Cleaning up ACL's muddy mess

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin City Limits may be over, but it is just the beginning for cleanup crews at Zilker Park.

Wet weather drenched thousands of ACL music festival goers, but the heavy rains also turned the park into a muddy mess throughout the weekend. The park is now covered in sludge, and a huge effort is underway to clean up the park.

Austin Parks & Recreation workers will evaluate the park Monday to determine how long it will take to restore Zilker.

Even before all the mud, they were planning to shut down the park after ACL until at least Oct. 16, but the weekend's rain will likely delay that date.

C3 Presents, which produces ACL Music Fest, will pay to repair the park.

Back in January, workers rolled out new grass. It was a special type of turf called 419 Bermuda grass - supposed to be a durable type grass, but it was just no match for the heavy rain.

Most of the mud that surfaced above the grass was Dillo dirt, a compost made by the City of Austin from yard trimmings collected curbside and even some smelly treated sewage sludge.

Music fans did their best to make the most of it, taking off their shoes in the mud. They still seemed to enjoy the music.

"The music is good though, as always," said music fan Jonathan Braden.

As ACL festival goers faced grounds soaked in mud, entrepreneurs looked to make a quick buck selling boots at inflated prices.

"I saw some folks out front by the main gate selling some really nice-looking gum boots," said Braden. "They were going for about $50 a pop for child sizes. I think they're out of the men's sizes."

On the third day of the festival, the B-52's played for a crowd of hundreds, and Pearl Jam closed out the night.