👀 A sneak peek of Austin’s newest trail

California Company To Rebrand Emo’s

AEG Presents, a Los Angeles-based company, plans to rebrand Emo’s on Riverside Drive with a new look and name sometime next year after leasing the space the club is in. C3 Presents owns Emo’s and could find a new location for the iconic spot. [Austin Business Journal 🔒]

New Texas Performing Arts Season Lineup Is Out

The 2026-27 Texas Performing Arts season includes performances by six-time Tony Award-winning actress Audra McDonald, Limón Dance Company, and Branford Marsalis and Dianne Reeves. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. [Texas Performing Arts]

Republic Square Park Launches Free Summer Yoga Series

Republic Square Park is hosting free yoga classes every Tuesday night this summer through Aug. 4. Classes are led by YTX and start at 7 p.m. [Republic Square Park]

More Austin Cookbooks Are Out

I gasped when I saw this news! A cookbook from the sisters behind Veracruz All Natural and another one from the chefs at Suerte and Este are out now. You can add these to the same shelf your LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue cookbook is on. 😋 [Tribeza]

Starting Saturday, Austinites will have a new way to traverse downtown and it couldn’t be better.

The Confluence is a half-mile trail along Waller Creek that runs from Fourth Street to the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail on Lady Bird Lake. A total of 1,600 trees, including a couple hundred bald cypresses, and 200,000 native plants were planted on the new trail. The project has been in the works since 2023 and cost $91.5 million, funded through city and private donations.

On a recent morning, I got to take a tour of the trail and the phrases “wow, awesome” and “it’s gorgeous” came out of my mouth more times than I care to admit. It is a marvelous addition to downtown and meets the moment Austin is currently in: continued population growth in a city trying to keep up. The Confluence keeps up.

Whether you want to extend your walk around Lady Bird Lake by half a mile (or a whole mile if you do an out-and-back), or you need a better way to maneuver parts of downtown, the Confluence offers up a new way to experience Waller Creek.

The creek was previously the most eroded and damaged creek in downtown, said Jon Rigdon, Waterloo Greenway Conservancy’s chief planning and design officer. But with an infusion of plants, wildflowers, trees, and upcycled limestone, the creek has been transformed into a green space animals are already calling home.

Four types of herons, including snowy egrets, a beaver, a pair of red-shouldered hawks, and turtles have been spotted using the creek since its makeover.

“Nature came right back before we were done,” Rigdon said.

You’ll forget you’re in a congested part of downtown Austin when you’re on the Confluence. It’s surprisingly quiet, ripples of water whip by, and no cars are in sight. The trail is also great on the feet — parts of it are made with grippy, permeable pavement to allow water to flow through it instead of creating runoff during a rain event.

Now, this might be the best part. Temperatures are 5 to 7 degrees cooler on the Confluence due to its trees and proximity to water. While it was 81 degrees and sticky when I walked the trail, and it felt nice and breezy down there.