Some quick takes from the First Night Austin activities, which Stella, Amani, and I ventured into town for on New Year’s Eve:
* We were chilly! Temps were in low 60s when we arrived and low 50s by the time we left a couple of hours later, but the high winds made it feel much cooler. As you can see in the photo above from the 1st Street Bridge, Amani was all bundled up.
* We were early! We’re hanging out along Auditorium Shores at sunset in the picture above, but most of the action hadn’t yet started while we were there. Things felt slow.
* We have a stubborn little boy. Amani insisted on pushing his own carriage around, including back across the 1st Street Bridge, uphill. A few oncoming passersby were startled to see what appeared to be an unmanned carriage moving toward them, but their expressions softened once they caught wind of the 3-year-old at the controls! They were clearly impressed (as were we, of course).
* The official “grand procession” along W. Caesar Chavez St. that we took in just before heading home certainly reinforced our city’s “Keep Austin Weird” slogan. Mixed among the marching church groups and local nonprofits were ragtag musicians, a unicyclist, an insect-like accordion vehicle of some kind, and other assorted colorful characters. The video clip I’ve posted just above doesn’t capture much of the weirdness, but these three photos from the Austin Statesman certainly do!
Final verdict? We probably won’t be regular First Nighters in the coming years, but glad we checked it out this time!
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