In an effort to relieve an overcrowded downtown, the City of Georgetown has been working to hold more events beyond the Square. When the Troubadour Festival team suggested hosting their second annual music and barbecue bonanza at Garey Park, staff were excited about another chance to showcase Georgetown while drawing many to one of our many nature gems. “Our downtown festivals are top notch, but we can’t push every event to the Square,” Councilman Kevin Pitts says. “We have other excellent options and the event promoters recognized it too. Garey Park is a great asset for Georgetown and unique in many ways. Troubadour Festival will introduce many new people to this amazing park.”
The festival combines two things Texans love, festival co-owner Chase Colston says—barbecue and music. “We pride ourselves on the best barbecue restaurants in the world, and we love our country music so if someone loves one or the other, or even better yet, both, we’ve put together the ultimate event. Troubadour Festival is the largest barbecue and music festival in the state, and being a part of that is something folks don’t want to miss.”
THE EVENT
On Saturday, June 4, forty-four of Texas’ best barbecue joints and nine musicians and bands will gather in “a beautiful city with a lot to offer,” Chase adds. “We love the vibe of the city, the people, and the support we’ve gotten so far. We didn’t want this to be just another event in Austin. We look at cities that are not only rapidly growing, but have a big desire to bring great new events they can be proud of to town. When we saw Garey Park the first time, we knew we were bringing Troubadour Festival to the right place in Central Texas.”
Mayor Schroeder describes the event as “absolutely right in line with our economic development strategy, which is to activate our Square. We love the Red Poppy Festival and it’s great, but when a lot of those events started, they were designed to beg people to come to the Square. Now we’ve got more people on the Square than we know what to do with. We’re trying not to clump everything onto the Square every single weekend. Garey Park and San Gabriel were built to do something like this.”
The mayor is also excited about the festival being a mix of his two favorite things. “I’m a huge barbecue and country music fan. This is basically my playlist invited to Georgetown and I had nothing to do with it,” he says with a laugh. “The minute I saw the lineup, I was pretty excited. We’ve got some good folks coming to town.”
TICKETS
The Troubadour Festival welcomes people of all ages, and kids 10 and under are allowed in for free. Those who can’t make it on June 4 will have another chance to experience the festival when it comes to Tyler Sept 10 and Celina on Oct 15.
Visit Troubadour Festival for tickets and info.