Weekend Event Guide

Here are the top 7 things to do in Austin this weekend

Get outside and explore some of the most entertaining corners of the city. Experience the first weekend of Austin City Limits Music Festival or get spooky at Pumpkin Nights. Check out the top seven things to do in Austin this weekend. For a complete list of events, click over to our calendar.

Thursday, October 1

Pioneer Farms presents Pumpkin Nights
Celebrate the season at Pioneer Farms. This year’s event includes a half-mile walking path that has been transformed into several fantastical worlds using more than 5,000 hand-carved real and artificial pumpkins. Additional highlights include a live fire dancing performance, games in The Village, photo ops, and themed cocktails. Pumpkin Nights is open through October 31.

Bass Concert Hall presents Boz Scaggs in concert
Singer-songwriter Boz Scaggs performs live for one night only. The guitarist stops in the city in support of his 2025 album, Detour. He’s best known for his popular song “Lido Shuffle” and “Lowdown.” Tickets are on sale now.

Photo courtesy of Charli XCX

Charli XCX is one of several headliners for Austin City Limits Festival.

Friday, October 2

Austin City Limits Music Festival
The biggest acts in music and rising stars from Texas and beyond will take to the stages at Zilker Park for the first weekend of the Austin City Limits Music Festival. This year’s festival headliners include Charli XCX, Twenty One Pilots, Lorde, Skrillex, The XX, Kings of Leon, and more. Other confirmed artists on the lineup include The Chainsmokers, Lola Young, Leon Thomas, and Sofi Tukker. Select single-day tickets and weekend passes are still available.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center presents "Fortlandia"
The Fortlandia exhibition returns to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Guests to the opening weekend can explore a new lineup of custom designed forts by local architects, designers, and artists. This experience is suitable for visitors of all ages and encourages the energy of childhood play and wonder with full-sized structured inspired by imagination and nature. Tickets are on sale now. Fortlandia is open through January 31.

Austin Zoo presents Boo at the Zoo
Get into the spooky spirit with the entire family in tow at the Austin Zoo. Guests are invited to venture through the zoo grounds for a fun, non-scary Halloween event featuring a creepy crawly animal show, a haunted train ride, and more. Costumes for adults and children are encouraged. Boo at the Zoo is open through October 24. Tickets are on sale now.

Saturday, October 3

Austin Saengerrunde and Scholz Garten presents Austoberfest
Welcome the autumn season in all German-inspired fashion at Scholz Garten. Guests can enjoy sausage samples, bowling, steinholding contests, beer specials, and live music. The first 500 guests will receive a complimentary half-liter stein. Tickets are available now.

Monster Truck Wars
Geared up entertainment speeds into the Travis County Exposition Center for three days of Monster Truck action. Fans can expect appearances from iconic trucks such as T-Rex, Shark Attack, and Outlaw. Highlights include kids powerwheel races, quad wars, Monster Truck rides, and pit party access. Get ticket information on AttendStar.

entertainment events things to do in austin weekend events weekend activities live music acl fest concerts pumpkin nights free events family events family activities monster truck fall festival event-planner

Guests of Honor

New Austin theater collective to debut with immersive cocktail party

Austin Underground Collective The Wild Party promotional image

Photo courtesy of Austin Underground Collective

What could go wrong among friends at a dinner party?

A new theater collective is about to put on its first show, and it's starting with an immersive bang. For its debut production, Austin Underground Collective (AUC) will stage Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party, a show with no stage and no audience, at Pershing Hall from October 31 to November 12.

The musical theater production will be staged around guests seated at cocktail tables, as if it were all one big party. The imagined setting is a 1920s apartment, where Queenie (Leslie Hollingsworth) and Burrs (Andrew Cannata) — a couple obsessed with one-upping each other — are having guests over. The setting won't stretch the imagination, since Pershing Hall is a 1920s property and is decorated accordingly.

As their guests, Austinites who come to the show can either stay tuned to the drama unfolding around their tables or go the bar. Guests are encouraged to dress up to increase the immersive feeling. There will also be programming before and after the show to set the mood and see folks off with a cabaret.

A press release connects this format to the collective's overall purpose: "original theater staged in unconventional spaces, built on strong scores and bold direction creating a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience not typically offered."

AUC will have a core group of actors and hopes to connect not just with Austinites who go to many theater performances, but everyone looking for immersive experiences.

“Austin Underground Collective exists to create an experience that's loud, messy, and a little dangerous," said founder Leslie Vander Gheynst in the release. "Andrew Lippa's score is electric and ambitious, and it deserves a production as bold as the music itself. Starting here feels right. In a time drowning in digital interaction and image perfection, this show brings us back to raw humanity and everything that comes with it. It's a story about people who refuse to behave themselves, staged by a company built on the same instinct."

Director Julianna Wright said she wants the story to feel "raw" and "complicated."

“I want guests close enough to know these characters, to catch the look on Queenie's face before she says a word," Wright said. "That changes everything about how we staged it: every scene must work whether a guest is three feet away or thirty.”

Tickets to The Wild Party are available at austinundergroundcollective.com. Prices range from $25-$75, depending on how involved attendees want to be in the immersive elements of the show. Guests must be at least 18 years old for legal reasons. Performances will happen Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 5 and 8 pm. Pershing Hall is located at 2415 E. 5th St.

theater immersive musicals