Austin City Council gave the green light today for Fun Fun Fun Fest to continue through Sunday when it opens the festival gates this November at Auditorium Shores. The resolution directs city staff to do three things:
- Give Fun Fun Fun Fest organizers an extra day
- Find a way to accommodate other events displaced by the closure of Waterloo Park
- Develop a policy for charging a “mitigation fee” to events for park maintenance and upkeep
Fun Fun Fun Fest hosted three days of rock, hip hop, and electronic music in Waterloo Park last year by mostly independent artists. But renovations to the Waller Creek Tunnel will shut the Waterloo Park for several months, displacing events.
Fun Fun Fun Fest was moved to Auditorium Shores, but Austin's Parks and Recreation Department has a longstanding policy of only renting the park out for two days at a time. Changing that required council approval.
The festival is also growing. It had between 10,000 and 12,000 people attend each day last year. Transmission Entertainment, the organizers, may allow up to 15,000 people per day at Auditorium Shores.
Transmission Entertainment’s James Moody said today's council vote left him feeling “relief and gratitude.”
“That immediately moves into anxiety, because now we’ve got to work on it,” he said.
Moody says Transmission will have to start booking more talent for the third day. He said people who already have two-day passes will be emailed and asked if they want to add the third day “at a significant discount” before the general public is invited to buy Sunday tickets. He said they probably won't make any announcements this week.
