Hometown Tourism, Photography

Hometown Tourism: Eeyore’s Birthday

things to do in austin

You heard that right. That sad depressing donkey from Winnie the Pooh that keeps losing his tail? There is never a shortage of things to do in Austin.

Yeah. We celebrate Eeyore’s birthday here in Austin, Texas.

things to do in austin
How about bringing out your pet goat to celebrate?

While we do try to “keep Austin weird”, there is actually a bit of history behind the celebrations.

Eeyore’s Birthday Party began in 1963 as a spring party and picnic for Department of English students at the University of Texas at Austin by Lloyd W. Birdwell, Jr. and other UT students.[2] It was named for Eeyore, a chronically depressed donkey in A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Poohstories who, in one story, believes his friends have forgotten his birthday only to discover they have planned a surprise party for him.[3] Despite its name, the event does not fall on the official birthday of the fictional character.[4] The original event featured a trashcan full of lemonade, beer, honey sandwiches, a live, flower-draped donkey, and a may pole (in keeping with the event’s proximity to May Day).[5] For many years the party was a UT tradition, but subsequently the annual Birthday Party became a tradition in Austin’s hippie subculture. – Wikipedia

EeyoresBirthday-22

So every year, people around Austin dress up in their weirdest outfits and gather in Pease Park for drumming, drinking, charity raising, and fun.

things to do in austin

So with my hula hoop we headed into the thick of it.

things to do in austin

To be honest, there are no words to describe it. I mean, how do you describe a game of unicycle football?

things to do in austin

things to do in austin

All I know is that I was home.

I missed your weirdness, Austin. Thank you for enveloping me in hugs, kisses, and smiles from strangers that I missed so dearly.

EeyoresBirthday-1EeyoresBirthday-3

EeyoresBirthday-9
Definitely NOT a vegetarian.

things to do in austin

EeyoresBirthday-21
There is nothing more awesome than a buff man blowing bubbles.
EeyoresBirthday-8
How about some dancing?

EeyoresBirthday-12

EeyoresBirthday-18
Or acrobatic yoga?

EeyoresBirthday-23

EeyoresBirthday-15
And I loved hanging out with my awesome friend Kim (she taught me how to hoop and made my travel one!). Post coming soon on her awesome business!
EeyoresBirthday-17
New friends – we’re geeking out over hoop technology.

EeyoresBirthday-16

22 thoughts on “Hometown Tourism: Eeyore’s Birthday”

  1. Ahh, great pics!! I love the pet goat 🙂 At some point I would love to have 2 pets: 1 goat and 1 pygmy camel to be friends with the goat. Can you imagine?

  2. The pictures just tell it all: You had extreme fun. That is such a fun that I am wishing I could have been part of.

  3. THIS IS HILARIOUS!! I can’t believe this is a real thing! Unicycle football?! I hope to someday go to Austin at the right time to witness this wacky holiday.

  4. Oh yes. Apparently they practice weekly – I have no clue where or if there are even more than a few teams but how AWESOME is that?!

  5. I am trying to track down pygmy camels in Mali. If I can’t find them, then I am going to work with a pygmy goat vendor to breed pygmy camels. I’m confident it can be done!!

  6. Wow!! I had no idea what to expect… You look sooo hot/skinny in the hula hoop photo. Gotta love Austin.

  7. This is hilarious! And further proof of why Austin is one of my favorite U.S. cities. I want to come next year!

  8. SO weird but completely awesome. Fun fact for you here, did you know Winnie the Poo is named for a bear in Winnipeg Canada?

  9. This is the perfect example of why we love Austin. We’ve been lacking some weirdness in our lives lately (well, not from us – we’re always weird – but from staying in a small town in southern OR), so we’ve been going a little stir crazy. A birthday party for Eeyore sounds like a breath of fresh air!

  10. You guys need to start frolicking in tutus or something. You always need some weirdness in your lives or it starts to get mundane!

Leave a Reply