Eeyore's Birthday Party comes from the "Winnie the Pooh" stories. There is a glum donkey named, Eeyore and his friends throw him a birthday party in an attempt to cheer him up. A couple of UT Austin English professors decided (about 60 years ago) to throw a small party in the park as a celebration of Spring and a tradition began.
Now, some 60 years later the party has grown from a couple of classes of English students to thousands and thousands of Austinites. There are drum circles. Dancing people. Costume contests for kids. Unicycle jousting. Face painting and lot of food and drinks. The smell of marijuana smoke wafting down from the hills just to the west of the open park space can be, at times, almost overwhelming. But never an issue for the event goers.
One year I stayed a long time in the park and walked through the wooded area where people were lighting up a number of times. At the end of the event I walked back to my car and realized that I probably shouldn't be driving. Second hand high. I called the CFO of the vast VSL organization and she met me in mid-Clarksville and drove me home. Really good photos that year.
All of the food vending and assorted things like face painting for a fee are run by non-profit charities and it makes for Eeyore's Birthday Party being an excellent fund raiser for those organizations.
Don't bring any weapons, glass bottles, or bad attitudes. It's all about having fun and letting whatever hair you have left down.
Cameras are welcome as are good manners and consideration of people who don't want to be immortalized on your Instagram feed.
I hope to see a bunch of fun loving Austin photographers on Saturday. But if you live in NY or Paris or whatever you are also welcome to drop by. Might want to start planning now....
