Eeyore’s Birthday Party

In 1964, a student by the name of James Ayres came up with an ingenious idea for a party. Lloyd Birdwell, along with James Ayres and several other students, typed up an invitation with a hand-drawn picture of the park. The party included cake, music, special entertainment, and a suitable free beverage for those who think young. Those invited were encouraged to bring a red balloon in honor of the birthday they were celebrating. Little did those who started the event know that they would have one of the most unique and long-running events in Austin. What event, you might ask? Just a birthday party for a gloomy, depressed donkey — Eeyore’s Birthday Party.

The event started in 1964 in Eastwoods Park, and in 1974 moved to Pease District Park. In 1966, Lady Bird Johnson even came. In 1979, Dr. James Ayres, who had mostly led the festivities up until then, decided to move the event out to a property in Winedale. However, the YMCA of UT decided to take over the event as a fundraiser for their organization. Les Carnes, along with a couple of other people, decided to take over the event. They planned the event, took a lot of time, and after the 1979 event, they decided to have more volunteers and organize the event better. Since then, the event’s only become bigger and takes a lot more planning — but let me get to that later.

On the last Saturday in April, thousands ascend upon Pease District Park. Think a day in the park meets a costume competition meets a country picnic, and all of your friends are invited. You might see a mermaid hanging from an aerial hoop, or you might see a child dressed as a fairy, and you’ll definitely see lots of painted bodies and women feeling free. One of the costumes that always stands out every year is handmade by Don Clinch. He’s been coming since the 1990s, and for the past 15 years he creates an Eeyore-related spoof of a business in Austin. This past year he did Toy Joint — obviously a play on the Toy Joy business.

While much of the event is the herd that gathers and the festivities that occur naturally, there are some things that happen on a schedule. We have both a game stage and a music stage. The game stage hosts a costume competition for both children and adults, a sack race, and a friendly yet sometimes competitive egg toss, all with really fun commentary and donated prizes from local businesses and individuals.

Obviously, I wasn’t at the first Eeyore’s Birthday Party, or for many years to come. My first time attending was in 2013. I had moved to Austin recently, and I’d heard that it was the event to go to — and it helped that some of my friends were also on the music stage. I can’t describe the feeling whenever you show up there. It just has a pulse of its own, and it was unlike anything I’d ever experienced in Austin.

So let’s fast forward to 2015. I started my job, and who was training me? Les Carnes — remember the bus driver that took over with the YMCA? Les asked me one day, “Ever heard of Eeyore’s Birthday Party?” “Of course,” I said. He then went on to tell me about his involvement in the organization and how I should try to volunteer the next year. Since then, I’ve volunteered on the game stage, the face painting booth, security, and the music stage. In 2024, Mark Boyden, the president at the time, asked me if I’d be willing to step into that role. Last summer, the board elected me as president, and this past event — the 60th event — was my first Eeyore’s Birthday Party as president.

Eeyore’s has become a huge part of my life. I have met lifelong friends that feel like family. I’ve acquired mentors. I have learned valuable knowledge and skills. I have met some of the best people around, and again, I cannot describe the feeling whenever you walk out into the park and you just see everything happening around you. It’s just so spectacular, and it’s just so wonderful to be a part of that organization. But the heartbeat of the event — the part that is silently working in the background to make sure that we have a fun and safe event — are the volunteers. We have volunteers on everything from our medic team to our logistics crew. Some of our volunteers have been volunteering for over 40 years. We have some people that have kids that volunteer, and they have kids that volunteer, meaning that we have some families with up to three generations all volunteering. But this event isn’t just about one person. It’s about a group of people that come together and dedicate their own time, their own energy, their own money to make this event — this one-day event — happen.

So let me tell you a little bit about Friends of the Forest Foundation, which is our operating name. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We have roughly 35 board of directors, we have eight trustees, and we have about 1,400 volunteers. All of our board of directors run their own area — anything, again, from our medic team to logistics to recycling and trash to the game stage. We even have our own volunteer area, and we have everything in between. All of our volunteers, our board of directors, and our trustees are unpaid. We have zero corporate sponsors, although you may have heard that we are now co-sponsored by the City of Austin, which mostly means that they recognize us as a cultural community grassroots event.

It is free to attend. We do sell beer, sodas, water, t-shirts, popsicles, henna, temporary tattoos, pasties, kids’ games, face painting. Every dollar that we make outside of the cost for our own event, we donate back to the community. Over the years, we have donated over $268,000 to the community. We also ask other local nonprofits to come to our event and be food vendors — they have their own volunteers, and all the money that they make goes back to them. Some of those that we really care about are the Chautauqua Texas River School, the Charlie Center, and Shadow Cats Rescue.

We actually have a volunteer named Mighty Mouse. Mighty Mouse was experiencing homelessness when he first started volunteering with us, and after a certain amount of time, he actually moved into a house with some help from volunteers. You know what they say — it takes a community, and Eeyore’s really is the essence of that. If you haven’t been to Eeyore’s Birthday Party, I really encourage you to come out. Even better, come get involved. We have lots of crews that would be really happy to have some new faces, and I can guarantee you, you’ll meet some of the best people around. But let’s not forget what the day is about, and say it with me: Happy birthday, Eeyore!