Keep Austin Weird Festival & 5K

This festival is so much fun! I can’t wait to go again this year!

The Unilocal listing calls this a festival, and it is, but it’s also a long standing 5K fun run and that’s the main part I’m reviewing. Originally when this event first began, the 5K and festival were all one thing. You paid a minimal fee for the run (and t-​shirt) with sponsored fun stops (like donuts, beer, and bacon along the way) and you were promised one free hotdog at the finish line party, plus a reasonable number of you-​pay-​for-​it cheap domestic beers, free live music, a bouncy house for the kids, and a ton of fun people in crazy costumes.
For the 13^th edition in 2015, the experience has evolved, much like Austin itself. Things cost more, the commercialism is much more brazen, and it’s just not quite as «Austin-​y» (at least to old timer Austinites). The run is $ 35 and you can add the festival for an additional $ 10, or just pay for the fest only for $ 20. The festival fee only gets you entry into the fenced area where the band is playing, so you still need cash for any drinks, food, or other fun to be had.
Still, the run through downtown is a good time, and you can get away with just paying the lesser price for this part if you don’t want to splurge on the fenced in fest (aka pop-​up shopping mall and concert) part on the Long Center lawn after the run.
I thoroughly enjoyed the fun run with its 10 silly stops and happy bunch of partiers. Some stops were quick drinks of beer or promoted spirits (like Deep Eddy vodka), others were goofy food bites or cold treats (popsicles & ice cream), and even a soapy slip & slide. Runners were decked out in ridiculous costumes and everyone participating, from the joggers to the spectators to the roadside booth staffers were all friendly & clearly having a ball.
Though the «race» is non-​competitive, the top 25 finishers in each gender got a free souvenir award koozie at the finish line. Much more useful than a medal — I like it!
Would I do this again next year? Yeah, I think I would, especially if I had a group a friends who wanted to dress up and have a sweaty, mobile party. I’d skip the extra cost for the restricted entry festival area, though, since everything I want to experience is associated with the fun run only.

These are the emails I responded to your messages with. I do not appreciate being called a liar and Bounce is not Ticketmaster. I called the festival office the day of and was told a lie.
Michelle,
This is not how you handle customers and I am sorry to inform YOU that you have a liar on your staff at Bounce. I will continue to share my story, as it is completely accurate and 100% true, on any message board I can find that you participate on. Yes, I do expect a concert venue to refund or transfer a ticket in a situation like this when I call and ask them and they tell me that they do. Had I been given the truth the day of, I would have given the ticket to someone else in my place, but your staff member gave me, as you said, incorrect information and then you did not honor what she told me. I would love to tell you where to stick your last email, but I’m sure you can guess.
Virginia Westmark
Michelle,
6/​27, 2:31pm, An almost 2 ½ minutes, I spoke to your staff member at Bounce. I wasn’t speaking to myself, I wasn’t speaking to the voicemail, I was speaking to a human female. I called back twice on the 29^th amd left two messages. Contact me again and I will consider it harrassment. Also, you have a bit of an overinflated ego. You are not Ticketmaster.
Virginia Westmark

The Keep Austin Weird Fest is always a good time and a must if you’re new to the area or want an authentic Austin experience.
Expect good food, a fun run, live entertainment, crazy costumes, and great live music. Bring your camera because the city-​scape backdrop is amazing for pictures and selfies.

For the price, this was the worst «festival» I have been to in Austin. It’s not deserving of its name at all.
I had a couple family members in town and thought this event would be a great way to showcase the character of the city. I bought three tickets online at $ 30 each thinking that such a cost would mean it must be a great event. Wrong! It was a total ripoff at $ 30. I *might* have paid $ 5 after experiencing it.
First, the event space is tiny. There was maybe four or five food tents/​trucks and 20 or so other vendors. You could walk the whole grounds in few minutes and the only other interesting thing to do was listen to a band play on the stage. The crowd was totally unenthusiastic and hardly «weird» in any way. The whole event felt very corporate and like a company trying to make a big money grab by capitalizing on the «Keep Austin Weird» motto. Even the tank tops they were trying to sell were $ 30. Really?! $ 30 for a tank top that promotes this lame festival?! You have got to be kidding me…
I felt most sorry for the bands that played because I’m sure they were promised a big, fun crowd; however, most people seemed to care less that they were there.
In the end, I pretty much felt scammed due to the grossly overpriced admission. I will never make the mistake of going to this festival again.

Don’t do it. The «fest» reminded me of an old sarcastic cheer I knew as a kid.
” OOOOONE! TWOOOOO!!! THREEEEEEE… meh…“
I rarely write bad reviews but this just was a bummer. The event planners w/​KAW need to revamp this whole thing. I experienced the same depressed feeling after 2013 that Greg already wrote base on his 2012 run– too bad I didn’t see his Unilocal review until after I paid a ridiculous $ 50– $ 50 on a tight budget is a loss of good music and cheap beer at other venues. Greg’s 2012 Unilocal review:
. It was commercial «weirdness» that made me depressed– I just hoped to have a ball w/​people in clever costumes over drinks and sweat. Nope– how local news, etc agencies like Austin Culture Map, 360, the Chronicle, etc can truly «recommend» this made me feel like 1) the recommender actually hasn’t been to a KAW lately or 2) the recommender is just being paid or helping out the KAW marketing dept.
For ~$ 50 reg for a 5K that advertises itself as FUN COSTUME jog, I expect some basics but here’s how KAW stacked up:
— Many options for «free» alcohol that was paid for by the $ 50 registration– fail. We had maybe 3 shots overall, no beer. Every other fun run 5K that I’ve done that’s similar offers free beer, etc before/​after the race. KAW had $ 6 beer after the race? After a $ 50 race, what??? Give me at least a $ 1 – 2 lone star option.
— Actual costume contest where people can see how to vote, see pictures of the race, etc. The KAW website, even day after says «Check back for details closer to the event.»…um, that time is NOW. And it was really difficult to even know where to enter the contest. The confusion actually seemed like a party foul.
— Most of the people in the race to actually be into the costumes… there were (or no costume)…the lack of creativity was another bummer.
— Also, give us a «fun» shirt– the logo this year was so generic… like tie dye just makes people weird? That’s just normal. A man wearing a panda head riding a bike in a leotard would be more better. or an armadillo in a tutu howling at the supermoon that was in fact rising over the austin skyline that night…
I did appreciate the few bands that played on the route, the people that tossed water on us, the bundt cake and the slip-​in-​slide. Those parts were nice but did not make up for the ridiculous $ 50 tag, maybe a $ 20 event I would have given this 3 stars. At least I had a blast w/​my costume.
Instead of KAW, I recommend, checking out some other creative of Austin outlet– art openings, a midnight Rogue running jog, some neighborhood parade, whatever. Then, donate canned goods to a foodbank. Then use the the remaining $ 35 to hear some good local music and grab a few drinks. You’ll feel better about Austin and how you spend your recreational time and money.