SXSW 2024: Thousands enjoy free events, pop-ups in downtown Austin
AUSTIN, Texas - The South By Southwest festivities have begun.
"There's a lot of energy in the streets so far," said Claire Gallagher, with Redshift Collective.
Hundreds of thousands of people, from near and far, filled downtown Friday for the kickoff of SXSW.
"I'm from Austin, so I normally don't really have much going on during spring break anyway," said Ash Catalan, with E4 Youth.
"We're going to be showcasing Vancouver companies, so really excited to showcase Vancouver to the world," said Gallagher, who traveled from Canada to be at SXSW.
SXSW is certainly known for showcasing upcoming movies, TV shows, and music.
"I got a film badge, so I'm more excited for the film events here," said Em Diaz, who’s here with E4 Youth.
"This year I'm super excited for the music events," said Catalan. "I love to see what sort of people are emerging right now."
There’s also plenty of unique and free pop-ups lining Congress.
"We just went into The First Omen," said Crystal Riggs, a SXSW visitor. "It’s an experience that, you know, you don’t know what you’re walking into… Well, you kinda do. It’s a box, right? It’s a confession booth."
"I think it's neat just being able to experience SXSW and being able to see little pop ups, things like this, you know," said Brent Riggs.
Audible also set up a free Ferris wheel at Third and Congress that caught lots of attention from SXSW attendees.
"We just kind of saw this activation and thought it'd be cool," said Kirsten Southcott, Redshift Collective.
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For the Riggs, part of the fun of it all is enjoying the ride of SXSW (more so figuratively).
"I like to pick one thing in the morning, and maybe one thing in the evening to start and end my day and, in between, just let it take me where it takes me," said Crystal Riggs.
There's a little something for every visitor this year, badge or no badge.
"We're in line for the audible experience, but I'm mostly interested in music, so I'm looking to do more of that later today," said Naran Shettigar, attending with E4 Youth.
"I haven't experienced this before, and I'm just excited to network," said Matthew Dumas, also with E4 Youth.
SXSW is in Austin until Saturday, March 16.
"There's still so much to explore, but it's really exciting to be here," said Gallagher.
Both Audible and The First Omen pop-ups told FOX 7 they’ll be here all weekend.
They are both free and open to the public.