Pecan Street Fall Festival: 50 years and still going

Austin's Pecan Street Fall Festival has a long history of taking over a weekend, and it's not about to slow down. The 50th edition, presented by Thomas J. Henry, landed on September 13 and 14, 2025, at the Hill Country Galleria out in Bee Cave, and the 51st is already on the calendar for September 12 and 13, 2026. If you've never been, it's a juried two-day arts festival that's been a fixture for more than three decades, and it's managed by Special Events Live, which took the reins in 2006.

The scale is what makes it worth the drive. You're looking at around 200 visual artists showing work in metal, wood, fiber, clay, leather, glass, stone and repurposed materials, so there's a lot to browse. On the music side, nearly 50 of Austin's top acts spread across three stages, and the 50th anniversary lineup on the Covert Bee Cave Main Stage ran the gamut from McKenna Michels and Henry Invisible to the Bruce Smith Band, Jennifer Foster and the Audacity, FOAM, Bros Fresh, a Songwriter Round, Armadillo Road, So Called Underground, Brian Sactocci, El Tule and Jo James. James, an Austin-based Americana, soul and blues-rock artist, blends classic rock with soul and Americana storytelling, drawing from the likes of Larkin Poe, Chris Stapleton, The Black Crowes and Jason Isbell.

It's built to be a full day out rather than a quick stop. There's a row of carnival rides, art workshops for kids and dance lessons, and about thirty food vendors serving everything from crepes and funnel cakes to regional dishes, smoothies and fresh-squeezed lemonade. For the younger crowd, that means rides, a petting zoo, face-painting, interactive workshops and street magicians. Admission is free, and parking and bottled water come free too, courtesy of A Force of Nature. The Rotary Club of Bee Cave/Lakeway adds a little stakes to the weekend with a raffle, and for 2026 they're putting a GMC pickup truck or a Cadillac XT5 on the line, with tickets at $100 each and the drawing set for November 13 at Flintrock Falls Club.

If you're an artist eyeing a spot, the festival runs its applications through ZAPP, with a $30 application fee separate from the booth fee, and it takes emerging artists, though the deadline has already passed. For now, the best way to get a feel for it is to look at what the 50th put together and plan around the 51st, which is shaping up to be more of the same: a couple of days of art, music and food out in the Hill Country. It's the kind of event that's easy to build a weekend around, and with the 51st already dated, there's plenty of time to make sure you don't miss it when it comes back around.