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The Austin ArtWorks Festival — a two-day salute to visual, performing and literary arts—is celebrating its 11th annual event in the heart of downtown Austin on Saturday, Aug. 27 and Sunday, Aug. 28. That’s just 11 days away. Here’s what attendees need to know:

1. Free! Thanks to donors and sponsors, the Austin ArtWorks Festival is free to attend. Save your cash to support small businesses by buying fine art from exhibitors, music from performers and books from the authors as well as refreshments from food trucks and neighborhood restaurants.

2. With an eye toward health and safety, activities are offered outside and visitors can enjoy a full day of celebrating the arts with live music, theatre arts, art-making, author presentations, Featured Artist demonstration, and 48 juried fine art exhibitors.

3. Austin’s own Gear Daddies are taking the stage at Bandshell Park for the Schindler Celebration, the centerpiece of the Austin ArtWorks Festival at 7 p.m. on Aug. 27. Make plans to see a band who helped define alt-rock in Minneapolis in the early 1990s and enjoy a beer garden offered by Gravity Storm Brewery.

4. The 2022 Austin ArtWorks Festival will leave behind a tangible legacy: a mural on the east side of the Paramount Theatre created by Featured Artist Victor Yepez and inspired by the people of Austin. Yepez visited Austin in June and developed a design. Festival guests are invited to grab a paint brush and help create the mural.

5. Minnesota Book Award-winner William Kent Krueger is one of sixteen authors appearing on the Authors’ Stage this year. Readers of Krueger’s beloved Cork O’Connor series won’t want to miss it. See the full schedule at  austinareaarts.org/schedule.

6. Austin native country blues singer-songwriter Charlie Parr closes the music stage on Sunday, rounding out a full schedule of twelve music acts from youth drummers of the Little Warriors Drum Line to the Austin Symphony Orchestra to Ukranian-American Natlie Nowytski. See the full schedule at austinareaarts.org/schedule.

7. New in 2022: Sunday morning pancake breakfast by Chris Cakes from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the festival grounds south of the Spam Museum. Enjoy a complete breakfast with pancakes hot off the griddle, sausage, syrup and coffee or juice for $8. Proceeds benefit the Austin ArtWorks Festival.

8. Lots of choices to get creative and make art, including Roxi’s Dress Design Studio hosted by drag performer Roxi Manacoochi, Brush the Beetle and Paint the Plow, String Box Shanty, Family Art Tent and Neo Muralismos de Mexico. Find details at austinareaarts.org/activites.

9. More choices to see art at exhibits including Our Austin, Our America — a new book highlighting Austin’s ongoing work to be welcoming and inclusive, Trunk Show by glass blower Al Honn, and the Art of Microscopy exhibit presented by the Hormel Institute. Find details at austinareaarts.org/activites.

10. Join a celebration of Austin’s original teen club at Tribute to the Tower at El Parral Ballroom on Friday, Aug. 26 with Rush Hour and the DC Drifters. Advance tickets are available online through EventBrite or at Sweet Reads. This is one of many events during ArtWorks Week, details at  austinareaarts.org/artworks-week.

11. Volunteers run the Austin ArtWorks Festival with 175 shifts over the weekend. Shifts are only two hours and every volunteer gets a free t-shirt. Find out more by contacting Kelsey at kelsey@austinareaarts.org.

Details on all this information and more is online at austinareaarts.org.