check out more photos here!

Among all of the hundreds of festivals we have year-round in Austin, including SXSW, ACL, and Marley Fest, I think the festival most saturated with hippies would be Eeyore’s Birthday Party, celebrating the beloved Winnie The Pooh character.

According to the site, the “party,” which attracts thousands of attendees encouraged to dress in halloween costumes, is to benefit non-profits in the area. It’s held every year in Pease Park, which is only a few blocks away from West Campus, where I reside.

When I went to Eeyore’s 47th bday party, I thought i’d walked into some time warp with the sea of tie-dye t-shirts and pipes on sale on the sides of the walkway. The walk there was a bit longer than I expected it to be, but I knew I was headed the right direction, when I saw this guy dressed as Waldo, and a potent smell of pot.

I thought I’d soon hear music, since that is the usual at any Austin festival… there’s at least three bands playing at once or so. Anyways, there weren’t any bands, but instead the air filled with the sounds of percussion beats, and lots of it.

My friend and I gravitated toward the lively build up of drums, and realized we were in a drum pit. That’s right, people all around us were banging on their leathered instruments, and I even saw a guy drumming on his heavy girlfriend’s stomach. The sight wasn’t that weird, considering there was a girl dressed up as a centaur, proudly walking about.

Anyways, my eyes spotted a Maypole in the middle of the park, with children, such as Blue Ranger/Superman boy, swinging their attached streamers and dancing around it. It was mildly bizarre.

After an hour and a half of walking around the incredibly congested festival, and intensely salivating because of all the food stands, I left the “party” with a new appreciation for snakes, sausages-dogs, and free hugs.