swalter518

Good morning,
We're heading to Austin with our 9 and 6 yr old over Columbus Day weekend. Any suggestions on things to do with kids around this age? I'd love to find a live music venue that the kids could go to-are there any out there? THANKS!

jayne1973

Columbus Day weekend will be week two of the Austin City Limits (ACL) music festival, making it more busy than usual in Austin. The good news is that a lot of the ACL bands also do shows around town, and some of the bands are specifically kid-oriented. In fact, there's a whole kids' stage at ACL. I suggest you look online at the ACL lineup and see who's on the kids' stage that weekend. Then search to see if any of them are doing shows around Austin that weekend.

Have a great time!

BigRuss

The kids could go to ACL. Day passes are $100 each, though. And in an area with 60-80,000 people, you may not want to have the monsters hang out. The Friday headliner is the Foo Fighters whose lead singer doesn't avoid words that the FCC would censor on non-premium cable.

jayne1973

I wouldn't take kids to ACL itself...just check to see if some of the kid-oriented bands playing at the festival are doing other shows in Austin that weekend.

swalter518

Thanks everyone. While I'd love ACL, not sure the kids would last long enough to justify the $$. Any other suggestions?

AustinTraveler

Your best bet is to find restaurants with live music cause otherwise the kids will not be allowed inside. Unfortunately, you are coming during a very busy time so there will be lots of crowds and waiting in line.

A couple of places to try for live music are Threadgill's and Guero's on South Congress. I'm sure you and the kids will enjoy the fun atmosphere on South Congress and there are lots of restaurants to choose from and many shops.

Also hit up a few food trucks. There are many located in East Austin and on South First Street (just do a Google search). There are actual food trailer parks so you'll find trucks parked together.

I would say that the number one place in Austin where people take kids to listen to music, eat, play, etc. is at Central Market on North Lamar Street. Yeah, it's a grocery store but really so much more. You can buy food and drinks in the store and take them outside to eat and listen to the music, or you can buy food from the cafe. There's also a park and a playscape for the kids.

I hope you won't be disappointed with your visit to Austin. Going during ACL will be completely different due to the huge influx of people in the city. You already have accommodations, right?

Closer to your dates, you'll want to check out this event page:

http://www.austin360.com/

swalter518

Thanks Austintraveler. Yes, we're in towns or a wedding so unfortunately we didn't have any control over the timing. These are
Great suggestions though. On a different note, the wedding is "country chic" - this Chicago girl had NO idea what that means. Any suggestions?

AustinTraveler

Country chic would be like a cute dress with cowboy boots, or a long flowy tunic-type top with slacks. I would just wear whatever you feel comfortable in. Austin is definitely not country so you're likely to see people wearing whatever they want.

swalter518

Thanks! I must admit it had me befuddled. The wedding is at a ranch outside Austin a bit so I guess that's more country.

sandy_b

I took my 3 g-kids (12, 11, 6) to Austin and San Antonio last summer. We took their photos at the big "Welcome to Austin" sign that is behind the Coop at UT . . . that was a big hit. We emailed the pictures to their families.

We took the Ducks tour and everyone hated it. We had the worst driver ever and he did not want anybody to quack. (He gives everyone a quacker, this is a rubber duck bill on a ribbon and we're supposed to quack at his jokes) . . . but he was not funny and did not appear to like his job or kids very much.

We did the Lone Star Riverboat Bat tour and that was a big hit with us all. We had a good view of the bats since they showed up in the lights at the nearby hotel. Those people standing on the bridge were looking out over the dark water so harder to see.

We visited the Bob Bullock museum but the first floor was closed for remodeling and they closed early for an event . . . kids moderately liked this.

We toured the State Capitol, free, another fun thing the kids enjoyed.

We had lunch at Shady Grove, huge portions, really good food and a good kids' menu.

We rode around UT . . . even though we are an Aggie family.

Actually, there was a lot of things to do, your kids should love it.

Sandy (in Denton)