Art City Austin 2014, an event put on by Art Alliance Austin, was held April 12-13 in Austin, Texas. This was Andy's first year to participate in Art City Austin, and he joined over 100 other artists. The two-day art festival was held on West Cesar Chavez Street along the Colorado River in downtown.

Our friends Matt and Evan were kind enough to help us set up Andy's tent Friday night. Setting up a tent is fun! Actually, it's NOT. It's kind of miserable and time consuming. The tent and walls are the easy part. What's difficult is deciding just how to arrange the artwork so that it all fits and looks balanced. It's like Tetris, only heavy lifting is involved. (Pro tip: When tensions rise, it's a great time to leave the artist alone for awhile and go find delicious food.) I don't remember what time we finished, but I do know that it was well past my bed time. The effort was worth it, because his tent looked great Saturday morning.

One highlight of Saturday - other than selling art, of course - was bumping into a fellow Niceville High School graduate and his family! Gray graduated from our high school the year before Andy's sister. We have heard his name many times over the years, but it took a trip halfway across the country to finally meet him. Fun fact: Gray's mom was one of Andy's college art teachers!

Another highlight of Saturday was that I finally got to meet Chris and Stephanie. They vacation in South Walton and have bought art from Andy in the past. Thanks to last weekend, we can now call them friends instead of just customers! Chris and Stephanie volunteered at Art City Austin Saturday afternoon. When the festival closed for the day, they brought us to one of their favorite BBQ places in Austin. I'll gladly admit that Rudy's had the best brisket and cream corn I've ever tasted. I usually turn up my nose at chain restaurants, but this one is a winner!

On Sunday, Chad Goldwasser picked up Andy's skyline guitar piece inspired by Austin. Chad just signed a book deal, and his “Pure Gold” reality TV show will be coming soon on Bravo. In other words, Andy's art is totally famous now... or maybe not. But it'd be pretty cool if his art somehow made an appearance on the show!

Back to Chris and Stephanie. They were a huge blessing to us! Not only did they treat us to dinner Saturday night (thanks again, guys!), they showed up Sunday as the festival was ending and helped us break down the tent and load the trailer. Are you kidding me?! When they vacation in South Walton this summer, we will definitely have to find a way to repay the favor.

Overall, Art City Austin was a good event and we enjoyed finally getting to see Austin, Texas. Would I make the drive with a trailer again? Ehh, probably not, but we'll see.

Art City Austin 2014 (Austin, Texas)