The stars won’t be the only part of the night sky that’s big and bright deep in the heart of Texas on the Fourth of July.

If you’re in Austin, Texas, for the holiday, there’s one party in particular worth checking out: Star Spangled Fest. The annual Fourth of July celebration takes place on Thursday, July 4, at Auditorium Shores, located at 900 W. Riverside Drive, and Vic Mathias Shores, 800 W. Riverside Drive, in Austin.

The patriotic bash is presented by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, which will perform before the Fourth of July fireworks blast off over Lady Bird Lake. While the event is entirely free and open to the public, you can drop some cash to elevate your experience at Star Spangled Fest. But we’ll get into that in a moment.

Whether you’ve never been to the Austin Symphony Orchestra’s Fourth of July bash or it’s been a minute since you last attended, allow us to fill you in on all the good fun the free event offers.

From road closures to event activities, here is everything you need to know about Star Spangled Fest, including VIP options.

When does Star Spangled Fest in Austin start?

The Fourth of July fun for Star Spangled Fest starts at 4 p.m. Thursday, July 4, when both GA (free) and VIP (ticketed) areas will open.

There will be a DJ performance at 5 p.m., followed by performances from Tameca Jones at the VIP stage on the Long Center lawn at 5:45 p.m., Bidi Bidi Banda on the main stage by Lady Bird Lake at 6:30 p.m. and Sundance Head on the main stage at 7:15 p.m. The Fourth of July ceremony will start at 8 p.m. followed by the Austin Symphony Orchestra’s free concert at 8:45 p.m.

The Fourth of July fireworks show over Lady Bird Lake will start around 9:30 p.m. Event organizers recommend attendees get familiar with the festival map before arriving. You can find the map here.

What is there to do at Austin Symphony Orchestra’s Fourth of July fest?

There will be many things to do at Star Spangled Fest before the Austin Symphony Orchestra takes the stage at 8:45 p.m. on Thursday, July 4.

After claiming the perfect spot at Auditorium Shores or near Vic Mathias Shores, you can browse market vendor booths, enjoy some family-friendly activities like yard games, grab some grub from one of several local food trucks that will be on-site and enjoy the views of downtown Austin as various performers take the stage.

Guests also can take pictures with Santa, who will be donning summer attire. Event organizers told LoneStarLive.com that lines for photos will be shortest before 8 p.m. If this is something you want to do, be sure to get there early!

Food trucks that will be at Star Spangled Fest include Garbo’s, Dirty Dough, The Corndog Co., Southside Flying Pizza, Shawarma Point, Amy’s Ice Cream, Casey’s New Orleans Snowballs, Espadas de Brazil and Sweeter Than Sour.

There also will be multiple bars on-site for attendees ages 21 and older. If you’re looking to get a boozy drink from one of the bars at Star Spangled Fest, remember that you must consume the entirety of your alcoholic beverage in the bar areas or designated VIP areas before returning to the general event grounds.

What can I bring to the free concert and fireworks show in Austin?

Attendees can bring chairs, blankets, snacks and nonalcoholic drinks in coolers. Guests are not supposed to bring outside alcohol to the event, either. If you feel like being a risk-taker and breaking the rules, that’s entirely up to you.

Glass, grills and personal fireworks — including sparklers — are not allowed at the event. According to the official website, coolers and outside food and beverages are not permitted in VIP areas (including shoreline access) at Star Spangled Fest.

What are the different VIP options, plus the cost?

If you’d like to elevate your Fourth of July experience at the event, you have a few options. Though the event is free and open to the public, there are three types of upgrades attendees can purchase:

• Shoreline access
• VIP lawn access
• VIP reserved tables

Here is what’s included with shoreline access tickets

Shoreline access allows ticket holders to get closer to the stage where the symphony will be playing its free concert and thus closer to Vic Mathias Shores, where the fireworks show will be. These tickets also include access to air-conditioned bathrooms, private access to a cashless bar and prime proximity to food trucks.

Shoreline access tickets start at $35, plus fees. Ticket holders can bring chairs and blankets.

Here is what’s included with VIP lawn access tickets

VIP lawn access grants ticket holders the ability to set up in the VIP lawn area near the Long Center, 701 W. Riverside Drive, but that’s not all. Those with VIP lawn access tickets also will be able to enter the lobby of the Long Center, premium viewing of the VIP stage that’s located on the Long Center’s hillside lawn, access to air-conditioned bathrooms, lawn games and access to a private bar.

VIP lawn access tickets start at $75, plus fees. Children 10 and younger get in free.

Here is what’s included with VIP reserved tables

VIP reserved tables offer attendees a top-tier Fourth of July experience. These tickets include 10 seats at a designated VIP table, family style dinner at each table, a private bar that’s cashless, access to the Long Center’s lobby and air-conditioned bathrooms, access to the Shoreline viewing area at Vic Mathias Shores, where the fireworks show will take place, access to the VIP after party and a VIP parking pass.

You can get tickets for an entire VIP reserved table for $2,500, plus fees. Or you can reserve half of a VIP table (five seats) for $1,250, plus fees. Payments for VIP reserved tables will serve as donations to the Austin Symphony Orchestra.

You can purchase VIP tickets, including shoreline access tickets, here.

Where can I park for the Fourth of July fireworks in downtown Austin?

Road closures for Star Spangled Fest might impact how you access the event. West Riverside Drive between Lee Barton Drive and South First Street will be closed from 9 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 4.

South First Street will be closed from Cesar Chavez Street to Barton Springs Road from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Thursday, July 4. South Congress Avenue will be closed from Cesar Chavez Street to Barton Springs Road from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., too.

The stress-free way to go, according to event organizers, is taking a rideshare or a cab to the event. Rideshare pickup and drop off will be located at the intersection of Lee Barton Road and West Riverside Drive.

Given the numerous closures, your best bet for parking will be in one of the several parking garages in downtown Austin, along Barton Springs Road and at the Long Center. Street parking will be available, too, but make sure to check signs as some street parking will be blocked off.

As a reminder, you cannot park on most streets in the Bouldin Creek neighborhood. There will be no parking signs and signs indicating residential permit parking only. If you find a spot in a nearby neighborhood, ensure you’re good to go by looking for no parking signs before leaving your car and heading to the event.

You can find road closure maps and specific parking garage information here.

While the pro-Palestinian student protests and accounts of police crackdowns at universities across the United States in April have fallen out of the newscycle, students at the University of Texas at Austin continue to face criminal charges and other punishment after Texas Governor Greg Abbott deployed the same police used to harm migrants at the US-Mexico border. The misuse of police against student and faculty protesters in Texas was perhaps the mostegregious example from across the nation.

It is also a reminder that unchecked abuses carried out at the border often foreshadow abuses of people living in the US interior. And like the students, migrants also continue to pay a high price for exercising their rights in Texas.

The Columbia University encampment of solidarity with the Palestinian people sparked a wave of student solidarity encampments across the nation, including at UT Austin. Student leaders said they objected to the “Israel-led, US-backed genocide in Gaza” and called for an immediate ceasefire as “Israel continues to bomb hospitals, schools, homes, and refugee camps while cutting off food and water to more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.” The protesters demanded UT Austin divest from Israeli companies they say are complicit in killing Palestinians.

While university administrators in some states called local police to break up protest encampments, on April 24, Abbott also deployed the Texas Department of Public Safety – the same heavily militarized state troopers used against asylum seekers and border residents under Operation Lone Star.

Abbott’s multibillion-dollar Operation Lone Star has violated the rights of migrants and Texans alike and is enforced primarily by troopers, who have been involved in injuries and deaths under the program, including at least 74 deaths from high-speed vehicle chases. Operation Lone Star has also included attacks on freedom of association and expression of groups providing support to migrants in Texas.

On June 15, Abbott renewed the “disaster proclamation concerning border security,” first issued in 2021 and triggering the deployment of thousands of state troopers to the Texas-Mexico border to arrest migrants on state charges, including criminal trespass. Abbott’s perpetuation of the invasion and disaster narratives are false and risk fueling white nationalist violence.

The deployment of state troopers to disperse the peaceful protest and arrest students and faculty is just one manifestation of the growing misuse of police in Texas, demonstrating mission creep of the troubled Operation Lone Star. Under the program, the Department of Public Safety  regularly carries out air and digital surveillance, racial profiling, unlawful arrests, and deadly high-speed chases; deaths and injurieshave also resulted from its use of razor wire and buoys with saw blades.

On June 13, Human Rights Watch filed a complaint with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division calling for a swift investigation into allegations of abuse under Operation Lone Star, including asylum pushbacks and the beating of one migrant man to death.

At both the border and at UT Austin, Abbott’s use of state troopers represents a worrying expansion of state control of public spaces at the expense of rights and democracy.

Abbott deployed troopers with the explicit goal of arresting protesters, making sweeping statements that the protesters “belong in jail” and “should be expelled.” Instead of respecting students’ rights to assemble peacefully and to freedom of expression, law enforcement arrived 20 minutes before the protest even started and moved to disperse it less than an hour after it began, based on university officials’ belief that protesters “intended to break… rules,” and not in response to clear evidence of imminent violence or sustained disruption.

At least two Texas troopers escalated the risk of violence by carrying military assault rifles, a needlessly intimidating move that could chill free expression and peaceful assembly. During the first day of protests, dozens of officers in riot gear marched toward the protesters. Mounted troopers pushed into hundreds of protesters, injuring a few, while some troopers shouted, “the horses will hurt you,” according to a report by the Austin-American Statesman.

Over two days, police and the troopers arrested over 100 people, many on trespass charges that have since been dismissed. Though state troopers were not the booking agency for more than a couple of arrests, Human Rights Watch witnessed the officers grabbing  and restraining people and assisting in arrests.

The US-Mexico border has long served as a laboratory for state oppression and surveillance, and the events unfolding in Texas echo the trajectory of the US Border Patrol.

After decades of unchecked abuse of migrants and border residents, including racial profiling and deadly high speed chases, the US government deployed Border Patrol officers  in 2020 to US cities to quell protests sparked by police violence against Black people. US residents were surveilled, and, at the funeral of George Floyd, 66 paramilitary agents from Border Patrol, including six snipers, were authorized to use both gas munitions and “deadly force” against mourners under certain conditions.

People and officials in Texas and across the US should become more invested in stopping abuses wherever they begin–in this case, at the border. That means acting immediately to hold the Department of Public Safety and other agencies, as well as political leaders who deploy them like Governor Abbott, accountable for abuses. Otherwise, people across the nation stand to pay the price. 

AUSTIN, Texas – A homeless man known for terrorizing a South Austin neighborhood is back on the streets.

Austin police said Rami Zawaideh escaped custody, and has a warrant out for his arrest.

Back in April, city officials confirmed Zawaideh was voluntarily committed to a hospital. 

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Since 2022, residents have spotted him smashing city property with sledgehammers, toting around a chainsaw, cutting down trees, and screaming in the early morning hours.

Zawaideh has been arrested before and charged with criminal mischief. But, the district attorney dropped those charges.

FOX 7 Austin recently spoke to Zawaideh’s mother, who drove down from New York to Austin. She said she was in the process of filing an order of protective custody, and intended to take him home with her.

If anyone has any information on his whereabouts, call Austin police.