Open lawn rolls out ahead, 351 acres of creekside paths, swimming holes, and event grounds that work as Austin's communal living room. The park carries the name of Andrew Jackson Zilker, a Columbus, Ohio businessman who moved to Austin in 1876 and made a fortune in a feed store and ice plant. In 1917, Zilker donated the land along Barton Creek to the City of Austin, stipulating it be used forever as a public park — a gift that has compounded in value with every decade of urban growth.
Today Zilker hosts the Austin City Limits Music Festival each October, drawing 75,000 people per day across two weekends to see hundreds of acts on multiple stages. The Great Austin Kite Festival has been held here since 1929, making it one of the nation's oldest kite festivals. Barton Creek flows through the park's western edge before meeting the Colorado River at the place the Tonkawa knew for thousands of years.
The Town Lake hike and bike trail circumnavigates Lady Bird Lake from here, used by thousands of runners, cyclists, and kayakers every single day. Zilker is the place Austin goes to remember what it was before the tech boom and to imagine what it still wants to be.