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ACL Fest Was Glorious This Year, Both in Mud and Music

The first weekend of Austin City Limits Music Festival has come and gone and it will go down as the third year ever Zilker Park was coated in gloopy, yucky mud.

Whether you prefer “RainCL” or “Mud City Limits,” the festival was marked by weather. Hair-raising forecasts warned eight inches of rain may fall in some areas of the city, a flood watch was issued, and attendees waited to see if the festival would end up canceled. Almost two inches of rain were recorded between Thursday and Friday, leaving Zilker Park wet for the fest’s first day.

But despite it all, Austinites and visitors filled the park all weekend long. They clomped through the sludge, donned ponchos as steady rain fell on Friday, and some took it a step further with a mud mosh pit during Turnstile’s set and others straight up rolled around in the goop each day.

Saturday’s opening was delayed by two hours due to the muddy conditions. Festival officials attempted to fix the mud situation on Day 2, bringing in TexasTurf to lay down 60,000 square feet of artificial turf to make it easier to traverse the park. The artificial grass company said they got the call to come out at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Mulch and pallets were laid over the mud, which did not include Dillo Dirt according to the festival, in some areas, too. Tractors shoved mud into piles that were then cordoned off. Trucks laying down pallets and moving mud around could be seen throughout the day.

Austin City Council Member Ryan Alter, who represents a portion of Zilker Park, released a statement saying the company that puts on the festival, C3, needs to be held accountable for the condition of the park.

“ACL is a great event for Austin, its residents, visitors, and our economy but the damage we’ve witnessed to the Great Lawn is unacceptable,” he said.

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