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.
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
So every year, people around Austin dress up in their weirdest outfits and gather in Pease Park for drumming, drinking, charity raising, and fun.
So with my hula hoop we headed into the thick of it.
To be honest, there are no words to describe it. I mean, how do you describe a game of unicycle football?
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.
Oh my gosh! Eeyore festival? I had no idea such a thing existed in the world, and am glad to now be putting it on my To Do list. Thanks for sharing the magic.
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?
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.
:-)!!! I love it! I wish we had something like this!
This looks like SO much fun! Such a random thing to celebrete.
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.
Of course! It is the little things like this that make a place.
Is there such a thing as a pygmy camel!?
I think they would be the best of friends.
Well YEAH! I love random things!
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?!
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!!
Wow!! I had no idea what to expect… You look sooo hot/skinny in the hula hoop photo. Gotta love Austin.
This is hilarious! And further proof of why Austin is one of my favorite U.S. cities. I want to come next year!
SO weird but completely awesome. Fun fact for you here, did you know Winnie the Poo is named for a bear in Winnipeg Canada?
Texans are weird.
Austin really reminds me of what I love about Columbus.
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!
I can’t believe you had never been. It is an Austin STAPLE! <3
Hopefully you will be in town when I am. I would LOVE to show you around.
I had no clue and that makes so much sense now! Thanks for that!
Yes. Yes we are.
And it is awesome.
You guys need to start frolicking in tutus or something. You always need some weirdness in your lives or it starts to get mundane!
Ohh, Eeyore’s…such a great example of Austin’s weirdness 🙂