As the South by Southwest festival kicked off on March 8, downtown workers and festival-goers alike were greeted with new traffic patterns, growing crowds and storefront makeovers.
It's part of the city's annual spring transition during SXSW. And, as has become common over the past decade or so, many of the storefronts around the Austin Convention Center have been given new paint jobs promoting big brands and many surface-level parking lots have swapped out cars for carnivals and other interactive activations. For example, keep an eye out for the pop-up pickleball courts promoted by Smirnoff's new Smash Vodka Soda and a 30-foot inflatable turd produced by the maker of Poo~Pourri spray.
Those are just a few of the strange sights that will be part of the downtown Austin landscape over the next week as thousands of people from around the world convene at SXSW. Check out some of the major takeovers and events in our map below. And scroll further down for a few photos captured on Day 1.
In other festival news, SXSW is again offering local professionals one day of free access to a core attraction of the annual festival: the Creative Industries Expo. Austin Industry Day takes place March 13, providing professionals and the public free access to the show floor of the Austin Convention Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Find more information here.
Plus, here's a list of some of the local speakers and big-name business leaders at SXSW 2024 and where you might be able to catch them for a quick pitch or handshake.
