Chris talks to Rev. Julie Gallagher, AKA the Squirrel Lady of Town Lake

Last Thursday, Jasmine and I met up with Rachel, our new Personal Finance blogger, to pop her First Thursday cherry.  Yup, just like Jasmine in June, Rachel had never been to the monthly fiesta down on South Congress.  For the record, this was probably one of the craziest First Thursdays EVER, and we were glad she was a part of it!

Our first stop: Bird’s Barbershop for free mojitos and Lone Star.  They’re celebrating their inclusion into Elle Magazine’s 100 Top Salons with Ladies Month, featuring parties EVERY Thursday throughout the month of August.  After filling our glazzies with 3-D art and our bellies with a couple cold ones, we went back out into the 100+ heat to hit up some of the art booths.

Have y’all ever been out on Town Lake and seen the lady feeding the squirrels? Well, her name is Julie Gallagher and she’s got a booth in the lot between Vespaio and Austin Art Glass.  According to Mayan mythology, squirrels protect the sun, so Julie protects the squirrels to keep the universe in balance.  She also takes cute pictures of them to help promote peace. [Check out the full, unedited video interview with Julie here.]

Timothy Hassell plays his steel guitar in front on MamboBerry on South Congress

As we made our way North down South Congress, we were thrilled to encounter so many buskers out strumming and singing their little hearts out.  This magic quickly faded as the Free Huggers, out in full force this month, tried desperately to share their patchouli-coated warm fuzzies with us. Jasmine and I managed to successfully evade them, but Rachel was not so lucky.

Check out the video for a mind-boggling trip into the sights, sounds and people of August’s First Thursday.

Thanks to all of our readers who met us out. We had a great time and we’ll see you next month!

In the 3.5-minute video, try to spot the following:

• 

  Image of Jesus with squirrel by Julie Gallagher

  Squirrels in cute poses

• A steel guitar, a fiddle and some drums
• A poolside warning sign
• CareBear Tattoos
• Jas and Chris running from Huggers
• Fran, aka Kipp’s/Bob’s Big Boy’s kid sister