Our Opinion: Adversity can’t get in the way of festival

Published 6:30 am Wednesday, September 1, 2021

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A huge shout out to the organizers, volunteers, musicians, artists and vendors who made this year’s 10th anniversary of the Austin ArtWorks Festival.

Each year, this event has grown and exceeded the next as a go-to event in the area. It hasn’t been easy these last couple years though, as the ever-present COVID-19 pandemic continues to lay siege to our everyday lives. It’s been amazing  to watch as people pulled together this year to create a one-of-kind event, even after altering how it needed to be done last year.

And they did it with the extra challenge of heavy rains this weekend.

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On one hand, it’s hard to argue against the badly needed rain. Drought conditions grip much of the state, so when the rains started falling Thursday and continued into the weekend, it was welcome. But at the same time it was a challenge to pull off the first full-fledged festival since 2019.

However, this bunch of people have never backed down from a challenge, and they didn’t this time. On the second day of the festival, they received a perfect day of fun, art and music.

It may not have been perfect both days, but in the end the festival was a success and it was because of the hard working people in Austin that made it possible.