After Decades in Downtown Austin, Pecan Street Festival Relocates to Bee Cave

One of Austin's longest-running cultural events, the Pecan Street Festival, is moving to Bee Cave's Hill Country Galleria for its spring festival on May 3–4. Recent changes to Sixth Street have made it very hard to move the festival there, they say. The move has uncertain the festival's future, and organizers are still looking for a place to hold the fall event.

Organizers say that the new bollards and rubber skirting on Sixth Street have drastically reduced the available room, making it financially impossible to keep holding the event downtown. "We weren't able to accommodate any result of continuing on Sixth Street," festival organizer Luis Zapata said, adding that the lack of space would have meant losing almost 100 booths and a third of the festival's income.

Space is very important since there are usually more than 300 vendors at the event. Zapata said that the move will keep the festival's long-standing practice of art and community building alive, even though it will be outside of Austin.

People have had different responses to the move to Bee Cave. Some vendors, like Joseph Worth, the South Austin Gallery co-owner, are glad about the change. They say that the fair has been hurt by Sixth Street's falling popularity and problems with homelessness. "When I set up at 5:30 a.m., I'd find homeless people sleeping in my space," Worth said, adding that some vendors hadn't come back because of the unpredictable behavior in the area.

Some people, like vendor Lauren Briere, are sad that the event is leaving Austin. Briere said, "It's not even in the city anymore, let alone Pecan Street." He asked why other downtown spots weren't looked at.

There are no firm plans for the fall, but organizers say they will return to Austin if the weather improves. For now, the fair will take place in Bee Cave. Whether the festival returns to its old home or gets a permanent new home will depend on future talks with the city.

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