What's happening in Austin this week?

Austin's live music calendar runs nightly, but the week has a distinct shape. Tuesday and Wednesday are locals' nights on Red River Street, where venues like Mohawk and Cheer Up Charlies book touring indie acts for $10-15 covers. The rooms are smaller, the crowds know the bands, and you can hear the monitors without earplugs. Thursday the energy shifts toward 6th Street's Dirty Sixth block between Brazos and I-35, where 20-odd bars compete with open doors and free cover before 10pm. Friday and Saturday, Rainey Street's converted bungalow bars fill by 8pm. The Container Bar patio gets loud enough that conversation moves to the quieter patios at Bangers, 2 blocks south. Sunday and Monday are recovery nights. Most Red River venues go dark on Monday.

The SFC Farmers' Market at Republic Square Park runs every Saturday from 9am to 1pm, year-round. It's the best weekly food outing in Austin, with around 30 vendors selling kolaches, tamales, and Fredericksburg peaches in summer. June heat means arriving by 9:30am is smart. By 11am the shade disappears and the pavement radiates enough warmth to feel through your sandals. For weekday eating, the South Congress food trucks operate lunch through dinner, and you'll likely face a 15-minute wait at the popular spots around noon. The breakfast taco is Austin's true weekly staple. Veracruz All Natural on East Cesar Chavez opens at 7am, and the migas taco with its crunch of fried tortilla strips and bright tomatillo salsa might be the best cheap meal in the city. Jo's Coffee on South Congress does a solid iced turbo, and the "I love you so much" mural on its south wall has drawn a line of photo-takers every morning since 2010.

June in Austin means daily highs around 35-37°C by 2pm and humidity that currently sits near 78%. As of tonight, June 10, skies are clear at 25°C. The livable outdoor hours are before 10am and after 7pm. Barton Springs Pool, the spring-fed swimming hole in Zilker Park, holds a constant 20°C year-round. The cold water on a 37°C afternoon is a physical shock for the first 30 seconds, then it feels like you've been given a second day. Lady Bird Lake's hike-and-bike trail runs about 16km around the water, but in June you want to be on it by 7am or after sunset. The Congress Avenue Bridge bat colony, roughly 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats, emerges at dusk every evening from March through October. The best viewing spot is the south bank near the old Statesman building. Arrive by 7:45pm in June. The flight tends to start between 8:15 and 8:45pm, and the smell of guano drifts up from the bridge supports well before you see the first bats spiral out.

Monday is Austin's dark day for cultural sites. The Blanton Museum of Art on the UT campus, founded in 1963, closes Monday. The Harry Ransom Center, founded in 1957 and also on campus, closes Sunday and Monday, so Tuesday through Saturday is your window for the Gutenberg Bible and the world's first known photograph. The LBJ Presidential Library, open since 1971 on Red River near campus, runs daily with free admission. That makes it the default Monday museum pick. Thursday evenings the Blanton offers free admission from 3pm to 9pm. That is the week's best museum deal. The Contemporary Austin at the Jones Center on Congress Avenue runs Wednesday through Sunday. Mind you, most of these sites sit within 2km of each other along the Drag and Congress Avenue corridor, so you can cover 3 in a half-day without needing a car. Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, standing since 1924, and Q2 Stadium, opened in 2021 for Austin FC, are both on the east side of campus if a game falls during your visit.