AUSTIN, Texas — ACL Fest is back and while on Friday it was pushed back a couple of hours due to rain, organizers were able to get up and running.
It didn't take long for the people, musicians and food vendors to make their way to Zilker Park in Austin.
"Those things that they love are starting to get some of that collection back that they desperately need in this post-pandemic of reality we're at right now," said Tom Noonan, president of Visit Austin.
After a year in lockdown, people are excited to show up. Noonan said all this positive energy is what ACL is all about.
"So you have a couple of great opportunities to kind of feel the mojo of Austin being back this weekend, and that's great," he added.
Because the festival attracts thousands of people, businesses are expected to be quite busy. In fact, it's the first big festival of the year, so they're hoping it will stimulate the city's economy.
While some restaurants near ACL Fest are doing well, Eduardo Longoria, owner of Casa De Luz, said that's not the case for him.
"Right now, at this very moment, you'd be seeing people coming in and out and you don't see anybody right now," he said.
That's because people have no way of getting there due to road closures around the festival.
"Morton is closed. Barton Springs Road is closed," Longoria added. "The street that we're on is closed."
On top of that, Longoria said ACL Fest takes all the parking surrounding him. So, even if customers made it, they have no place to park.
Casa de Luz Manager Gabby Martinez said they're in a great location, but all the closures make them lose exposure.
"A lot of people are coming in for the first time to Austin, and they don't know that we're here because of all the road closures," said Martinez.
Casa de Luz hosts nearly 550 people on the weekends.
Martinez said that after the 2019 ACL Fest, they lost nearly 90% of their customers that weekend.
"We were only feeding about 60 to 80 people a day, which is drastic," she added.
She has seen and expects the same for the rest of the weekend.
"It's just heartbreaking because we offer so much to the community and to everyone," Martinez said.
There's not much they can do. In the meantime, Longoria does have one request for ACL organizers.
"I wish him all the luck, but don't do it in our downtown core," he said.
Now, all they can do is wait for the roads to clear up soon.
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