Hey there, Austin!
Zilker Park is one of Austin’s most iconic public resources, playing host to the many of our most beloved events, including Austin City Limits Festival and the Zilker Park Kite Festival. This winter, Zilker will also be the location for the Trail of Lights. The Trail has been part of Austin’s history for over 40 years, but had to take a two-year hiatus due to city budgetary constraints. This year, the RunTex Carrozza Foundation and Forefront Austin are bringing the Trail of Lights back to Zilker. APF is one of 23 non-profits that will help with and benefit from the festival, which will be open December 16-23.
Festivals like the Trail of Lights come at a cost, of course, in terms of absolute access to Zilker Park. Crews are already at Zilker installing lights and the iconic Holiday Tree, and some parts of the park are closed for public use. As your voice for parks, we want to make sure that you are kept as informed as possible about how this might affect your enjoyment of Zilker between now and the end of the year.
Here are some highlights:
- The Hike and Bike Trail is open and will remain so.
- Most of the eastern portion of the Great Lawn* is closed to the public (see the pink area in the map above). The closures are necessary because of the electrical setup and large displays.
- The area around the beach volleyball court (the big sandbox!) closed starting Monday, November 19 (the blue area in the map above).
- Most of the southwestern portion of the park will remain open for public recreation, as usual (the unshaded area in the map above).
- The Trail will be entirely broken down and the park entirely open to the public by no later than January 7, 2013.
We will update this list with new information as soon as we get it, so please bookmark this page and check back. For details on the Trail of Lights, click here.
* The Great Lawn is where ACL Festival happens.