended up being an awesome experience! Needless to say, I will be returning to Carnaval next year...and honestly, if you can't be in Rio, this is the next best thing! Braaaazilll ATX style baby!!

I know it's an event but it's annual sooo if anyone is curious about this party and does a little…read moreresearch here, let me shed some light (it's okay, I won't illuminate the darkest corners!). Imagine if a gay bar Halloween party and a strip club Halloween party were to have a baby....no, imagine if Mardi Gras had a super sexy, blatantly flirtatious Latino cousin.....no, imagine that dream you have with all the sexy demons and angels and they all want to have sex with you. Yeah, put all that together and you can get an idea. I've been going to this party for almost 15 years and I never get tired of it. Not only is it about the costumes and the flirting, but it's also about the incredible music. Every year they get a nationally known Brazilian Samba band to play the stage, but lately they have also used Austin's own Academicos da Opera which I think is even better cause they get right down on the floor in a huge drum circle. This music is intoxicating (which is great cause it's damn hard to get a drink here---lines too long). You cannot stop dancing and at the end of the night you get that all over warm body relaxation that you get after a great workout or even better sex. But if you are an exhibitionist or a voyeur or if you are not afraid of a large crowd of these, then this is your party. To get anywhere in the crowd, you have to get in a conga line and next thing you know, you are swept away with a bunch of fun-loving strangers to god knows where. And costumes! I am always awed by the work that goes into this event. From feathers and beads to leather and chains. Drag queens and dominatrixes. Fairies and well, fairies. Body painting to body stockings. It's all here and it doesn't mind being seen and photographed and danced with. Sigh. I always have a bit of post-Carnaval depression. So, don't be scerd. You are really missing out if you let your fears hold you back. True of Carnaval and of life.

Best week of my life!! I always wanted to live in Austin and attend SXSW and this year I made it a…read morereality. Everything I hoped for and more! The whole city just comes alive with pop ups, activations, live concerts, comedy shows, block parties, and more fun, all in addition to the actual official SXSW conference. I attended the full conference with the platinum badge which was incredible. I was able to attend 16 sessions and scoot around town from hotel ballroom to hotel ballroom for 7 days straight. Since I live nearby, I scooted to my starting point each day and never dealt with traffic or parking. So many roads are closed and there are detours, so I really recommend ubering/walking etc. There are so many fun things happening and how cool to have 300k people in town where we are lucky enough to live! SO many great local businesses partner with big brands, and it really was a dream event to attend. Can't wait for next year!

Before moving to Austin, I'd been to SXSW a couple of times and wow has it changed over the years…read more It's definitely much more mainstream and so "Hollywood" now. With that said, we had an enjoyable time this year walking around and soaking up a lot of the free events.

Been putting off writing my 800th Yelp review, because I wanted it to be for something "special."…read moreSearched through my 186 "drafts" (yuppers...mostly three liners and such) and decided why not chat about the Austin Beer and Bacon Fest...absolutely two of my very favorite things and it was a stellar event! So, here goes... In a land far far away and all the way back in January, Edible Austin decided to host their 4th annual boozy foodie heavenly get together. Never one to deny a bite of bac or a chug o' brew, I bought tix for the hubs and I as soon as the posting went up. Absolutely worth every cent of 50 bucks p/p! Greeted by really friendly folks at this years venue - Brazos Hall. Got wristband and walked to front table to pick up our sample glasses and forks for bites. Brazos Hall was the perfect venue with just the right amount of attendees. The event was sold out, and I was happy to see EA didn't over-sell as is often the case. Plenty of room to peruse around and not bump elbows and no long lines for the many beers and/or bacon inspired dishes offered throughout. Beer samples were 2oz pours (a silly TABC thing), but it was easy to get your fill by simply going from one table to the next and make rounds, stopping by food reps here and there in-between. Beers on-site inc, but were not limited to, TwistedX, Hops & Grain, Live Oak, Austin Eastciders.....major shout out to all the local ATX craft beers I love so much. There was also a large list of local food vendors offering up some pretty tasty and creative bites. Amy's Ice Cream (yes, beer flavored), fancy smanshy Pink Avocado catering (one of the best of the afternoon; Panna Cotta Pecan Bacon Crumble w/ Bourbon Cherries ), VOX Table (yummy sweet "Elvis" concoction), and my personal fav of the day was Baton Creole's Chicken Fried Bacon and Pecan Waffle (omgoodness - so so good!)...plus more. Overall: What a great way to spend a Saturday! At first I thought 3 hours was cutting it kind of short; however, it ended up being the perfect amount of time to indulge in everything offered (esp. since seating was not available). 5 hard stars! Highly recommend. I know where I'll be after the fastly approaching New Year. ;) Cheers!

So, first things first, it's a *beer* and *bacon* festival. It's hard to get better than that, but…read morethe food was amazing and while the beer didn't quite live up to the food, it was a pretty good cross section of the Austin beer scene. I think the best thing I had was a bacon and beer sausage on a pretzel crisp accompanied by a beer infused goat cheese from Frank. I will definitely be going there to figure out what else they do. Hoover Cooking had a phenomenal roasted pork belly over grits with what I think was a honey sauce. There were 3 different bacon-wrapped figs and I liked Swift's Attic for the most interesting which was super peppery and Bacon (the restaurant) for the best traditional one even if it was saltier than I would have liked. My one regret is that I didn't take more and better notes to know where to go after the event. I'm going to have to poke around at the listed restaurants' menus to see what jogs my memory. For reference, these were the participating restaurants: Abel's North Grill and Tap House Amy's Ice Cream Bacon Barlata Celtic Seafare Cipollina Frank Greenhouse Craft Food Hillside Farmacy/Eden East Hoover's Kerbey Lane Lamberts Lenoir Liberty Tavern Little Barrel and Brown Micklethwait BBQ Noble Pig NO VA Kitchen & Bar OMG Cheesecakery Otto's German Bistro Pink Avocado Salt & Time Searsucker Snack Bar Swift's Attic The Bonneville The Seedling Truck The Turtle Restaurant TRACE St. Phillip Zed's And these were the participating breweries: Circle Brewing Co. Independence Brewing Co. Infamous Brewing Co. Pedernales Brewing Company Real Ale Brewing Company Rogness Brewing Company Shiner Brewery St. Arnold Brewery South Austin Brewing Co.

This was always such a great time. Bring it back! It was so fun and we looked forward every year!read more

I was skeptical about spending $70 for a ticket but hey, it's worth a shot for the experience,…read moreright? A ticket gets you access to the festival and 5 food/drink tickets. Each stall inside is about 1-3 ticket per item and you can purchase more tickets inside. The festival itself is downtown with live music, there is a parking lot next to the venue where you can pay based on your spot (about ~$5-10 for a few hours). The venue is well organized and fairly spacious with room to roam around and several table seatings, you probably won't have trouble finding a seat as people get up and switch often. As for the food, there really is only 3 stalls for food - raw, grilled, and fried oysters & 3 alcohol stalls. Water is free and in buckets scattered around the park. Overall, the experience was fun for a first timer like myself but I can't justify the price to come again next year.