1980-1989
Due to continued protest and growing crowds, Aqua Fest was moved from Festival Beach to Auditorium Shores, a larger park along Town Lake about a mile to the west of Festival Beach. This larger area meant the festival could now have multiple stages for entertainment. The festival organizers signed up corporate sponsors and local radio stations to co-sponsor the entertainment and began booking national acts.
The City of Austin, which had subsidized Aqua Fest in its early years, now believed the Fest was self-sufficient and withdrew its financial support. The city began charging the festival for use of Auditorium Shores.
In 1985, attendance at Aqua Fest peaked at 252,000. More criticism came at the festival for lack of parking, excessive noise and alcohol abuse issues. This time the rebuke was from residents of the Bouldin Creek neighborhood just south of Auditorium Shores. The opponents of the festival were able to force a non-binding referendum to move Aqua Fest to Lake Walter E. Long in far east Austin. The measure passed but promised corporate support to build a new facility went away as Texas entered an oil bust in the middle of the decade. Aqua Fest stayed at Auditorium Shores.
Read more about this topic: Austin Aqua Festival