Periodically, readers ask about Austin Aqua Fest.
Why shouldn’t they? From 1962 to 1998, the signature event absorbed much of the city, especially in and around Town Lake, now known as Lady Bird Lake.
“Sponsored by the Austin Chamber of Commerce, early Aqua Fests — scheduled during the hottest part of the summer, when business activity slowed down, kids needed distraction and college students and legislators were out of town — centered on watery events for the entire family,” I shared in a history of the festival in 2020 in these pages. “These included parades down Congress Avenue and on Town Lake, boating races and skiing showcases, beauty contests and decorated floats, community games and fishing contests, wandering entertainers and craft sellers, food booths and nightly concerts.”
Besides the entertainment, Aqua Fest generated its fair share of controversy. Protests over the festival’s noisy, smelly boat drag races, for instance, electrified the Hispanic population of East Austin and helped redefine power dynamics in the city.