Weekend Best Bets

Austin's top weekend event picks: Teenage angst, local art, flower crowns, and high sea adventures

Is it safe to say that spring has sprung? The Texas weather, as usual, constantly fakes us out with rain and brief cold snaps. You want to tell it to cut it out and make up its mind already, but then again, we’ll all be missing this weather when Austin turns into the surface of Mercury come July.

At least the forecast looks rather splendid this weekend, so go out and enjoy our top events to choose from.

Mortified Austin: April Fools in Love

Let’s face it, childhood might have been fun, but everyone has a few moments that they'd rather not recount. Buried deep within embarrassing journal and diary entries, there are secrets and memories that we hope never see the light of day.

But the brave folks of Mortified Austin are revealing the skeletons in their closets as a way to come to terms with those moments. Participants will read or perform selections from their diaries, journals, or even song lyrics to release the past demons of their childhood or teenage years. It can be somewhat therapeutic, and it might give the audience the courage to face their own issues from time gone by.

Art City Austin festival

Austin loves a good block party or festival, and people love to support their local artists. That’s why Art Alliance Austin wishes to present its Art City Austin festival this weekend downtown between Cesar Chavez Street and the Second Street District.

City Hall will transform into a giant gallery with over 150 works on display at the People’s Gallery. It also wouldn’t be a proper Austin shindig without massive amounts of food, drinks and live music. Get out and connect with community artists in the bright sunshine, beyond the confines of a gallery.

Feliz presents “An Evening with Studio Choo”

April showers have helped to bring the May flowers in a little earlier this year. Pick a few for arrangements or take the traditional Texas highway wildflower photo. Or you can get crafty and make a flower crown.

You can learn how to do it on Saturday, thanks to the ladies coming in from San Francisco’s Studio Choo. The shop’s proprietors, Alethea Harampolish and Jill Rizzo, are celebrating the release of their new book, The Flower Recipe Book, with a little hands-on action and a book signing afterwards. Everyone in the family can have fun, but for mature tastes, there will be floral inspired Dripping Springs cocktails on hand.

Boats at Stateside at the Paramount

In a recent interview with CultureMap, playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer discussed his love and passion for writing theatre that treats children and adults as equals. He might be onto something, considering that the Irish-born, Australian-raised writer’s plays have been performed in over 50 countries.

Boats continues Kruckemeyer’s love for all things nautical, telling the story of sailors, Nic and Jof, as they sail across the high seas to leave behind their pasts and to seek out new adventures. The performance includes the use of puppets, acrobatics, singing and on-stage sound effects for an encapsulating theatrical production.

There is never a good reason to not go out and explore Austin!

Participant at Mortified Austin

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Stupid Cancer

Convention coming to Austin makes cancer suck less for young people

stupidcancer.org

Speakers bring the smarts, but the dance party, karaoke, and snack breaks are the highlights.

It’s not often that the word “cancer” is associated with something as exciting or fun as a comic con, but this August, New York-based organization Stupid Cancer is changing all of that for Texans.

CancerCon Live 2024 will take over the Hyatt Regency Austin from August 15-18. This four-day event was created specifically for adolescents and young adults (or AYAs) between the ages of 15 and 39 who are affected by cancer. This means survivors, patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals, all coming together with the common goal of “making cancer suck less.”

The event will include a range of speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities. More specifically, there will be breakout sessions on topics like “How Psychiatry Can Help You Cope,” “Navigating Medical Billing and Health Insurance,” “Cancer in the Bedroom: Sex & Intimacy,” and more than twenty others.

Besides the talks, there are other classic convention elements. There will be exhibitor booths and a store with Stupid Cancer merch. An open lounge space will be available throughout the event; Two days of breakfast and lunch will be included. And at night, expect to see a talent show, karaoke, an open mic night, and, of course, a dance party.

Stupid Cancer was founded in 2012 by Matthew Zachary, who had been a pediatric cancer patient himself. After going through treatment in the 90s, Zachary realized there was a lack of support for adolescents and young adults dealing with cancer. In 2004, he founded Steps for Living, which became I’m Too Young for This! Cancer Foundation, and then eventually, Stupid Cancer in 2012.

CancerCon has taken place in places like Denver Atlanta, Minneapolis, and now for the first time, Austin. According to the website, it is “the gathering for the adolescent and young adult cancer community.”

As previous participant Christina said in a testimonial, “I came by myself and was immediately embraced by this community. It’s a safe space that’s completely free of judgment, made up of other people who get it. I’ve felt more myself in the past few days than I have since my diagnosis.”

According to the site, about 60 percent of CancerCon attendees are first-timers like Christina, and it's not weird to show up alone. It’s designed to be an event that connects participants with critical resources — as well as each other.

Tickets ($200) are available now at stupidcancer.org. If you want to help support the event, organizers are also looking for exhibitors and sponsors. A limited number of need-based scholarships are available.