Creek Show Moves Downstream This November, Onto Downtown's Newest Stretch of Waller Creek

At Fourth and Sabine, a trail now drops off the Lance Armstrong Bikeway into a cypress grove and follows Waller Creek all the way to Lady Bird Lake. At the Red River and Cesar Chavez crossings, the path goes down to an 800-foot boardwalk built into the creek itself. That stretch opened on June 6, 2026.

Right next door, the Austin Convention Center is still a construction site and will be until the end of 2028. While that block is closed, the creek beside it has become the east side's main public space. On November 13, Creek Show moves onto the new stretch for the first time.

What opened between Fourth Street and the lake

Waterloo Greenway calls this 13-acre section The Confluence. The Waterloo Greenway Conservancy built it with the City of Austin, and KXAN covered its opening to the public in June. These features are on the Conservancy's visit page:

• Cypress Grove and Trailhead Plaza at Fourth Street, where the new section meets the Waterloo Greenway Trail
• Three lattice bridges that add east-west walking crossings over Waller Creek
• The boardwalk, 800 feet long, set into the creek past Red River Street and Cesar Chavez Street
• Lakeview Terrace and Explorers Garden, both shaded and family-friendly
• Lagoon Overlook and Leaf Deck, right on Lady Bird Lake
• A biofiltration pond that treats stormwater runoff from 26.2 acres of downtown

The trail is the most useful part for people who live or work here. It's a continuous off-street bike and walking route that links the Lance Armstrong Bikeway, Sir Swante Palm Park, Rainey Street and the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail. A walk or ride from the Fourth Street corridor to the lake no longer means waiting at two of downtown's busiest east-side intersections.

Park hours are 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. and can change on event days. Dogs must stay leashed, alcohol isn't allowed outside designated areas, and visitors may not wade into Waller Creek or feed the wildlife. On the lakefront, the City of Austin's Confluence project page notes that a separate north-shore section of the Butler Trail is rerouted for utility work from June 2026 through March 2027. A loop that heads west along the water may run into a detour.

The landscaping is still young. The Conservancy says the section has more than 200,000 new plants and about 1,550 trees. The City and KXAN both put the tree count at 1,600.

Why Creek Show is following the creek south

Creek Show is Waterloo Greenway's main annual event and a ticketed fundraiser for the Conservancy. All proceeds go toward the 35-acre park system it is building and maintaining with the city. This year it runs November 13 through 21, from 6 to 10 p.m. each night, on the stretch from Fourth Street to Lady Bird Lake. The main entrance is at Fourth and Sabine, listed as 703 1/2 E. 4th St.

The ten light installations are by local artists, and several of them take their subjects from the history and the plumbing of this part of Waller Creek.

• Moon Tower 15.1, by HKS Architects and DPR Construction, plays on Austin's moon towers. The Conservancy notes that the original Moon Tower 15 stood less than a block from the installation site for a century. It was moved once, promised a restoration, and is still waiting for it.
• Shadow Current, by Charlie A, uses moving shadows to show the washerwomen who lived and worked along Waller Creek from the years after the Civil War into the 1950s.
• Sacred Datura, by SOM and Playhou.se, projects animations onto the Red River Street bridge above pneumatic fabric flowers that open in real time.
• NOT IN MY RUNOFF!, by UNS, makes the stormwater drainage pipes in The Confluence part of the artwork.

The rest of the lineup is CONTACT by BRR Architecture, drip-drop by Lord Aeck Sargent, Fractal Time Fish: Portals of the Confluence by WarrPaint, Nocturnal Garden by Yuliya Lanina, Petri-chord by Creek Freaks, and Waller Wildings by Kick Punch Bite.

The nights, and how tickets work

Each ticket comes with an entry window, either 6 to 8 p.m. or 8 to 10 p.m. The window only controls when you get in, and you must be in line by 9:30 p.m. A Fast Pass gets you through the line faster, but you have to buy it on top of a general admission ticket. There's a discounted four-pack for a single night, and children 5 and under don't need a ticket.

The Conservancy says more details for the nights are coming, and the closing nights run through Saturday, November 21. Tickets and updates are on the Creek Show 2026 page.

The neighbor on Fifth Street is still a construction site

The Confluence sits right next to the convention center site, and the timing of the two projects explains why the creek matters so much right now. The Austin Convention Center closed in April 2025. According to the project's October update, demolition is finished, excavation is still underway and vertical construction has started. The building is expected to be substantially complete by the end of December 2028, in time for the 2029 spring festival season.

The new building will look different from the street. Third Street will reopen through the site, Second Street will become an indoor passage, and the building will connect to Waterloo Greenway. For now, the Downtown Austin Alliance warns of recurring full or partial lane closures on Trinity Street, Red River Street, East Third Street and East Second Street. That update is dated July 13, so the lanes open on any given evening may differ.

The convention center's 5th Street garage at 601 E. 5th St. is still open, and it's the main parking option for Creek Show. It will charge $5 from 5 to 10 p.m. each night of the event, with limited spaces, and the Conservancy suggests rideshare for everyone else.

Downtown has felt the closure in other places too. Turf N' Surf Po' Boy closed its walk-up window at 405 Lavaca St. in late July after 16 years downtown. KXAN reported that its owner named the convention center closure and the drop in weekday office lunches among the reasons. "We just don't have the foot traffic," he told the station. The same KXAN piece cites the Downtown Austin Alliance's Q2 2026 report, which puts downtown foot traffic at 93% of pre-pandemic levels, or about 3.5 million visits a month. Nobody's Business has since opened in that walk-up window at 407 Lavaca St. and serves from lunch through late night, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

New tables at both ends of the creek

New restaurants have opened near both ends of The Confluence. At the lake end is 1 Hotel Austin, at 96 Red River St. Lodging Magazine reported on September 21 that the hotel had opened and that its restaurants include Neighbors Café & Wine Bar and Watr Rooftop Restaurant. Alteño, from chef Johnny Curiel, was set to open to the public at the hotel on September 3, according to Tribeza. The Infatuation places it on the hotel's first floor and describes it as a Mexican restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, with bluefin tuna tostadas, kanpachi aguachiles and ribeye tacos on the menu. The Red River and Davis entrance to the park is in the Rainey Street Historic District, a short walk away.

Closer to the Fourth Street end, Austin Sports Club opened September 10 at 205 E. 3rd St. Community Impact reports that it serves dinner daily and brunch on weekends. Dinner there before an 8 p.m. Creek Show entry and a walk out the north end afterward makes for an easy evening.

Getting in, and the weekend it shares

The Conservancy lists seven entrances to The Confluence:

1. 4th St. and Sabine St., at the Lance Armstrong Bikeway
2. 3rd St. and the I-35 frontage road
3. 2nd St. and Sabine St., near Fairmont Austin
4. Cesar Chavez St. near Trinity St.
5. Red River St. and Davis St., in the Rainey Street Historic District
6. From the Hike-and-Bike Trail near Trinity St.
7. Hike-and-Bike Trail South, near the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center

During Creek Show, ticketed visitors enter at Fourth and Sabine. The Mexican American Cultural Center and several private garages near the park also offer paid parking.

Creek Show's first weekend is also one of downtown's busiest. The Downtown Austin Alliance calendar lists the Texas Book Festival around the Capitol on November 14 and 15. It also lists The Aces with special guest Gatlin at Brush Square, a few blocks from the creek, on Thursday, November 12, from 7 to 9 p.m. Before all of that, the Austin Film Festival runs downtown from October 29 through November 5, according to Visit Austin. Family Night on November 14 falls on the same Saturday as the book festival, so a book festival afternoon and a Creek Show evening can share one parking spot and one walk downhill to the creek.

Plenty of Team West clients work downtown or own a condo a few blocks from Waller Creek. If you're thinking about what The Confluence and the convention center rebuild mean for your building, or you just want a second opinion on which east-side blocks are changing fastest, Team West Real Estate can help. Request a Specialist, and we'll talk through it before your Creek Show night.