$71 million. That’s how much money the partnership between ACL Festival and Austin Parks Foundation has raised to care for Austin’s green spaces in 20+ years — $8.4 million of which came from 2024’s festival alone.
The organizations joined forces in 2006 and have since contributed to the funding of hundreds of park restorations, renovations, and new construction. APF CEO Colin Wallis, who has been leading the nonprofit since 2012, said the partnership is a huge boon and accounts for ~60% of APF’s funding.
ATXtoday chatted with Wallis, an avid ACL attendee, about how attending Austin’s biggest music festival helps care for local parks, plus some insight into the effects of the festival on Zilker Park’s lawn.
From $70,000 to $8.4 million
According to Wallis, APF was still very small during the first year of the partnership, which came about when festival operator C3 Presents expressed a need to replace the patchy lawn at Zilker in 2006. APF came on to restore the grass and has been a core part of the festival ever since.
“In the first year, APF got a check for maybe $70,000 from the festival,” Wallis told ATXtoday. “We created this grants program whereby we would grant money to neighborhoods that wanted to do something in their park.”
These days, a portion of every ticket sold benefits green space in all of Austin’s 10 Districts and maintenance of Zilker Park’s Great Lawn. Some of the biggest projects the ACL partnership has touched include a complete renovation of Republic Square Park and the construction of an upcoming all-abilities playground.
“It’s always great to transform a space, but it’s even more fun to replace facilities in parks that just so desperately need it,” Wallis said. “Those are super fun because you get to see the kids immediately on it, get to see their faces, and see how excited they are.”
Impact on the Great Lawn
The “biggest misconception” about ACL each year — according to Wallis — is that it ruins the Great Lawn. Grass in Austin would typically go dormant in November or December, but with hundreds of thousands of people walking over the lawn over six days, the grass turns brown and goes inactive early.
Once the fest ends, workers comb the lawn to pick up trash, repair sprinklers, and occasionally replace grass.
“That grass is the healthiest grass of any place in Austin, I mean, it’s got roots a foot deep,” Wallis said. “The only reason (Zilker Park has) a lawn is because of ACL. ... Obviously, there is some damage to the grass, particularly in years where we get a lot of rain, or if there were some sort of incident, but those things get repaired during the week that it’s closed after the festival.”
Green initiatives at ACL
Although your wristband helps keep the funding flowing, you can go above and beyond for parks by participating in APF’s ACL initiatives.
The Rock & Recycle program allows attendees to have a part in cleaning up the park by filling bags with recyclables, which they can turn in for exclusive merch. Wallis said the program helped divert 4000 bags of aluminum cans to recycling last year.
“That program is now in its 20-some-odd year of existence, and they have replicated at festivals all over the world,” Wallis said. “People line up at the very beginning of the festival to get their trash bag every year because they do these two artist (created) lineup T-shirts that you can only get if you (participate).”
APF also provides 750+ volunteers who run the hydration stations and run the Divert It! program to help folks properly dispose of garbage.
Last but not least, APF hosts its annual Party For the Parks fundraiser between the two weekends. During that time, attendees get treated to a private concert, bites + bevs from local businesses, and exclusive access to Zilker Park. Get tickets.
Ready to hit the flags? Check out our guides to navigating the festival and seeing local artists.
