Joe Blackman’s Insider Guide to September Events in Austin

September is one of my favourite times of year in Austin! Not necessarily because the weather suddenly becomes a bit more sensible (it is still Texas, after all) — but because after the slightly slower pace of summer, the city starts to a little more busy again.

The students are back (which means it’s a great time to bag a cheap self storage deal. the live music calendar gets considerably more crowded and suddenly there seem to be three things happening on the same evening that you had vaguely intended to go to. October will inevitably be dominated by ACL and Formula 1, but September is actually a very good month to be in Austin in its own right.

So… with the first weekend already behind us, here are a few things still coming up this month that caught my attention.

LEVITATION — September 10–13

LEVITATION returns from September 10–13 and I like the fact that, unlike many festivals, it doesn’t require disappearing into an enormous field for the weekend.

It takes place across a collection of Austin music venues. It’s centered around the Red River Cultural District and East Austin, which means the city itself remains part of the experience - although not quite SXSW. There is something quite different about walking between venues, stopping somewhere along the way and still feeling like you are having a night out in Austin rather than entering a completely separate festival universe.

It has also grown into a genuinely international event without losing that independent Austin feel, which is increasingly difficult to pull off.

¡Viva México! — September 12

On September 12, the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center hosts its annual ¡Viva México! celebration at the Oswaldo A.B. Cantu/Pan American Recreation Center!

There will be music, dance, art and celebrations around Mexican Independence. This is probably one of the events on the list that says more about Austin than a visitor might initially realise.

Since I moved to Austin, I realised how much Mexican and Mexican-American culture is so woven into Texas — the food, architecture, music, language and history. It seems impossible to really understand Austin without understanding at least some of that influence. This is a good excuse to experience a bit more of it.

Pecan Street Festival — September 12–13

Also, that weekend is the Pecan Street Festival. There is a small trap here for anyone who hasn’t been paying attention recently: don’t automatically head for Sixth Street.

The festival is now held at the Hill Country Galleria.

It is still free and still has the familiar mixture of artists, makers, food, music and various things you didn’t know you needed until somebody put them on a table in front of you. I have always liked events like this because you don’t really need a plan. You can spend an hour wandering around or accidentally stay half the day.

Fantastic Fest — September 17–24

Fantastic Fest is probably the most typically Austin event on the list.

Eight days of horror, science fiction, fantasy, action and generally rather strange films at Alamo Drafthouse doesn’t even seem remotely unusual here.

Running from September 17–24, Fantastic Fest attracts filmmakers and film fans from around the world and has become one of the best-known genre film festivals anywhere. Even if your normal cinema choice doesn’t normally involved horror, obscure international films or something virtually impossible to describe afterwards… it is worth keeping an eye on what is showing.

Austin has always been particularly good at giving slightly unconventional ideas somewhere to live, and Fantastic Fest fits that tradition rather nicely.

Austin Museum Day — September 20

September 20 is Austin Museum Day. Museums and cultural organisations around the city offer free admission along with exhibitions, activities and special programming.

This is one I think is particularly worth mentioning because us events planners are especially guilty of ignoring things that are on our doorstep.

Travel somewhere new and we will happily spend an afternoon walking around a museum, but you put one ten minutes from home and somehow we can drive past it for five years while promising ourselves we will eventually go in.

Museum Day removes at least one excuse.

HAAM Benefit Day — September 22

HAAM Benefit Day is back on September 22 and, if you are relatively new to Austin, it is worth knowing what it actually supports.

HAAM — the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians — helps working musicians access affordable healthcare, and Benefit Day sees musicians performing at venues and businesses across Austin to raise money for the organisation.

We use “Live Music Capital of the World” so frequently that it can become another bit of Austin branding, but there are real people behind that identity and being a working musician isn’t necessarily an easy way to make a living.

So go and listen to some music, spend some money and support the people who make the slogan possible.

And there is plenty of live music

Then there are the concerts, which could probably fill an article by themselves.

September’s calendars at ACL Live, Moody Center and the city’s other venues are packed again, with everything from major touring artists to the smaller shows that you tend to discover about approximately three hours after somebody asks, “Are you coming tonight?”

That is still one of my favourite things about Austin. Some of the best nights here are not the ones you put into the calendar six months earlier.

September is really only the beginning

October will arrive soon enough, bringing ACL, Formula 1 and the huge influx of visitors that comes with them. After that, Austin seems to roll from one major event into another for much of the fall.

But I wouldn’t treat September simply as the month before all of that.

There is something very pleasant about Austin at this point in the year. The city is busy again without everything feeling completely overwhelmed, the universities are back, the music venues are full and there are enough smaller events happening that you can still decide on a Friday afternoon that you are going to do something that evening.

For a city that is increasingly known around the world for a handful of enormous events, I still think some of the best bits of Austin are the things happening in between them.

And September has rather a lot of those.

And if all else fails, head to Central Market (north or south) and they always have some great music events going on in store - buy your own alcohol and enjoy!

Check my website out if you want to connect and ask any questions: https://joe-blackman.com: