Zilker Park after ACL: Will Austin restore the Great Lawn?

Austin Parks and Recreation said Monday evening that municipal turf, land management and park operations employees are now working on site with festival organizers daily, monitoring soil saturation, turf health and drainage and making changes intended to limit additional long-term damage.

These measures include management of used gates, installation of temporary pathways and other soil mitigation works, the department said. After the festival ends, the city expects a broader remediation process that could include removal of standing water, deep aeration to relieve soil compaction, soil remediation and replacement of turf if necessary.

Alter, whose district includes Zilker Park, said the damage to the Great Lawn was “unacceptable,” although he recognized the importance of the festival to Austin.

“ACL is a great event for Austin, its residents, visitors and our economy, but the damage we have witnessed on the Great Lawn is unacceptable,” Alter wrote in a statement Saturday.

“The Great Lawn is a public asset that should be accessible to everyone after the festival, but I am very concerned that this is not the case. I have told C3 and city staff that something needs to change to protect against further damage. The public deserves to know the decisions that led to this, what is being done to fix it, and assurance that this will never happen again.”

Alter said in an interview Monday that he spoke out because he was concerned about how long it might take to restore the park, adding that he had full confidence that C3 Presents — the festival organizers — would renovate the lawn. He said he thinks it’s worth highlighting the damage and making sure the city has good processes and protections in place to protect Zilker Park.

“In a situation like this, I just want to make sure we don’t cause any underlying damage that would require a longer repair process,” he added.

Alter said he spoke with Parks and Recreation Department officials and C3 Presents about efforts to protect the lawn and how much rain would make conditions too wet for the festival to continue as planned. He said it was his understanding that organizers took available precautions and ultimately faced a longer period of rain than the forecast initially predicted. Crews had laid down mulch before the festival to create a barrier on the grass and took additional measures Saturday, including scraping away layers of mud in an effort to protect the turf beneath, Alter said.

Under the current agreement between the city and C3 Presents, the festival is responsible for repairing damage it causes to Zilker Park, including damage to vegetation. Austin’s parks director determines whether damage has occurred, how much repairs will reasonably cost and whether the festival is responsible for payment.

Parks and Recreation said C3 is contractually responsible for returning the Great Lawn and surrounding park to its pre-festival condition or better and must reimburse the city for staff time and materials used in mitigating damage and restoration.

The ministry said the restoration would cost taxpayers nothing.

Parks officials will manage repair timelines, soil testing and final approval of restoration work and determine when sections can reopen based on public safety, root establishment and soil stability, the department said.

ACL organizers told the American-Statesman they will remove the temporary turf and ground protection used during the first weekend as they prepare for the second weekend of the festival.

“We will prioritize park rest and recovery this week by strictly limiting activities on the grounds ahead of next weekend,” organizers said in an email.

Organizers said an assessment of the grounds was underway and they would meet daily with the Austin Parks and Recreation Department to “prepare for post-festival sanitation.”

Parks officials have consistently asked ACL organizers to pay for turf repairs. After the ACL in 2021, the city required C3 to coordinate and pay for all turf repairs and billed the company approximately $59,000 in post-event costs while remediation was underway. A $500 daily fee was maintained while the repaired areas remained closed to the public to allow the new lawn to grow, according to Parks and Recreation Department records.

“Zilker Park belongs to all Austinites,” Parks and Recreation Director Jesús Aguirre said in a statement. “We clearly hear the concerns of our community. APR is actively monitoring conditions and working closely with C3 and our partners to ensure the Great Lawn will be ready for use by all Austinites.”

However, the city’s new agreement, lasting 15 years, no longer specifies these rehabilitation costs. Instead, parks officials said the applicable fees are determined each year through a separate scope of work agreement, allowing the city to adjust its fee schedule without rewriting the long-term agreement.

After the festival, park staff and Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment employees will continue to assess the grounds with C3 representatives. Parts of the Great Lawn will remain closed while restoration work is underway, and the usual partial closure will remain in effect for Trail of Lights, the department said. Restoration work will also be coordinated around upcoming events, including the lighting of the Zilker Christmas tree and the Trail of Lights.

For festival-goers, the muddy conditions became the defining story of Weekend One.

Before ACL morphed into Mudfest, Ryan, who wanted to be identified only by his first name, wasn’t at all sure about coming to Austin.

The 56-year-old’s American Airlines flight from New Jersey was delayed eight times due to “bad weather,” leaving him stranded in Dallas before arriving.

“I got stuck in Dallas,” he told the Statesman Sunday night in front of the Snapchat stage minutes before The War on Drugs performed.

Still, the five-time Austin City Limits Music Festival veteran and IT professional was in good spirits after finally reuniting with his two longtime friends who live here.

“I’m a white Irishman from New Jersey,” he said. “With the exception of mud, which can be treated, this is my favorite ACL because I die in the sun.”

Heavy downpours Thursday and Friday transformed the grass of Zilker Park into vast, deep pools of mud. Personal electronic devices were buried. The gardeners could only group the mud into high piles to level the ground. During electronic musician It’s Murph’s concert, attendees could be seen diving into the piles.

On Saturday evening, after Rüfüs Du Sol closed the festival, another participant was filmed pulling someone from what appeared to be a waist-deep mud hole.

“Wait, there was quicksand there too?” » joked one commenter on Instagram.

Those who failed to obtain rain boots before selling them in Austin quickly discovered that the sneakers were not designed for the conditions. Festival-goers reported their shoes coming loose after trudging through thick mud. Others joked online that attendees in the premium viewing areas still had grass – suddenly one of the most coveted amenities at Weekend One.

Although several social media creators shared warnings about Dillo Dirt ahead of the festival’s first weekend, organizers confirmed that the material had not been used since 2009. That year, heavy rains damaged Zilker Park, prompting the use of the material — mostly made up of yard debris and treated sewage solids — to resurface the park.

Megan Reynolds, 22, a Stella Lefty fan from College Station, said last year’s warmer LCA felt better. It wasn’t just her “outfit choices” or her ponchos that caused the most problems.

“I was very afraid of slipping because I have a damaged ankle,” she said.

“I wasn’t going to play this one, but it’s raining,” country singer Jesse Welles told the crowd Friday before singing “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?”

The weather turned many performances into loose, self-aware sets.

An hour later, Baltimore rock band Turnstile introduced kids of all ages to hardcore pits as scattered debris flew.