Football comes back to campus, and Labor Day quietly ends the summer.

The summer film series ends tonight, which is the last piece of August coming off the board. Then the week builds toward Saturday, when Texas opens against Texas State at 2:30 in the afternoon, Austin FC hosts San Jose across town, and Bat Fest closes Congress Avenue over the bridge, all on the same day. Out at Circuit of the Americas, the World Endurance Championship runs its six-hour race across the holiday weekend, and Brandi Carlile plays Moody Center on Sunday night to send everyone back to work. Austin Restaurant Weeks is already running, so the prix-fixe math is in your favor through mid September. This is the first genuinely stacked week since spring, and Saturday is going to ask you to pick a lane early.

The marquee

• Sat Sep 5, 2:30 PM · Sold out through the university, resale only
  Texas vs Texas State
  Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, 405 E 23rd St
  Season opener, and the fifth straight year DKR sold out before kickoff, so anything you find now is secondary market. A 2:30 start in early September means the west side seats bake until about four. Texas State arrives as a new Pac-12 member, which makes an in-state tune-up slightly more interesting than usual.
• Fri Sep 4 to Sun Sep 6 · From $45 for a weekend grounds pass
  Lone Star Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship
  Circuit of the Americas, 9201 Circuit of the Americas Blvd
  Hypercars and GT3 cars running a six-hour race, which is the closest thing Austin gets to Le Mans without a plane ticket. Friday and Saturday are practice and qualifying and they are the cheap days, with far more paddock access per dollar. Bring real sun cover, because the infield at COTA has almost no shade and the walk from the lots is long.
• Sun Sep 6, evening · From $60
  Brandi Carlile, The Human Tour
  Moody Center, 2001 Robert Dedman Dr
  A Sunday arena show on a holiday weekend, which means you can stay out and still sleep in Monday. Carlile is one of the few people who can hold a room this size with an acoustic guitar and no production tricks. Buy the upper bowl without guilt, the sound in there is good.

Sunday · Tonight

• Afternoon and evening · $15
  Summer Classic Film Series, closing day
  State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave
  The last day of the summer run. If you have been putting off one big screen night all year, the calendar just ran out on you.
• Through the afternoon · Around $8
  Le Garage Sale, day two
  Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Rd
  Thinner racks than yesterday, better prices. Vendors start bundling around two rather than pack anything back into a van.
• 4:00 PM · Free
  Chicken Shit Bingo
  Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon, Brentwood
  A numbered square, a cold Lone Star, and a chicken deciding your afternoon. Inside by 3:30 if you want a seat.
• Open until 10:00 PM · $5
  Evening swim at Barton Springs
  Zilker Park
  Sixty-eight degrees regardless of what the forecast is doing. After seven is still the shortest line of the day.

Monday–Wednesday

• Through Sep 14 · Fixed price menus, varies by room
  Austin Restaurant Weeks
  More than 100 restaurants, citywide
  The prix-fixe run is on now, and the first week is where reservations still exist. Weeknights are the whole point, because the rooms you actually want are impossible on Saturday. Check the participating list before you book, since some places only honor it certain nights.
• Mon Aug 31, 8:00 PM · $20
  Bob Schneider's Lonelyland
  Saxon Pub, 1320 S Lamar Blvd
  Still the longest-running Monday residency in town, now in its third decade. Arrive by 7:30 for sightlines.
• Tue Sep 1, 8:00 PM · No cover
  Two-step lessons at the White Horse
  500 Comal St, East Austin
  Free lesson, no partner required, band on right after. The best cheap night on the east side, and busier now that school is back.
• Nightly, around sunset · Free
  Bat flight from the Congress Avenue Bridge
  Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge
  Late summer is peak colony size, and the weeknight crowd is a fraction of what it will be Saturday. Stand on the east rail or watch from the lawn at the Statesman bat observation area.
• Nightly, 9:30 PM · $10 or less
  Jazz at the Elephant Room
  315 Congress Ave, Downtown
  The basement weeknight sets stay the underrated version. Cooler, emptier, same players.

Thursday–Friday

• Fri Sep 4, daytime · From $45
  Lone Star Le Mans opens at COTA
  Circuit of the Americas, 9201 Circuit of the Americas Blvd
  Friday running is the value day of the weekend, with cars on track most of the afternoon and a fraction of Sunday's crowd. Leave downtown by 11 to get ahead of the 71 traffic.
• Thu Sep 3, dinner service · Fixed price
  Restaurant Weeks dinner, before the holiday crush
  Citywide
  Thursday is the last quiet night on the reservation books before Labor Day weekend swallows everything. Aim for a room you would not normally book at full price.
• Fri Sep 4, 9:00 PM · No cover
  Friday honky tonk at the White Horse
  500 Comal St
  Three bands, no cover, taco window out back open later than you will be. The correct free answer to an expensive weekend.
• Fri Sep 4, from 6:30 PM · Varies, often free early
  Continental Club, Friday sets
  1315 S Congress Ave
  The early set is the locals' version and it lets you walk South Congress before the holiday visitors fill the sidewalk.

Next Saturday

• Sat Sep 5, 2:30 PM · Resale only
  Texas vs Texas State
  Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
  See the marquee. Campus is closed to normal parking from mid-morning, so plan the approach before you leave the house.
• Sat Sep 5, afternoon into the bat flight, roughly 7:00 to 8:30 PM · $15 advance, $25 day of
  Bat Fest
  Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge
  They close the bridge, put bands on it, and everyone waits for a million and a half bats to go out for dinner. Buy in advance, because the day-of price is a ten dollar penalty for procrastinating.
• Sat Sep 5, evening · From $40
  Austin FC vs San Jose Earthquakes
  Q2 Stadium, 10414 McKalla Pl
  A late-season home date on the same day as the football opener, which means the north side of town and the campus side of town are both congested. The Orange Line from downtown is still the least painful way in.
• Sat Sep 5 through Mon Sep 7 · Varies by show
  The Front Fest
  Multiple venues, citywide
  An end-of-summer festival built around Texas women and LGBTQ+ artists, spread across performances, films, and one-off events. Check the schedule and pick two things rather than trying to chase the whole thing.
• Sat Sep 5, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM · Free
  SFC Farmers Market at Republic Square
  422 Guadalupe St, Downtown
  The last of the summer tomatoes and the first honest fall greens. Go before eleven, both for shade and to be out well ahead of kickoff.

Next Sunday

• Sun Sep 6, evening · From $60
  Brandi Carlile at Moody Center
  2001 Robert Dedman Dr
  See the marquee. Sunday of a holiday weekend is the rare arena show with no consequences the next morning.
• Sun Sep 6 · From $75 for race day
  Lone Star Le Mans, the six-hour race
  Circuit of the Americas
  Six hours of running, so treat it like a day trip rather than an event. Grandstand seats have shade, the general admission mounds do not.
• Sun Sep 6, 4:00 PM · Free
  Chicken Shit Bingo
  Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon, Brentwood

What we're drinking this week

• · $14
  Mexican martini at the Cedar Door
  201 Brazos St, Downtown
  The bar that claims to have invented it, served in a shaker with the extra pour on the side. Order one, not two, and understand that the shaker is the second one.
• · $9
  Michelada at Cisco's
  1511 E 6th St
  A dining room that has been on East 6th since the fifties and a michelada that is closer to a meal than a beer. Good Sunday morning insurance after a long Saturday.
• · $7
  Hefeweizen at Live Oak Brewing
  1615 Crozier Ln, Del Valle
  The best German-style beer made in Texas, poured a few miles from the airport with picnic tables and room to spread out. Convenient if you are already headed toward COTA.
• · $5
  Iced coffee at Cosmic Coffee and Beer Garden
  121 Pickle Rd, South Austin
  Coffee in the morning, beer garden by afternoon, with shade trees and food trucks in the back. The place to sit outside without committing to a plan.

Free this week

• Nightly, around sunset · Free
  Bat flight from the Congress Avenue Bridge
  Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge
• Tue Sep 1, 8:00 PM · No cover
  Two-step lessons at the White Horse
  500 Comal St
• 5:00 to 8:00 AM and 9:00 to 10:00 PM daily · Free
  Barton Springs free hours
  Zilker Park

From the archive

Saturday puts a sold-out DKR and a Sunday night arena show on the same stretch of Robert Dedman, and the parking around there punishes anyone improvising. Our Moody Center parking guide covers which garages actually open on event nights, what the campus lots cost, where to set a rideshare pin so you are not walking a mile back to it, and the surface streets that stay moving after a show lets out. Read it once and you will use it all fall.

Looking ahead

• Mid September · Resale only
  Home game two, Texas vs UTSA
  Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
• Through Sep 14 · Fixed price menus
  Austin Restaurant Weeks, second half
  Citywide
• Week of Sep 7 · Free to look
  Fall patio season, the first honest attempt
  South Congress and East Cesar Chavez

ATX Weekly tip

Saturday is a three-event squeeze and the roads are the whole problem. Kickoff at 2:30 closes the campus core to casual parking by late morning, Bat Fest shuts Congress Avenue over the bridge in the afternoon, and Austin FC empties out of North Burnet around ten at night, which means downtown, campus, and the north corridor all clog at different hours. Do not try to drive between two of them. If football is your day, park south of Lady Bird Lake and take the Red Line or a rideshare pinned on Dean Keeton rather than the stadium address. If Bat Fest is your day, come in on foot from Cesar Chavez, because everything on Congress south of the bridge will be either blocked or full. And if you are doing COTA on Sunday, leave two hours before the green flag, since 71 backs up well past the airport.

Summer ends on the calendar this week and, if we are lucky, starts thinking about ending outside a few weeks later. Take Saturday seriously, pick one thing, and let the other two go. See you out there. — The ATX Weekly Editors