After a wet and muddy first weekend of the Austin City Limits music festival, the City of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department is responding to concerns over potential damage to the city’s crown jewel. Austin Parks shared a statement on Tuesday, October 6, saying it’s “fully committed to protecting the park and the Great Lawn’s long-term health, including ensuring its restoration to prime condition” post-ACL.
Over the weekend, Austin City Councilman Ryan Alter described the damage to Zilker Park’s Great Lawn as “unacceptable” after heavy rainstorms led to muddy conditions at the festival and a delayed start on Saturday. In his statement, he said he contacted ACL organizers, C3 Presents, and city staff, saying that “something needs to change” to protect the park from further damage.
While several Austinites disagreed with Alter’s Facebook post, arguing that the park’s grass can be replanted and will grow back, a few others commented that the festival should be held in a paved area instead of Zilker Park. Austin Parks set the record straight, saying that, “C3 Presents is contractually obligated and fully financially responsible for restoring the Great Lawn and surrounding parkland to pre-festival condition or better.”
“City staff are actively monitoring the park during ACL Fest and understand the concerns about the environment caused this past weekend by heavy rainfall,” Austin Parks said. “City turf and land management specialists, as well as park operations teams, are on-site daily working with event organizers to monitor ground saturation, turf health, and drainage performance in real time.”
Texas Turf told City Cast they were contacted by ACL to lay 60,000 square feet of grass-like turf over muddy areas of the lawn to help make walking the grounds easier for festivalgoers on Saturday and Sunday. After weekend 1, KXAN also reported crews rolling up turf and ground cover at the park on Monday as organizers said they were deploying extra resources to restore the lawn.
Austin Parks said, “tactical adjustments, including gate management, temporary pathway installations, and soil mitigation continue to be actively managed to mitigate long-term damage while keeping festivalgoers safe for the entirety of the festival.”
And according to APR, no, this isn’t coming out of your wallet. The department also added that these operational and contractual safeguards are in place to guarantee full park restoration at zero cost to taxpayers.
“Zilker Park belongs to all Austinites,” said APR Director, Jesús Aguirre in a release. “We hear the concerns of our community clearly. APR has been actively monitoring conditions and collaborating closely with C3 and our partners to ensure the Great Lawn will be ready for use by all Austinites.”
Reopening dates for Zilker Park after ACL will be determined by city staff based on public safety, grass root establishment and soil stability. There will be a “Rigorous Remediation Protocol” immediately following the event in which city staff will oversee a multi-stage rehabilitation process including standing water extraction, deep core soil aeration to relieve compaction, soil remediation and resodding as needed, per the city.
Like years prior, portions of the Great Lawn will remain closed to allow for restoration and remediation work to begin and sections of it will reopen to prepare for Austin’s annual Trail of Lights. The city also clarified the online rumor that it has not used “Dillo Dirt” (a recycled compost mixed with yard trimmings treated municipal sewage sludge) on Zilker Park’s lawns since 2009.