Waller Creek Finally Reaches the Lake. Creek Show Is Its First Big Test.

Until this summer, Waller Creek ended at the corner of Red River Street and Cesar Chavez Street as far as most people on foot could tell. Getting from the Rainey side to the lake or the Butler Trail meant waiting at two crosswalks. That changed on June 6, 2026, when Waterloo Greenway opened the Confluence, a 13-acre stretch of Waller Creek from Fourth Street to Lady Bird Lake.

The part of the Confluence that changes a daily walk most is an 800-foot boardwalk at creek level that skips the Red River and Cesar Chavez intersections entirely. In November, Creek Show moves onto this stretch for the first time, so the creek mouth gets its first real crowd test. It's happening while part of the lakefront is still detoured and part of the park system is still years away.

The boardwalk turned two intersections into a through-route

Waterloo Greenway describes the Confluence as an off-street walking and cycling link that ties together four pieces of downtown that used to sit just out of reach of each other.

1. Rainey Street, on the east side of the creek mouth
2. Palm Park, the green space next to the creek
3. The Lance Armstrong Bikeway, the east-west bike route through downtown
4. The Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, the loop around Lady Bird Lake

Three lattice bridges connect the two banks. One of them, the Hartman Bridge, is a new Butler Trail crossing that opened January 27, 2025, more than a year before the rest of the park. So if you run the trail, you were already using a piece of the Confluence before the park around it existed.

The named spaces along the way are the Lagoon Overlook, the Leaf Deck, the Lakeview Terrace, the Explorers Garden, the Cypress Grove and Trailhead Plaza. The park is open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., and hours can change on event days. Those event-day changes matter more this fall than they did all summer.

The lakefront end is still detoured

The Confluence connects to the Butler Trail. But the stretch of Butler Trail it connects to isn't in its usual layout right now. From June 2026 through March 2027, the trail is rerouted on the north shore near the Confluence and the Austin Rowing Club building. The City of Austin's Watershed Protection project page says the detour is there so Austin Energy can install underground electrical infrastructure along the shoreline between Brazos Street and Trinity Street. The city asks trail users to slow down near the work and follow on-site staff.

The park opened in June, and the detour started that same month. That means nobody has used the creek-to-lake connection in its finished form yet. Anyone who runs, walks a dog or bikes this route has been doing it around construction fencing since day one. The reroute is scheduled to last until March 2027, so it will still be in place when Creek Show brings the biggest crowd this stretch has seen.

Creek Show moves downstream

Creek Show is Waterloo Greenway's signature light-art event. This year it runs November 13 through 21, 6 to 10 p.m. nightly, on the new stretch from Fourth Street to Lady Bird Lake. The main entrance is at Fourth Street and Sabine Street. The official Creek Show 2026 page promises ten light installations by local artists over nine nights. All proceeds go to the Waterloo Greenway Conservancy's work on what it calls a 35-acre urban park system, built in partnership with the City of Austin.

Here are the ten works and the teams behind them:

Two of those titles were written for this site. "Portals of the Confluence" names the new stretch outright. "Moon Tower 15.1" nods to the moonlight towers that are part of Austin history.

How entry works this year

Creek Show is ticketed, with timed entry. When you buy, you choose a 6–8 p.m. or 8–10 p.m. window, and you need to be in line by 9:30 p.m. to see the whole show. A Fast Pass for quicker entry is sold as an add-on to General Admission, and a discounted four-pack covers four people on one night. The official page says children 4 and under don't need a ticket. The ticketing platform lists a slightly different age cutoff, so the official page is the one to go by.

On the ticketing platform, opening night on November 13 runs from $12.16 to $46.26. Monday, November 16 is Community Night, which the official page lists as free with a reservation. The nightly program also includes Family, Maker, Pride, dog-friendly, Wellness and Go Greenway nights, plus an artist talk on November 15. If you live within walking distance and want to see the installations without the opening-weekend crowd, the free Monday is the obvious pick.

Food during the event is event food. Creek Show has its own refreshment area, Creek Monster Cove. I couldn't find any source confirming a permanent café or regular concessions inside the Confluence. At the June grand opening, the coffee came from visiting vendors, Creature Coffee and Hometown Coffee.

The coffee is across the street

For now, the creek mouth's day-to-day food and drink comes from the buildings around it. The biggest addition is 1 Hotel Austin, which the Austin American-Statesman reported opened in early September inside Waterline, the downtown tower that recently became the tallest building in Texas. It's a 252-room hotel and the brand's first in Texas. The address is 96 Red River St., right beside Waller Creek and the Greenway.

It has three places to eat and drink, and they cover different parts of the day:

• Neighbors Café and Wine Bar, on the ground floor, opens at 6:30 a.m. for coffee and grab-and-go, turns into a wine bar in the evening, and stays open later on Fridays and Saturdays.
• Alteño is a Jalisco-inspired restaurant serving 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, plus dinner.
• watr is a Japanese-influenced rooftop restaurant with dinner from 5 p.m. The Statesman puts its rooftop pool 16 floors above downtown.

The park opens at 5 a.m. and Neighbors opens at 6:30 a.m., so an early boardwalk loop now has a coffee stop at the Red River end. Posted hours can change, so check them before you go.

A short walk east, Chistā Persian Table has been announced for 44 East Ave., Unit 100. Austin Food Magazine described it in late September as opening in fall 2026, with no exact date. Until the owners name a date, treat it as coming, not open.

What still separates the Confluence from the rest of the creek

The Confluence is the southern end of a longer plan, and the pieces on either side of it are on very different schedules.

• Sir Swante Palm Park, between Second and Third streets, is slated to start construction in 2027. Waterloo Greenway's overview lists 2028 as the target completion.
• Phase III, from Fourth to 12th streets, calls for a restored creek, accessible trail connections, lighting and gathering spaces. It's listed as in design, with no completion date.
• The Refuge is a 3.5-acre project in concept design. A February 2025 City of Austin presentation estimated construction would start in 2031, depending on the relocation and redevelopment of the APD headquarters. That's an estimate for starting construction, not for opening, and Waterloo Greenway's newer overview gives no updated schedule.

So the stretch from Fourth Street to the lake works now, Palm Park beside it should follow in about two years, and the creek north of Fourth Street doesn't have a date yet. Creek Show's entrance at Fourth and Sabine sits right at the line between the finished section and the section still being designed.

If you live near Waller Creek and you're wondering how the Confluence, the Palm Park schedule or the new activity around Red River might affect your building or your block, I'm glad to talk it through. Christine Hsu tracks these projects block by block. Schedule your free concierge consultation.