Will spring break be less crowded?
For 11 months of the year, South Padre Island is a quiet coastal community popular with beach-goers and fishers. But in March, tens of thousands of college students descend on the island for one of the biggest spring break parties in the country.
Historically, the main event has been “Texas Week,” when major venues host bigname performers and students from Texas’ largest universities party on the beach. But the crowds of students are likely to be smaller than usual this year.
“Texas Week” will run from Saturday, March 9, through Sunday, March 17. But the University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University have scheduled their 2019 breaks for a week later, from March 16-24.
It’s the first time that’s happened in recent memory, said Shannon Posavad, a spokeswoman for Beach Bash Music Fest, one of the largest events on the island.
Though the change means thousands fewer undergraduate and graduate students will be there for Texas Week, local venues have embraced the news.
“Personally, I think it is good,” Posavad said. “Normally, a traditional Texas Week would be very busy and room rates would be sky-high. I think this will smooth out the attendance more over a longer period and be good for both students and the hotel sector.”
South Padre Island’s booming spring break turnout in recent years has prompted complaints from residents in the community of 2,800. To address those concerns, the city adopted an ordinance requiring event organizers to pay a higher share of security and cleanup costs.
This year’s schedule change. which will spread the student influx out over a longer period, could make spring break a bit more bearable for permanent residents.
Spokesmen for UT and Texas State said
the schools did not intentionally part company with other Texas universities in picking a spring break period.
Texas State always designates the ninth week of spring term as its break, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board determined when spring term would start this year, a spokesman said. UT’s academic calendar is set two years in advance, so its 2019 spring break was fixed in 2017.
“The committee’s only intention was to settle on the timing that they felt best suited the academic schedule for UT students and faculty this year,” a UT spokesman said by email.
He added: “South Padre Island appears to enthusiastically welcome college students throughout March . ... We expect that the same number of UT Austin students as in any year will visit South Padre for their spring break, contributing to the local economy and enjoying the island along with thousands of college students from around the country.”
With the exception of University of Texas at El Paso, all other UT campuses, including University of Texas at San Antonio, will be off during Texas Week.
Posavad said ticket sales are up sharply over last year, and Clayton Brashear, owner of the popular venue Clayton’s, said the change will provide “great opportunity to others who may not have been able to book an Island hotel in past years.”
Clayton’s and Beach Bash have pulled in some of the hottest musicians in the country for this year’s lineup, including Cardi B, DJ Pauly D, Trippie Redd and Wiz Khalifa. Most will perform before the UT and Texas State spring breaks begin.
Posavad said Beach Bash has events planned from March 2 through March 28 and is offering a weeklong VIP program available throughout the month. Brashear said his venue is offering a variety of events from hip-hop to country to rock, catering to all comers, not just college students.
“Clayton’s spring break has grown into a festival for both students and non-students alike,” Brashear said by email. “You don’t have to be in school to enjoy a week at the beach after a cold winter. At Clayton’s we planned our events marketing to appeal to everyone who wants to get away and head to the beach for some fun, sex and rock-’n’-roll. Think of Clayton’s spring break as a modern-day Woodstock for the millennials.”