With spring break right round the corner, road trip and vacation planning is in full swing. Many of us look forward to beach trips and visiting family, but others eagerly anticipate other celebrations.
However, this spring break falls a week earlier than it normally does each year, and that is shaking up schedules and raining on parades. The famous week long Austin music festival South by SouthWest, also known as SXSW, is one of the popular spring break events that occurs the week after our vacation. Instead of being held during what would normally be our spring vacation, the festival will go from March 13-22 with the bulk of the music excitement taking place on our week back at school. As students find out that their year long plans to attend are now shattered, many are disappointed.
“The change of dates for SXSW ruined a memorable spring break for many local Texans who just wanted to be involved in a positive scene,” senior Seth Arzola-Boyson said.
In its previous years, SXSW has been a huge hit. Hosted in the live music capital of the world, Austin Texas, the location is the perfect hub for San Antonians and other Texans alike to join together, have a few days to relax, see their favorite bands, indulge in the hidden magnificence of food trucks, and enjoy some good times with friends. To many of us, attending this festival is like a right of passage into our more artistically sophisticated lives. The fact that students are forced to decline making this annual pilgrimage has a detrimental impact on much of the youth still obligated to school.
“[The date change] is really inconvenient for a lot of people and is disappointing for music lovers,” senior Megan Avery said. “Spring break [is] the perfect week for the festival. [There’s] no school and a week to have fun, but with it being a week later, I can’t go because there’s school.”
Sadly, many people have been planning their trip to Austin for the past year, and now must either compromise to just attend next year to get the full experience or just see the weekend shows. Many of us have waited years to be independent drivers in order to make the trip with friends, or to turn 18 to get into age specific shows. While there is always next year’s festival, many students will always remember the disappointment they felt when their mid-semester saving grace was placed just outside of their reach.
