Three day weekends are magical, glorious things. It’s one less work day the next week and the Friday before is marked by heightened sense of excitement. But also: more opportunities to get out and about town. Our top event picks for the weekend include tattoos, gorillas, inflatable art spaces and good old-fashioned marching.
11th Annual Star of Texas Tattoo Arts Revival Show
Body art enthusiasts unite! Folks who’ve always wanted to get inked but always chicken out are surely welcome too at the Palmer Events Center this weekend for the Star of Texas Tattoo Arts Revival Show. There will of course be onsite tattooing of all kinds, including Japanese-style art and something called photo-realistic coloring (forgive me, I was a sheltered child). And also: contests, seminars, art gallery, kids area, car and... motorcycle displays? Eh, why not? It’s $15 a day or $40 for the whole weekend.
Austin Gorilla Run
If you’re serious about sticking to your New Year’s resolution of exercising more, then prove it and don a gorilla costume for the Austin Gorilla Run, a 5K Saturday morning downtown. Yes, the kind of gorilla suit you were to a costume party. But there will be booze!
Thirsty Planet Brewing is a co-sponsor and all the proceeds will go toward the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund, which aids endangered gorillas in Uganda. The running will come to a stop at RunTex, where there will be a party. Even if you don’t want to run, you can still donate and gawk at people running in gorilla getups.
Architects of Air: Exxopolis Luminarium
It is not a bouncy house. I investigated. On the lawn of the Long Center starting Saturday and through next weekend is Architects of Air’s inflatable, immersive and experiential art exhibit, where visitors walk through a network of tunnels of color light and calming ambience. It’s the size of half a football field and looks like something an alien left behind and is indeed as cool as it sounds. It’s $10 to get in and get there early because there will be a long, long line.
MLK March and Festival
Take a few hours from your day off from work to celebrate and venerate the late Dr. King with the annual march to the capitol and to Huston-Tilloston University Monday morning. Marchers should assemble at the MLK Statue on the UT campus for a short program. The Capital Area Food Bank will be on hand taking donations of nonperishable food items and at the march’s finish line will be a celebration including food vendors and live music.
