Started by the Chamber of Commerce In 1962, Austin Aqua Festival, long before the advent of South by Southwest (1987) or the Austin City Limits Music Festival (2002), it included parades down Congress Avenue and on Town Lake, boating races and skiing showcases, beauty contests and decorated floats, community games and fishing contests, wandering entertainers and craft sellers, food booths and nightly concerts.

Started by the Chamber of Commerce In 1962, Austin Aqua Festival, long before the advent of <a href="https://www.statesman.com/entertainmentlife/20200318/what-is-austin-without-sxsw">South by Southwest</a> (1987) or the <a href="https://www.austin360.com/photogallery/TX/20200702/ENTERTAINMENT/702009999/PH/1">Austin City Limits Music Festival</a> (2002), it included parades down Congress Avenue and on Town Lake, boating races and skiing showcases, beauty contests and decorated floats, community games and fishing contests, wandering entertainers and craft sellers, food booths and nightly concerts.

Do you love Austin as much as we do? Find out how it became the city it is today via Austin Found, a podcast from journalist and history buff Michael Barnes and radio personality J.B. Hager. They share the stories behind the stories about the people, places, culture and history of the inimitable Texas capital.

Do you love Austin as much as we do? Find out how it became the city it is today via Austin Found, a podcast from journalist and history buff Michael Barnes and radio personality J.B. Hager. They share the stories behind the stories about the people, places, culture and history of the inimitable Texas capital.

Austin Found Podcast

<blockquote>Do you love Austin as much as we do? Find out how it became the city it is today via Austin Found, a podcast from journalist and history buff Michael Barnes and radio personality J.B. Hager. They share the stories behind the stories about the people, places, culture and history of the inimitable Texas capital.</blockquote>

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