Event Pick: Pecan Street Festival

_{East 6th Street
September 23 & 24}

Hey, hey, no need to push. We know, sometimes it feels like the whole country is trying to cram their way into Austin. Our dear city is a regular on the “Top Ten Cities to Live In If You .” If you like music. If you like art. If you’re nice. If you have a dog. If you have a mother. (Literally, despite complaints of a “yuppie” influx Austin remains one of the most generationally diverse cities in the United States). Last year Forbes ranked Austin as the third fastest growing city in the nation. IN THE NATION, putting us ahead of, well, a lot of cities.

The flip side of the growth-and-change coin is the push to preserve, protect and respect. OGs and historical societies can breathe easy thanks to Austin’s Pecan Street Association, which began in the early ‘70s as a group of volunteers who wanted to invest in their city’s small downtown area. In 1977, they threw the first Pecan Street Festival, gathering local food and art vendors to sell their stuff and raise funds for the restoration and renovation of the Sixth Street (historically known as Pecan Street) district.

Since 1977 the Pecan Street Festival, like the city it supports, has expanded in size and popularity. It is now a bi-annual weekend-long festival of art, music and food that lands on many of those aforementioned internet listicles. The festival is, and always has been, free and open to the public, and all the money raised during the weekend goes toward projects in the Sixth Street and downtown areas. So whether you’re wanting to support emerging or preserving, or if you’re just looking for a good weekend outing, the Pecan Street Festival is here to prove that there’s room for everyone. In with the old, in with the new.