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We make podcasts and newsletters that connect people with the cities they love.

City Cast Austin

Kelsey Bradshaw

(Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman/

Becky Fogel

Enemies to lovers. Fake relationships that lead to real feelings. Best friends destined to end up together. Inject every version of these romance novel tropes into my veins, whether they involve hockey players, mystical beings, or journalists. (Wink, wink.)

If you, like me, are an avid consumer of romance fiction, Saturday is your time to shine… or should I say, swoon. Aug. 15 is 

 across the U.S. and beyond. A number of 

 in the Austin area are participating in the annual event, which first began in 2019.

 can be discouraging, romance readers are bucking that trend with about 

. Jean Elizabeth Buckner, the owner and general manager of 

, said one reason this genre is so popular is because “love stories remind us what it means to be human.”

“When the world feels tough, romance novels remind us that even when life delivers you your 'third act breakup' you can still find your happily ever after,” Buckner added.

Get ready for a blind date you might actually enjoy.

Bookstores will have special Romance Day editions of 

. Although the books will be wrapped to conceal their titles, there will be clues to help you figure out if the book is your perfect match. 

 will be offering book blind dates and the cafe there is also going to offer a special romance-themed menu.

Romance authors will mingle with readers at local shops dedicated to selling the genre, such as 

 in the morning, a happy hour in the evening, and prize wheel giveaways throughout the day. (They had me at mimosas.)

Looking for a bargain on classic romance novels? 

 is having a big sale and offering a 10% discount on used romance books, too. Vintage Bookstore also has a deal on romance novels: If you buy one romance novel, you’ll get 10% off the second.

And really, this is just a sampling of all the activities Austin book shops are planning to sweep readers off their feet.

Bookstore Romance Day Gives Austin Readers a Reason to Swoon 

Find the best of everything that Austin has to offer. 

Austin’s Best

Austin's Best

 for unincorporated Travis County through Sept. 29 as wildfire risk increases due to dry and hot conditions.

All outdoor burning in unincorporated areas of Travis County are part of the ban. The ban does not include prescribed burns, and outdoor welding, cutting, grinding, or other hot work operations in accordance with Travis County Fire Marshal’s Office guidelines.

Austin’s seven-day forecast shows high temperatures in the 100s and dry conditions, 

according to the National Weather Service

. Vegetation in the area will continue to dry out without rain, Travis County officials said.

They said residents should keep a water source and fire extinguisher nearby and take extra precautions during the burn ban.

“With the hot and dry conditions, even a small spark from a tossed cigarette or a lawn mower can ignite dry grass or shrubs and cause fire to spread extremely quickly,” said Travis County Fire Marshal Gary Howell. “This burn ban is a necessary step to reduce the risk of wildfires and protect our residents, property, and first responders.”

If you’re worried about wildfires, there’s a few steps you can take 

Remove debris like leaves and other vegetation in your gutters, litter on your roof, and dried grass from your home. This will help slow down the spread of fire.

 and make an evacuation plan with your family.

Receive burn ban updates from the county by texting TCBURNBAN to 888777.

Make your home fire resistant by removing combustible materials from your deck or porch, bringing flammable items like door mats and wreaths inside on high fire danger days, and making sure wooden fences do not directly connect to your home.

Wildfire risk has increased due to hot and dry conditions.

Burn Ban in Effect As Austin Experiences Hot, Dry Conditions

Get to know the natural side of Austin: the plants, animals, weather and more that make our city unique.

Austin Urban Almanac

Urban Almanac

Triple digit temperatures and humid days abound, so thank goodness it’s Freeze Week.

Freeze Week is an annual celebration of frozen drinks, of course. Here’s how it works: All you have to do is get a frozen drink from one of 13 participating locations and boom, you’re part of Freeze Week. Take it a step further by picking up a punch card from one of the locations and 

 is really, really cute. It has a cowboy on a pair of skis and although I am generally against single-event T-shirts for environmental reasons, this one may be worth it!

The event runs through Sunday and is sponsored by Campari America and Espolòn Tequila.

You’ll be able to vote on your favorite frozen drink at any of the bars, too. Fun drinks are also part of the week. Kinda Tropical, which is acting as the hub for Free Week, is offering 

 made with Skyy Vodka, orange juice, and lime and Holiday on 7th is 

Our executive producer Becky Fogel tried the guava drink at Kinda Tropical for journalism reasons and said it was delicious!

“I love all things guava so it was an easy sell for me, but I especially liked that it wasn’t too sweet,” she said.

It’s Freeze Week in Austin. Here’s What You Need To Know.

The latest on the best and newest restaurants and bars in Austin. We'll help you find where to eat, drink, and socialize.

Austin Food & Drink

Food & Drink

 instead of June and that means all of the best events are happening soon.

 at Moody Amphitheater as part of Austin Pride Week. The movie shows at 9 p.m., but starting at 7 p.m. you can hang out on the lawn, try food and drink vendors, listen to a set by DJ Eriq Stylez, and more. The event is free to attend.

 at Meanwhile Brewing Co. and includes a music lineup of country, Americana, folk, and roots. The event benefits OUTLaw Pride and the Transgender Education Network of Texas. Tickets for the 6 p.m. event are $12.21.

 at ACL Live at the Moody Theater. Next of Kin, The Cowgays, Brigitte Bandit, and Ed West are all performing as part of a showcase. Attendees can shop from a market that showcases queer-owned business and artists, too. The event starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $29.80.

The Austin Pride Foundation is hosting its 

annual Pride Festival and Parade on Aug. 22

. The day starts at 11 a.m. with a free festival at Fiesta Gardens near Lady Bird Lake in East Austin. The parade starts at 8 p.m. downtown near the Capitol. Whether you’re spectating or walking the parade, it’s sure to be a fun night!

. Head over to The VORTEX in East Austin starting at 11 a.m. for shopping, speakers, and entertainment. The march itself starts at 4 p.m. Everything is free to attend.

Your Guide to Austin Pride 2026

Texas has a really beautiful state cemetery. Whether you have a penchant for graveyard visits or you’re a Texas history buff, the cemetery makes for a nice afternoon.

 It’s located at 909 Navasota St. in East Austin and is free to the public. It is an active cemetery though and will close for funerals, so you can always give them a call to make sure it’s open at 512-463-0605.

The cemetery is pretty big at 18 acres, spanning from East Seventh Street to East 11th Street. Roughly 3,500 people are buried at the cemetery.

Street parking is available around the cemetery. Accessible parking can be found in front of the cemetery’s visitors center.

I know visiting a cemetery may seem like a weird recommendation. But walking along the graves of great Texans is really special. The site is also quite beautiful with grassy hills, a quiet pond, and shady trees.

It can also be really cool to visit a place that’s been around since 1851. The cemetery was originally created for lawmakers and public servants but has since been expanded to include Texans who have made significant contributions to history.

“The Texas State Cemetery has come to represent the best of Texas and what makes this great state a unique and special place,” 

 and memorials are also on site, including the 19th Century Black Legislators Monument and the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

You could spend weeks learning about every person buried at the Texas State Cemetery. For our purposes, I’ll just list off a few:

 before it became Austin, was the first person to be buried at the cemetery.

 who was one of three Black students to integrate O. Henry Middle School in the 1960s. He went on to play in three World Series with three different Major League Baseball teams.

What To Know About Visiting the Texas State Cemetery in Austin 

Everything to know about Austin neighborhoods: What to do, eat, shop, drink, and more.

Austin Neighborhood Guides

Neighborhood Guides

If you’re a Virgo like me and enjoy a nice, organized schedule, it may also bug you that Austin’s Pride Month does not line up with national Pride Month. We officially do ours in August, while national Pride Month is in June.

Austin has a couple of reasons for doing things differently. Hosting Pride in August gives Austin Pride Foundation better opportunities to book talent and get visitors to come to town as it costs thousands to put the festival and parade on, 

The events would also require costly rain insurance if they weren’t held in August, a historically dry month in Austin. 

August is also when thousands of college students return to the city for the school year, and they make up the majority of the roughly 400 volunteers Austin Pride Foundation needs to put on its festival.

Pride honors the Stonewall Uprising of June 1969, when fights broke out after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City. The uprising 

 and set the gay rights movement in the U.S. in motion. On the anniversary of the uprising, the first Pride march was held in NYC. Pride celebrations in Austin can be traced back to 1970, and in 1990, the events were sanctioned as 

Today, Pride celebrations aim to honor Stonewall, remember those who’ve died from HIV/AIDS, recognize LGBTQ+ contributions to society, and to simply celebrate who you are. Expect rainbow-filled parties, parades, and more in Austin in June and August!

Austin’s Pride Month does not line up with national Pride Month.

Why Is Austin Pride In August?

Explainers

What Austinites have been wondering. We break down why things in Austin are they way they are and how they work.

Austin, Explained

, but Beverly S. Sheffield Northwest Pool has been around a while.

The pool turns 70 this year and the city is throwing a party 

. Entry fees will be waived for the party, which starts at noon and includes snacks, drinks, old photos, memorabilia, and a look at the pool’s recent renovation. The pool is located at 7000 Ardath St., just west of Burnet Road in North Austin.

Before it was a pool, the parkland where the water is now was the quarry that 

supplied the limestone for the state’s capitol

 building. The city purchased the parkland in 1955 and completed it, along with a bathhouse, the following year. The modern circular bathhouse is the first of its kind in Austin.

“(The bathhouse) is a rare surviving example of mid-century civic design, and its preservation has been a priority through every renovation the site has undergone since,” 

The pool opened on July 28, 1956 for its first swim meet and was formally dedicated on Aug. 9, 1956. In its first month, more than 31,000 people visited the pool, outpacing Barton Springs Pool at the time. It’s important to note that Austin’s public pools were not desegregated 

Austin was allowed to qualify for national swim meets when the pool opened because of its 50-meter, Olympic size.

“Almost overnight, Austin had put itself on the competitive swimming map,” 

The pool was renamed in 2001 in honor of 

, a former parks and recreation director who played a key role in 

developing the city’s parks, pools, and greenbelts

. Sheffield’s daughter Sally and son Steve will be at the 70th birthday celebration.

The pool underwent a major renovation in the spring and now includes a refreshed lap pool, a zero-entry toddler pool, two shade structures, new benches, renovated bathhouses and family restrooms, and 

The pool is open every day except Thursdays 

Beverly S. Sheffield Northwest Pool turns 70 this year. 

How To Celebrate One of Austin’s Oldest Pools

 in Austin, deviating from the national event that is held in June. Pride events will be on our events calendar all month long! The city’s biggest Pride event is 

 on Aug. 22 at Fiesta Gardens hosted by the Austin Pride Foundation. The event includes live music, performances, local vendors, food, drinks, and more.

The Rainey Street District is hosting a First Thursday event the evening of Aug. 6 that includes drink and food specials at bars and restaurants in the area. 

 and Daydreamer Coffee is selling wine for $5 off, for example.

Austin Pets Alive! is hosting its 15th annual Paddle for Puppies 

. The day starts at Rowing Dock and participants row or paddle on Lady Bird Lake. Proceeds from the event help puppies in the shelter’s Parvo ICU program.

Austin Independent School District students go back to class 

, which means you need to start watching for school speed zones again. Speeding in a school zone is punishable 

Austin City Council members will finalize the city’s budget 

. The budget will go into effect on Oct. 1. At stake is a rise in property taxes, millions of dollars in cuts to the city’s social service budget, and an increase in the Austin Police Department’s recruiting budget.

Your Guide to August 2026 in Austin

Austin Trivia: How Much Do You Know About Local Civics?

What's being decided in Austin City Hall and why it matters. We monitor local elections, political news, and Austin City Council. 

Austin Election and City Hall News

Local Civics

The city of Austin is asking for feedback on renaming Cesar Chavez Street following sexual assault accusations made against the labor leader 

The street runs east from MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) to U.S. 183. Previously named Water Avenue and then First Street, it was renamed for Chavez after 

. El Concilio Mexican-American Landowners de East Austin, a local nonprofit, originally organized a call to rename First Street to honor Chavez. Now, the group is among several Austinites who want the street changed back to its original name or renamed completely.

 for residents to take about the possible renaming. The survey includes questions about a person’s relationship to Cesar Chavez Street and what factors the city should consider in renaming it.

Two names the city is considering because of their historic ties to the road are La Primera Street and First Street. You can also submit your own ideas for what the street should be named, with a couple of rules:

Cannot contain numbers, complicated words, or unconventional spellings

No offensive, libelous, derogatory or copyrighted words can be used

Only characters of the standard English alphabet are allowed

Updating the current street signs and highway signs, and notifying impacted businesses and residents would cost between roughly $413,700 and $1,223,700, 

In addition to the survey, the city is hosting 

 to gather community feedback on the renaming:

Aug. 11 at 5 p.m. at Austin Public Library’s Central Library

Aug. 15 at 2 p.m. at Sanchez Elementary School

Austin Wants Your Feedback on Cesar Chavez Street

More than 1,300 students living within the Austin Independent School District’s boundaries have received education savings accounts, or 

, in 2025 to give families taxpayer money to help pay for private school or homeschooling.

Here’s the latest on what it could mean for AISD:

, 4,896 students living within AISD’s boundaries applied for the program. The state has awarded funding to 1,334 of those applicants, so far.

Travis Pillow, a spokesperson for the TEFA program, said roughly 30% of the awardees were enrolled in public school during the 2024-25 school year. The remaining recipients were either too young to enroll in school, previously attended a private school, or were homeschooled.

More than 200 private schools in the Austin area are approved to accept TEFA funds. There’s about 2,700 participating private schools statewide. You can search for eligible schools 

More Students Could Get Vouchers This Year

Most families, who had already been selected for the TEFA program, had until 

 to select a private school at which to use the money. Families that missed the deadline forfeited the funding, which will now be redirected to students on the program’s waitlist.

Pillow said families currently on the waitlist will find out by the end of the month if they’re going to receive TEFA funding.

“We are looking forward to that and getting that funding in those families’ hands as soon as possible so that they can start making their tuition payments, buying their textbooks, and other things they need to do to prepare for the upcoming school year,” Pillow said.

At this point, the state has approved applications for more than 

Any students AISD loses as a result of the TEFA program spells more trouble for the 

. The state’s school voucher program is launching as the district continues to struggle with declining enrollment. Fewer students means less state funding. Last year alone, 

An AISD spokesperson said the district ended the 2025-26 school year with 69,382 students. AISD’s budget for the upcoming school year was made based on the projection that student enrollment will likely drop to 68,188 students.

“Taking into consideration the rollout of the state’s new Education Freedom Accounts and factoring a potential decline into our multi-year planning is the only fiscally responsible approach to protecting district resources, ensuring stability, and building back our fund balance amidst ongoing state funding challenges,” the spokesperson told City Cast Austin.

The budget the AISD school board adopted last month includes 

 in cuts. The backdrop for the district’s funding and enrollment challenges is the ongoing possibility of 

 due to low accountability ratings for three campuses.

More than 200 private schools in the Austin area are eligible to accept state funding.

AISD May Lose Even More Students to Texas’ School Voucher Program

Amy Stansbury

We finally have a draft of the city’s budget for next year! On July 10, Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax released his 

 for 2026-27. City council members will now spend the next several weeks debating and making changes to that proposal before they vote on a final version on Aug. 12.

The city’s budget influences everything from how much you pay in property taxes, to the amount of money available for everything from parks to police. Other than voting, sharing your thoughts on the proposed budget is one of the most impactful ways to influence the future of our city.

This is one of the tightest budgets in recent memory, as the city faces fiscal pressures from the state’s 3.5% property tax cap, diminishing sales tax revenue, and federal funding cuts. To reduce expenses, the city manager has proposed several budget cuts and efficiency measures, most notably, to social service spending.

 The city has contracts with an array of different nonprofit organizations, which provide services out in the community, including homelessness services, violence prevention, and programs for kids. In the wake of the 

, these social services have continued to face reductions, including $5.1 million in proposed cuts to this year’s budget, with others planned for next year.

 The goal of the efficiency measures is to identify which programs are producing the best outcomes, and find ways to reduce costs by improving processes or investing in different technologies, without necessarily cutting essential services. Later this month, city council members will vote on a contract to bring in a third-party auditor to conduct a comprehensive efficiency assessment of all city departments.

Many city departments will still see small jumps in their budget this year, mostly because of employee wage increases and the rising costs of technology and basic goods.

 Four new positions to provide additional administrative and contract management support, as well as ongoing funding for the city’s shelter at the Marshalling Yard.

 An additional $1.2 million for pools and parks maintenance.

$6 million to maintain the four-person staffing model on fire trucks.

About $500,000 in new funding to support recruiting efforts at the Austin Police Department. Overall, APD’s budget will get a $24 million increase, which is driven by employee wage increases from the 2024 contract between the city and the Austin Police Association, the union that represents officers, and general citywide cost increases for things like administrative support, technology, and fuel.

To note: Anytime APD’s budget receives an increase, it’s a topic of debate because of a 

 that prevents cities from lowering police department budgets from year-to-year. This means that any increase in APD’s budget essentially becomes permanent. 

The city manager’s current budget proposal raises taxes to the maximum allowed by the state’s 3.5% cap. For the median homeowner (someone with a house worth $484,907) that is a $174 or 8.4% increase.

P.S. Another thing that could impact your property tax bill is a potential bond election in 2026. Council will make a final decision about that at their meeting tomorrow.

Have thoughts about the proposed budget? Tell our city’s elected officials what you think! Every council member is hosting a budget town hall meeting in their district. You can also sign up to speak at a city budget hearing. 

Local Civics

Austin Trivia: How Much Do You Know About Local Civics?

Kelsey Bradshaw

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