A portion of Zilker Park’s Great Lawn will reopen Saturday, Oct. 31, following weeks of restoration work after the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
The western section of the lawn will remain accessible through the holiday season, Austin Parks and Recreation announced Tuesday. The rest of the lawn will be used for preparations for the annual Trail of Lights celebration.
The reopening follows a particularly muddy first weekend of ACL Fest, when heavy rainfall left large sections of the Great Lawn saturated and thousands of festivalgoers trampled through mud and standing water. Under its agreement with the city, festival organizer C3 Presents is responsible for returning the park to its previous condition or better, including covering restoration costs, according to the parks department.
Since the festival ended Oct. 11, city crews have worked alongside C3 and its contractors to remove debris, repair irrigation systems, aerate the lawn and spread ryegrass seed to help restore the turf, the parks department said.
Crews have also tilled and screened the park’s volleyball courts and applied grass seed to areas south of Barton Springs Road.
Visitors will be able to access the reopened lawn and parking lot from Stratford Drive, which will also remain open throughout the holiday season. The outdoor volleyball courts will reopen Saturday but will close again Nov. 16. The nearby Rugby Pitch reopened to the public Oct. 19.
Lou Neff Road will stay closed through the holiday season, while the rest of the Great Lawn transitions to Trail of Lights operations.
Restoration work will continue in the coming months and is expected to be completed after Trail of Lights equipment is removed from the park, according to the department.