Family Fun

A visitor's guide to the best family-friendly fun in Austin this summer

Enjoy films on the Long Center lawn during Sound & Cinema.

Courtesy photo

From now until school starts again, families on summer vacation will be looking for cool, mostly cheap, and sometimes off-the-radar fun that's not too far away from home. Austin is a popular destination for Texans in every corner of the state. Swimming pools, splash pads, and typical tourist attractions aside, we’re digging a little deeper to find family-friendly options for cooling off, keeping little minds active, indulging in frozen treats, and enjoying the summer just a couple hours away from Houston.

Free museum entry
Austin visitors are fortunate to have a wide array of museums to choose from for family fun, offering both an educational day — and a chance to cool off indoors. Plus, if you go when museum admission is free, you’ll leave more room in your summer budget for swimming pool entrance fees and ice cream.

Blanton Museum of Art — Free admission Thursdays, 10 am to 5 pm with extended hours until 9 pm every third Thursday of the month.
Bullock Texas State History Museum — Free admission the first Sunday of every month from noon to 5 pm.
The Contemporary Austin - Laguna Gloria — Free admission Tuesdays, 9 am to 5 pm with free drop-in tours at 1 pm on the first Sunday of every month.
The Contemporary Austin - Jones Center — Free admission Tuesdays, 9 am to 7 pm with free drop-in tours at 1 pm the first Sunday of every month.
Umlauf Sculpture Garden & Museum — Children 12 and under are always free, plus free admission for all on Family Days, the second Sunday of the month, noon to 4 pm.
Mexic-Arte Museum — Free admission every Sunday, noon to 5 pm.
Thinkery — Community Nights every Wednesday from 4-8 pm with admission by donation (suggested donation is $1).

Live music
Taking kids to the Live Music Capital of the World means you’ve got to start ‘em young. There are so many options for rocking out with the fam all summer long.

Driftwood Nights at Vista Brewing
Every Friday night from 6:30-8:30 pm, enjoy live music at Vista Brewing’s local singer-songwriter music series Driftwood Nights. The series is in partnership with the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, and 10 percent of beer sales from each show is donated to HAAM. There is plenty of space for kiddos to roam as well, including a playscape and tree swings.

Sour Duck Market’s Farmer’s Market
Keep those veggie-eating good habits going on vacation while supporting local farmers with Sour Duck Market’s Farmer’s Market every Wednesday from 4-7 pm with live music from String Theory. Sour Duck Market offers a kids menu, and happy hour runs from 2-6 pm. The market is also pet-friendly.

Oak Garden at Güero's
If your crew loves to dance together, be sure to check out the Oak Garden at Güero's Wednesday through Sunday throughout the summer. Set times vary slightly throughout the week, so be sure to reference its website for the monthly stage lineup.

Black Fret: Summer Sessions
Enjoy the Long Center lawn — and view of the ever-evolving skyline — with your crew while taking in the new Black Fret: Summer Sessions. In partnership with local nonprofit Black Fret, the Long Center presents two free evenings of live music (July 19 and September 6 at 5 pm) featuring both new and established Austin artists. Chairs, blankets, and empty reusable water bottles are welcome, but coolers, food, alcohol, and other drinks are not.

Movies
Is it even summer if you don’t rack up hours watching movies? Enjoy flicks with the entire family with these options.

Sound & Cinema on the Long Center
This series features free live and local music combined with movies projected onto the Alamo Drafthouse’s giant inflatable screen. Bring folding chairs, blankets, reusable water bottles, pets, and kids, but leave coolers, glass containers, and alcoholic beverages at home. Event begins at 6 pm.

Sound & Cinema 2019:

July 10 — Guardians of the Galaxy
July 31 — Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
August 14 — 10 Things I Hate About You

Austin Parks Foundation Movies in the Park — multiple dates
Free movies under the Austin night sky — what’s more summer than that? Blankets, lawn chairs, picnics, and dogs on leash are welcome, and every Movie in the Parks screening will be accompanied by local food trucks and opportunities to win APF merchandise. Glass and styrofoam containers are not permitted in any of the parks. Check out the full schedule and rain dates here.

The Bullock Museum Summer Family Fun Series — multiple dates
This year’s Sci-Fi Sidekicks theme includes Lilo & Stitch on July 20 and Wall-E on August 10. Make a day of it and explore exhibitions and a family activity station before the film starting at noon, with film seating beginning at 1:30 pm. Tickets are $5 for members and $8 for general admission.

Frozen treats
Find gelato, vegan ice cream, and other frozen creations throughout Austin, but here are some frozen specialties you may not have sampled just yet.

Gati
Thai Fresh owner Jam Santichat opened Gati last year, a truck selling her coconut-based ice cream on Holly Street all summer long until the brick-and-mortar Gati location opens in August. Flavors such as golden milk, cookie monster, Thai coffee, strawberry basil, and Thai tea draw a crowd every Tuesday-Sunday from noon to 10 pm.

H MART
This Asian food hall and market makes for a sensory rich family outing. The food hall has numerous vendors featuring cuisines from different Asian culinary traditions and colorful Taiwanese Snow Ice from Sno Mo. Or try some mochi ice cream from the grocery.

Sweet Ritual
To elicit giggles after a long, activity filled summer day, take your kids to this vegan scoop shop and treat them to the “Unicorn Poop” flavor, made with a pink vanilla base with Skittles and multi-colored sprinkles mixed in.

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Now hear this

New Texas museum shines spotlight on Tejano music history

Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum, San Antonio, tejano music

Photo by Edmond Ortiz

Roger Hernandez serves as board president of the Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum.

For a city that proudly calls itself the capital of Tejano music, San Antonio has long been missing a permanent place to honor the genre’s pioneers and preserve its history. That gap officially closed In December with the opening of the Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum at 1414 Fredericksburg Rd.

The music couldn’t have found a better steward than its founder and board president. Roger Hernandez has had his finger on the pulse of Tejano music for decades. His company, En Caliente Productions, has provided a platform for countless performing artists and songwriters in Tejano, conjunto, and regional Mexican music since 1982.

Hernandez says his wife, who ran a shop at Market Square years ago, would often get questions from visitors about the location of a physical Tejano music museum, a thing that simply did not exist. In 2022, he banded together with friends, family, and other local Tejano music supporters to make the nonprofit Hall of Fame a reality.

“I decided I've been in the music scene for over 40 years, it's time to do a museum,” Hernandez recalls.

Hernandez says a brick-and-mortar Tejano music museum has long been needed to remember musical acts and other individuals who grew the genre across Texas and northern Mexico, especially those who are aging. Recently, the community lost famed Tejano music producer Manny Guerra and Abraham Quintanilla, the renowned Tejano singer/songwriter and father of the late superstar Selena Quintanilla-Perez. Both deaths occurred roughly one week after the Totally Tejano museum opened to the public.

“They're all dying. They're all getting older, and we need to acknowledge all these people,” Hernandez says.

The Totally Tejano Museum — named after Hernandez’s Totally Tejano Television Roku streaming — has 5,000 square feet of space packed with plaques, photos, promotional posters, musical instruments, and other memorabilia honoring the pioneers and stars of the beloved genre. Mannequins wear stage outfits from icons like Laura Canales and Flaco Jimenez, and a wall of photos remembers late greats. Totally Tejano Television plays legendary performances on a loop, bringing the exhibits to life.

The newly opened Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum includes a growing collection of memorabilia. Photo by Edmond Ortiz

Hernandez says the museum will soon welcome permanent and rotating exhibits, including traveling shows, a Hall of Fame section, and an area paying homage to Chicano music crossovers, such as the late Johnny Rodriguez, the South Texas singer-songwriter who blended country with Tex-Mex music. Plans call for the organization to hold its inaugural Hall of Fame induction in February 2026.

Eventually, a 2,000 square feet back room will be converted into additional display space and host industry gatherings, community symposiums, and record and video release parties. The museum also plans to add a gift and record shop and a music learning room where visitors can listen to early Tejano music and browse archival photos. Hernandez is already talking with local school districts about educational field trips.

Much like Tejano itself, the museum is a grassroots production. Hernandez and fellow board members have used their own money to rent, renovate, develop, and maintain the museum space. The board also leads the selection of the Hall of Fame honorees and curates the exhibits.

Hernandez has been heartened by the museum’s reception, both from media outlets and music fans around Texas and beyond.

“We had a radio station come in this morning from Houston to interview us,” he says. “People have come in from Lubbock, Texas. We have had people from Midland, Texas. We have another person who emailed us who’s coming in from New York. People are learning all about us.”

That includes many of the musicians who helped shape the genre. Johnny Hernandez, Sunny Ozuna, Elida Reyna, and Danny Martinez from Danny and The Tejanos are among the luminaries who have already graced the halls.

The Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum is now open 10 am-6 pm, Tuesday-Sunday, and closed Monday. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Fans can call 210-314-1310 for more information.

san antonio tejano music museums hall of fame music openings