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(Kristina Gonzales/Party at the Moontower)
Kristina Gonzalez, director of sales and operations at Party at the Moontower Event Rentals, minces no words about what the cancelation of this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival means for event vendors: "That's basically saying no one in events makes money for a full year."
<p>Party at the Moontower has outfitted VIP areas at ACL in past years and partnered with hotels for conferences. Together with South by Southwest, ACL can keep event vendors afloat through the leaner months of the year.</p><p>"Event vendors—we all function off the flux of tourism, and the two biggest times of the year when all these people come in are October, with ACL, and March, with South By," Gonzalez explains.<br/></p><p> In the wake of their cancelations, local business owners are bracing themselves for a year that has now been effectively stripped of its two peak tourism seasons. </p><p><strong>Restaurants reel from the impact of canceled festivals</strong></p><p>Many restaurant owners are feeling a similar financial burden, such as Sue Davis, owner of Austin vegan staple Counter Culture. Davis estimates that 30% of her annual business comes from tourism, and March is always her "busiest month of the year by far." She had just finished redesigning her menu and training extra staff for SXSW when the festival got canceled. </p><p>"Every South By, I'm like, 'What can we do better next year?'" Davis says. "And this year I felt like we were in a great position to just kill it, and it didn't happen."</p><p>Owning a brick-and-mortar restaurant doesn't put Davis in an enviable position right now; Counter Culture's dining room is still closed, and she's "paying rent for a building that we're using 20% of" as she pivots to takeout and delivery. </p><p>But food truck owners are also reeling from the cancelation of Austin's two premier festivals. Hope Green, owner of Emojis Grilled Cheese Bar, says her food truck does big business catering private events when corporations come to town for SXSW and ACL.</p><p>"Our SXSW events typically bring in a good $40,000 to $60,000 for us," Green explains. "So having lost that revenue, if we're doing $15,000 to $30,000 a month, we've lost like 62% of the revenue that we would've normally done by this time of the year." </p><p>That lost revenue doesn't just hurt Green. She works with homeless teens who have aged out of foster care, training them in the food truck to give them work and management experience. She usually subsidizes those programs through her festival season revenue, and consequently, she's had to pause them.</p><p>"If I just wanted to do this business by myself and just take care of myself, no problem," Green says. "But it's all of the other stuff—the things that I want my business to be about—that takes that financial engine to keep that going."</p><p><strong>Finding new streams of revenue</strong></p><p>If there is a silver lining to COVID-19 wiping out SXSW and ACL, it's that local business owners have an opportunity to evaluate what's working and implement new strategies. Green is working toward partnering with apartment complexes for dinner runs, while Davis has added a grocery section to her menu to sell excess inventory and partnered with various nonprofits to donate meals. </p><p>Party at the Moontower Rentals has pivoted to furnishing small events, like backyard parties and socially distanced weddings. That includes the ongoing Little White Chapel Pop-Up, which unites over a dozen vendors to host Vegas-style weddings at Austin's Mercury Hall. </p><p>"I think the pandemic has really made people think about the way that they do business and how planning and strategy is also just as important as doing," Gonzalez says. "You have to fall in love with the problem."</p>
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Organizers of the State Fair of Texas announced Tuesday that this year's festivities, expected to draw 2.5 million people to North Texas over three weeks in the fall, are canceled out of concern for the coronavirus.
<p>The last time the fair was canceled was during the WWII years, 1942-1945. It was canceled three times before that: during World War I (1918), and planning for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition and 1937 Pan American Exposition at Fair Park (1935 – 1937).</p><p><span></span>The 2021 State Fair of Texas is scheduled for Friday, September 24 through Sunday, October 17 in historic Fair Park in Dallas.</p><p>"We believe the spirit of the Lone Star state lies in every Texan's ability to care and look out for their neighbor and it is with this in mind, we have decided to keep our guests, staff, and partners safe and healthy during these uncertain times," the organization's <a href="https://bigtex.com/" target="_blank">website</a> says. </p><p>The announcement left open the possibility of still having the Cotton Bowl football match-up if the seasons were allowed to begin.</p><p><a href="https://bigtex.com/covid-19-update/" target="_blank">Read the entire press release here.</a></p>
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(Ismael Quintanilla III/Shutterstock.com)
Austin City Limits announced Wednesday that it will cancel its 2020 event, the Austin City Limits Music Festival, set to take place in October, as it does every year.
<p>"We would have loved to put on another memorable show this year, however, with the uncertainty surrounding the current situation in Texas, this decision is the only responsible solution," a statement on the website reads.</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="56dbce0b3fdbd1d22430ca60970146b1" id="fe763"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1278342782545997824"><div style="margin:1em 0">https://t.co/ARFzJoepTt</div> — ACL Festival (@ACL Festival)<a href="https://twitter.com/aclfestival/statuses/1278342782545997824">1593615644.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Festival organizers vowed to return next year to celebrate its 20th anniversary.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"We will return to Zilker Park on October 1-3 and October 8-10, 2021 to celebrate our 20th Anniversary. We encourage fans who have already purchased tickets to hold on to them to lock in access to next year's festival at 2019 prices. Refunds will be made available for fans who purchased directly through the festival and cannot attend next year's dates. All current ticket holders will receive an email from Front Gate Tickets shortly with information on both options."</p><p><em><span></span>This story is developing and will be updated.</em></p>
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(erika8213/Adobe)
The 30th anniversary of Austin's Pride parade and festival will have to wait another year. The organization announced that both have been postponed until August 2021, according to an Instagram post.
<p><br/></p>
<div id="ccdf7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dce99cca5c536298f29e6310a752856c"><blockquote class="instagram-media"
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</div></blockquote></div><p>"The Austin Pride board has wanted nothing more than to be able to provide a safe event space for the LGBTQIA+ community to celebrate who we are in August. Sadly, this year we will not be able to do that," the organization said in a statement on its website.</p><p>The organization wrote that it had hoped, when the stay-at-home orders began in March, that the parade and festival were far enough away to be safe, but that recent developments in the spread of coronavirus made it clear that holding the celebration would be unsafe.</p><p>"This is not the news we'd hoped to bring you," the statement said. "While we are saddened that August will look different for us this year, and while we mourn that we will not be able to come together, we are reminded that Austin Pride began 30 years ago in another pandemic, one that has disproportionately affected the LGBTQIA+ community, especially amongst people of color."</p>
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(Bryan Rolli)
For a moment, everything almost seems normal.
<p>The Friday night crowd at Riverside's Come and Take It Live is small but spirited. A few people watch Austin-based metal trio Muzzle Blast from the concert floor; others smoke on the patio or congregate around the bar, with far less than six feet between them and nary a face mask in sight. </p><p>Come and Take It Live is one of a handful of live music venues that have reopened since the end of May, following citywide shutdowns in mid-March to curtail the spread of coronavirus. As the Austin economy lurches back to life—and as the number of reported COVID-19 cases <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/10/texas-reports-largest-single-day-increase-coronavirus-cases/" target="_blank">continues to increase</a>—venue owners face a difficult proposition: Do they reopen their doors and hope their precautions help prevent infection, or do they stay closed and risk burning through their final reserves of cash?</p><p>For Come and Take It Live owner Anthony Stevenson, the answer was a simple matter of survival. </p><p>"Keeping a roof over our heads and keeping our employees fed is at the top of the list," he says.</p><p>Come and Take It Live is currently operating at half of its roughly 800-person capacity. Stevenson says he has encouraged venue staff to wear masks, made hand sanitizer readily available and tried to avoid contact when checking IDs or closing bar tabs. Still, he admits it's difficult to enforce any safety precautions once shows get started—especially as the state continues to <a href="https://austonia.com/Coronavirus/texas-restaurant-capacity" target="_self">loosen restrictions</a>. </p><p>"I feel like people are becoming more and more comfortable already, and it's hard to adhere to guidelines when we don't know what they are 100%, because they have been changing," he says.</p><p>Many venues—particularly those on Red River Street, Austin's live music epicenter—remain closed and probably will for the foreseeable future. For many of these venues, to open at anything less than full capacity would be financially unsustainable due to their already razor-thin profit margins. </p><p>"Live music venues have a 98% cost model, which means that if you're really killing it in the business, you're making about 2% net," says Cody Cowan, executive director of the Red River Cultural District, which comprises more than 50 local businesses. </p><p>Cowan distinguishes between two types of live music venues in Austin: those that incorporate it into a larger business venture that includes retail, food and more; and those that make their revenue primarily from shows. Many Red River venues fall into the latter group, and they earn the vast majority of their annual revenue from tours and festival-adjacent shows. As long as the entire touring industry remains on hold, many midsized venues likely won't be able to justify reopening.</p><p>"Every big concert tour that has been scheduled here for the rest of the year, there's a likelihood that it won't happen," Mohawk general manager Tyson Swindell says. "The whole industry has re-routed their tours. It takes six months to plan a tour. You can't just pull the plug on it and then copy and paste everything over to three months down the line and hit 'go.'"</p><p>Cowan and Swindell both emphasize they are not public health experts and cannot give any scientifically backed forecasts for the future of Austin's live music industry. Still, Cowan predicts that if the coronavirus outbreak persists, several more venues will go the way of Barracuda, Plush and Scratchouse, which all <a href="https://austin.eater.com/2020/6/10/21286623/red-river-music-venues-closed-barracuda-scratchouse-plush-downtown-austin" target="_blank">shuttered</a> last week. </p><p>"Managing expectations is really important," Cowan says. "If we can save 25-30% of the venues in Austin at this point, since we're disinclined to provide rent relief, we're going to be really fortunate."</p>
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(Ismael Quintanilla III/Shutterstock.com)
Mass events, such as Austin City Limits, are unlikely to occur as normal at least through the end of the year, Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said during a press conference earlier today.
<p>"We are working on a plan to help forecast what we think is going to be reasonable, but looking through the end of December, we don't have any indications at this stage that we would be able to mitigate risk enough to have large events, particularly ones over 2,500 [people]," he said. </p><p>The ACL music festival, which takes place over two weekends in October, has <a href="https://austonia.com/fate-of-acl-2020" target="_self"><u>not yet been canceled or changed</u></a>. And the athletics director of the University of Texas <a href="https://austonia.com/sports/longhorns-football-fall-2020" target="_self"><u>is confident</u></a> Longhorn football will return this fall—possibly on a modified schedule or without fans in the stands. </p><p>But myriad other events, including <a href="https://austonia.com/lifestyle/austin-festivals-canceled" target="_self"><u>nearly 100 local festivals</u></a>, have been canceled, rescheduled or put on hold as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. </p><p>Dr. Escott said Austin would need to lower its risk level—according to a <a data-linked-post="2645999147" href="https://austonia.com/Coronavirus/austin-color-coded-risk-chart" target="_blank">color-coded chart</a> Austin Public Health released last week—before larger events could be considered.</p><p>The current risk level is Stage 3, which recommends social gatherings don't exceed 10 people. </p><p>At Stage 1, the guidelines allow for gatherings in larger groups, the reopening of all businesses and an end to social distancing and masking. But Dr. Escott said we are unlikely to return to something close to normal until a vaccine is widely available. </p>
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(Dave Creaney)
Welcome to Austonia, a new, locally owned news company reporting on news, business, and politics in Austin. Like what you see? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our latest stories in your inbox.
Ben Ballinger can't remember the last time he went more than two months without playing music in front of an audience.
<p>But with venues throughout Austin <a data-linked-post="2645721470" href="https://austonia.com/austin-musicians-in-dire-straits-as-pandemic-keeps-doors-closed-on-venues" target="_blank">closed since mid-March</a> as part of precautions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the singer-songwriter said he hasn't set foot on stage since late February, when he performed at a local fundraiser for one-time presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders.</p><p>That hiatus came to an end May 7, however, thanks to some ingenuity—and Ballinger's instinct that Austin music fans are hungry for a chance to experience live music again. </p><p>Along with fellow songwriter David Ramirez and the duo of Kevin Curtin and Gary Lindsey, Ballinger booked a drive-in style concert in an undisclosed field in south Austin that accommodates 25 vehicles.</p><p>Once at the location, which was distributed only to ticket holders, passengers stayed inside the vehicles and listened to the live performances on the car radio via a low-power FM transmitter. Since all 25 slots, at $20 each, sold out in less than two hours, Ballinger said he's encouraged that local fans are ready to support live music again even if they have to do so in an unusual setting.</p><p>"My stir-craziness, if I have any, is not why I wanted to do this. But I did sense an overall stir-craziness in the community and that definitely played into it," he said. "I tried to do as much market research as I could because I didn't know how it would be received and everyone has different levels of precautions. As soon as they heard what I was thinking, everyone thought it was a great idea."</p><p>The do-it-yourself gusto that inspired Ballinger to organize the concert roughly two weeks after first conceiving of the idea means attendees had a far different experience than they've grown accustomed to while attending shows in any of Austin's dozens of bars and live music venues.</p><p>Performers used a cargo rack atop Ballinger's Chevrolet Suburban as their stage, with no alcohol on sale. Concert flyers acknowledged the lack of public restrooms on-site, which Ballinger said played a part in the decision to keep the concert short, at 90 minutes total, as a way to minimize discomfort.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzIzNjg2OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMDYxNTQ0N30.OLTZRRsTZXh9tjS0lLKXGZK9XTdrUGUBz0DHw8Scd8E/img.jpg?width=980" id="30491" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="098cdc8bfe6dfb8ba1594ea326f9bdac" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>The quick sellout has Ballinger planning to host performances weekly and he's encouraging interested acts to contact him via email (see flyer) to take part in what he said is likely to be one of the most nontraditional concert settings he or anyone else involved have ever been a part of.<br/></p><p>"There's definitely a heartbreaking aspect to it—that in any other situation I'd be uncomfortable with the awkward distance we're going to have between us. But given the circumstances it's the best we can do right now," he said. "It's going to be unique. Part of why I felt emboldened to try it was because if anywhere was going to have something like this, this is the place where it could happen and the people here would support it and be open to it."<br/></p>Tickets for tomorrow are sold out, but Ballinger plans to make this a weekly event.
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(ACL Radio via city of Austin)
Welcome to Austonia, a new, locally owned news company reporting on news, business, and politics in Austin. Like what you see? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our latest stories in your inbox.
From bikers to bats to blues music, nearly 100 festivals in Austin have either been canceled, rescheduled or are up in the air as pandemic-era social distancing forbids Austinites to do what they do best: party together.
They include myriad events anticipated for later this year, such as:
<ul class="ee-ul"><li>Blues on the Green summer concerts</li><li>25th Annual Republic of Texas Biker Rally</li><li>July 4th events</li><li>Pecan Street festivals</li><li>Batfest</li><li>Austin City Limits</li></ul><p>March, April and May alone saw the cancelation or postponement of some 30 iconic large events, including:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>The Urban Music Festival</li><li>Moontower Comedy & Oddity Festival</li><li>Austin Reggae Fest</li><li>Food + Wine Festival</li><li>Weird Homes Tour, </li><li>East Austin Studio Tour</li><li>Eeyore's Annual Birthday Party</li></ul><p>Several are rescheduled for the fall, but even those months are uncertain for large gatherings right now.</p><p>"It's just a sad time," said Julie Chase, chief marketing officer for <a href="https://www.austintexas.org/" target="_blank">Visit Austin,</a> the city's tourism convention and visitors department. "We are a festival city."</p><p>The cancelation the SXSW festival (and its roughly 180 ancillary events) was a bellwether for an event industry decimated by the pandemic restrictions. </p><p>Local crews, performers and hospitality workers were hit early and hard and will likely feel the effects the longest, said Sara Henry of the <a href="http://www.austintexas.gov/ace" target="_blank">Austin Center for Events,</a> which oversees event permits. </p><p>"We're all very conscious of that and wanting to get people back to normal as quickly as possible," Henry said. "But with the understanding that those large events will probably be the last to recover." </p><p>Large crowds will be scarce in Austin for a while, agreed Jorge Garcia, founder of Curra's Grill and a member of the board for the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, which has not yet confirmed its August dates. </p>"I don't foresee any of that happening any time soon," Garcia said.<p>Some organizers are staying optimistic. The ROT Biker Rally is still on for mid-June. Organizers of the city's 30th Annual Gay PRIDE Festival in August said in an April tweet they are "still committed to putting on a safe and joyous" celebration, which drew some 400,000 people last year.<br/></p><p>The permit office works daily with organizers, even those whose events are still scheduled, on whether the events can go on, Henry said. The office also consults with health officials, events experts and community leaders about what the "the new normal" might look like for mass gatherings this year and next, she said.</p><p>But with ever-shifting information on the virus and the response to it, major decisions are on hold.</p><p>"Everybody is waiting to see how things evolve through the public health crisis," Henry said. </p><p>As a habitual and enthusiastic festival attendee, Austin resident Anna Kong recognizes the impact on local workers but did find a silver lining: It's easier to stay home when there's nothing to miss out on. </p><p>"I usually go to fests to hang out with my friends," Kong said. "We've had camp meetings over Zoom, so it placates it for the time being."</p>
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