“I loved it”: SXSW wraps up 2023 conference and festival
AUSTIN (KXAN) — No more red carpets, concerts and lectures until next year: South by Southwest concluded on Sunday.
The closing barbecue and softball tournament concluded the ten-day conference and festival with good food and new connections.
Read more from KXAN at SXSW 2023
“I get to connect with artists from all over the world. Folks, I would never meet otherwise and from Los Angeles and the UK,” said SXSW performer Dionel Alvarez.
Airport passenger records
Austin has gone from busy streets to a busy airport. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport said three of the SXSW travel dates ranked in the top ten for record-breaking days at AUS.
3 of the record-breaking first 5 days at Austin Airport occurred during SXSW 2023
The busiest day had nearly 37,000 passengers. One of the people who flew home was Nashville performer Lauren Rose.
“Austin is such a strange city. I loved it,” Rose said. “I think South by definitely jump-started my career. So I’m thankful for that.
ATCEMS has responded to dozens of incidents
Austin-Travis County EMS said it responded to a total of 81 incidents.
They ranged from falls from scooters to two stabbings near Rainey Street on Friday night.
A daily breakdown of responses is available below:
- Day 1, March 14th
- 12 accidents
- 9 patients
- 2 patients transported
- Day 2, March 15th
- 15 accidents
- 14 patients
- 6 patients transported
- 3rd day, March 16th
- 14 accidents
- 12 patients
- 6 patients transported
- 4th day, March 17th
- 18 accidents
- 18 patients
- 6 patients transported
- 5th day, March 18th
- 22 accidents
- 17 patients
- 6 patients transported
- Total
- 81 accidents
- 70 patients
- 26 patients transported
Attendance numbers have not yet been released, but SXSW officials said it was significantly higher this year than last year based on things like registration numbers and hotel bookings.
Even though the event has just ended, pre-sale registration for 2024 is already limited.
