Austin City Limits Festival: A survival guide

Toilet paper and frozen bandannas might save your sanity

By Sarah Frank
FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Sunblock, sunglasses and water are the obvious must-haves when attending the Austin City Limits Festival this weekend. Every year of the fest has been a scorcher, and last time we checked, the sunburned rock lobster look is still so very out.

But did you know it's a good idea to bring your own toilet paper? Indeed, says Jennifer Inman, a 30-year-old social worker and ACL Fest veteran who easily could earn vests full of ACL preparedness merit badges. "I've thought of everything," she brags.

The toilet paper comes in handy, she says, when portable toilets are out, but also is useful if you need to freshen up between acts. She says toilet paper can morph into a cleansing towelette when slathered with gel hand sanitizer and rubbed on sweaty arms and backs. Think of it as a sponge bath, the ACL way.

When it comes to attending the fest with friends, Inman has lost plenty in the crowds. She suggests making a wacky locator flag and trading duties holding a telescoping pole that juts high above festival goers' heads.

"We've done it almost every year," she says. "We sort of plant the group at one stage, and people migrate and come back. With the flag, everybody can find you."

But steer clear of conventional Austin themes such as tie-dyed flags or Longhorn logos, Inman says, or you might end up with a whole new group of friends at the end of the night.

And with more than 130 bands playing over three 10-hour days, things can get confusing. Who's on first? What's on the main stage? Where are we?

Inman and friends solve the confusion by printing out the schedules and stage maps from www.aclfestival.com/schedule and making credit card-size photocopies that they laminate and attach to key chains. "They can get wet and you know where you're going at any given time," she said.

Some sound advice, too, is be prepared to lug everything you bring. Backpacks with water bottles can get heavy, but festival security will allow CamelBak or similar canteen bags, as long as they don't have any liquid in them when you arrive (bottled water sales and free watering stations will be available at Zilker Park). Some of the better ones have space for essentials such as bandannas or fresh T-shirts.

"Avoid carrying anything you don't absolutely have to, because it's a pain," said 17-year-old student Zack Malitz. "All we carried were bottles of water and an umbrella. You definitely want an umbrella to carry around and keep you shaded."

Attendees are allowed to bring in two factory-sealed water bottles up to one liter each in size. And umbrellas are allowed, too, as long as they aren't the large, Mary Poppins kind or golf style. Stick with small umbrellas that fold up to almost nothing.

The umbrellas might not do much good, however, if the crowds kick up field dirt like last year. Few who attended last year have forgotten feeling trapped in an Old West-style dust storm.

"The worst part about last year was after I got home," said Jonathan Martin, a student, 17. "I had to blow my nose, and all this black stuff came out because of the dust. It was awful."

The city has worked to install a sprinkler system to pat down the dust clouds, but it won't be fully complete in time for this year's fest. A bandanna and some saline eye drops and nose spray might bring at least some temporary relief.

To block the most dust — if you have asthma or allergies, for example — large sunglasses and a surgical mask might be your couture du jour.

To stay cool, there are few options other than staying hydrated or finding slivers of shade. The Sharper Image sells a space-agey Personal Cooling System for $39, lowering your core temp with a fan blowing against metal plates that hook around your neck.

Last year, Peter Cooper, a 19-year-old student at Evergreen State College in Washington, said he hung around the tents that sold water and sprawled himself on the glacier-like piles of ice that surrounded them.

"Just lay on them and cool off," he said. "Don't care if you get wet, it'll dry right away."

Of course, there's also the advice of the once-bitten ACL-goers, the ones who hated the heat, choked on the dust and vowed never to return.

Wes Maner, 29, has one piece of advice for his friends who have ACL tickets: Get rid of them.

"A lot of people have asked me 'Should we go?' and I say 'No,' " he said. "Honestly, I tell them don't even bother. I went one day last year; I made it three hours. It was just so hot, so dusty and funky, I couldn't take it anymore."

But for more than 50,000 people determined to fill Zilker Park each day, that advice will fall on decibel-numbed ears.

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