New Year's Eve in Austin: Everything You Need to Know

Austin is gearing up for its big New Year’s Eve celebration -- here’s everything you need to know for the big night:

The free festivities will be located at Auditorium Shores & Vic Mathias Shores, South 1st Street & Riverside Drive and will run from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. The fireworks finale will be at 10 p.m. Click HERE to see a full schedule and map of the events.

The Austin’s New Year line-up includes Grupo Fantasma, Golden Dawn Arkestra, and Carolyn Wonderland. Performers such as The Statesboro Revue, Big Cat, Vallejo, KP and the Boom Boom, Shawn Nelson, and Kalu James will also be playing. The community stage will feature The Watters, Tiarra Girls, Big Don, and four young bands from the Band Aid School of Music.

There will be a diverse group of local artists and exhibitors who will be treating visitors to entertainment such as aerialists, live painting, glowing creatures, and hands-on activities. Other entertainment includes:

• The Bike Zoo, live human-powered puppetry featuring larger-than-life creatures powered by bicycles.
• The Flying Balalakai Bros, roaming Gypsy Folk music performances.
• Scare for a Cure, face painting and theater crafts.
• Sky Candy, aerial drama.
• The Thinkery, combining science and art through crafts and 3D printer demonstration
• Artist Bradford Maxwell doing an interactive live painting of a NYE-themed Matryoshka Doll.

There will be several art installation pieces from The City of Austin’s Art in Public Places TEMPO Program. These will include:

• A 6-foot-tall female head, sculpted from recycled foam with hair that’s a garden of native flowers and grasses by Yuliya Lanina.
• An 11-foot-tall steel knot made from 20 reclaimed 55-gallon oil drum barrels to bring attention to climate change by George Sabra.
• A collection of 10-foot diameter, white vinyl spheres by Juan Deleon.
• Memories and stories of regularly visited parks evoked through brightly colored aluminum signage markers, quotes, and notices, by Jennifer Chenoweth & Dorothy Johnson.

Austin’s New Year (ANY) is an annual alcohol-free celebration. There will be a number of food trucks to provide delicious eats. The food truck lineup includes:

• Chi’lantro, home of Kimchi Fries and Korean BBQ.
• Tacos from La Sirena Fantabulous Taqueria.
• BBQ from Mickelthwait Craft Meats.
• Hot Beverages from Elixer Coffee.
• Lobster Rolls from Garbos.
• Hot Dogs and Sausages from The Evil Weiner.
• F’Real Milkshake and Smoothie Truck.
• Hot Sandwiches from Emoji Grilled Cheese.

Visitors are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. Dogs and outside food and drink are welcome. See a map road closures below and click HERE for parking tips.