Pecan Street Festival's 50th Lands in Bee Cave With Blackillac Headlining

Austin rap duo Blackillac will headline the 50th Pecan Street Festival on Saturday, September 12, taking the stage at 8 pm as the free, two-day event settles into its second year at Hill Country Galleria in Bee Cave. The Sunday bill closes with Grammy-winning keyboardist Jon Deas leading his jazz ensemble, Jon Deas and Dahomies, at 7 pm. The festival has now released its full musical schedule for both days.

The move to the suburbs marks a significant shift for an event that spent nearly 50 years rooted in downtown Austin. As reported by CultureMap Austin, the Pecan Street Festival moved from Austin's Sixth Street and is now presented by Thomas J. Henry and the Pecan Street Association at Hill Country Galleria. The relocation followed city-installed street restructuring and new safety bollards that cut vendor booth space by a third on Sixth Street, along with rising downtown parking costs and public safety concerns, according to a FOX 7 Austin report from March 2025.

A Temporary Suburban Home, For Now

Pecan Street Association vice president Brian Joseph told the station that the shift to Bee Cave was meant to be temporary while organizers search for a new permanent home inside Austin city limits. Leadership reportedly made keeping the milestone 50th event alive — without cancelling it altogether — their top priority, per the same report. Whether that Austin-proper venue ever materializes, or whether Hill Country Galleria becomes the festival's lasting home, remains an open question.

The new location represents a considerable demographic shift from downtown Austin. According to sponsor materials published by the Pecan Street Festival, Hill Country Galleria sits within the highest median household income zip code in the Austin metroplex, with average household income exceeding $166,000 within a five-mile radius. The 152-acre outdoor lifestyle center will host the free festival across multiple stages, alongside hundreds of local artisans and vendors selling fine art, home goods, clothing, and food.

Saturday's Lineup Builds Toward Blackillac

Saturday's musical schedule opens with Mas Seis at noon and continues through Cherri, Tee Double, Dub Equis, Sage x Price, Ben Buck, and Free Bloo & The Freak before Blackillac closes the night at 8 pm. The duo, made up of Zeale and Phranchyze, is known for freestyle verses and high-energy performances and carries a yearslong creative relationship with Grammy winner Gary Clark Jr.

That connection runs deep. As reported by The Austin Chronicle in 2019, Blackillac was formed in late 2018 at Willie Nelson's historic Arlyn Studios when former Austin hip-hop rivals Zeale and Phranchyze joined forces, with Gary Clark Jr. serving as producer and permanent honorary member. Before that partnership, Zeale and Phranchyze had been competitive battle rivals. Phranchyze, whose given name is J.J. Shaw, built an international reputation in battle rap, placing third at the 2007 World Rap Championships in Los Angeles before moving into studio mixtapes and solo work, and he previously earned Austin Music Awards honors as Best Hip-Hop/DJ.

The duo's local standing has only grown since. According to Blackillac's official website, the group was voted Best Hip Hop/Rap at the Austin Music Awards in 2020, an honor that came after their 2019 debut North American festival tour.

Sunday Closes With a Grammy-Winning Keyboardist

Sunday's lineup runs from Devras Plexi at noon through Damascan Daydreams, Annu, Dodo, Black Nomad, Elijah Delgado, and Hardproof, before Jon Deas and Dahomies takes the stage at 7 pm. Deas plays keyboard and leads the jazz ensemble, and he is connected with Gary Clark Jr. and other Austin musicians, including the Kill Tony Band.

Deas brings serious pedigree to the closing slot. Per a 2025 production release published by YouTube channel B. Valentine, Deas is a Grammy Award-winning keyboardist who won three Grammys alongside Gary Clark Jr., including Best Contemporary Blues Album, and he leads the Kill Tony Band. The Buffalo-raised musician has worked in Central Texas music for nearly two decades.

A Name Rooted in Austin's Original Street Grid

The festival's name traces back to the earliest days of Austin itself. According to historical documentation from the Pecan Street Association, Sixth Street was originally named Pecan Street when city surveyor Edwin Waller created Austin's original street grid in 1839, using Texas trees for east-west streets before the city later converted them to numeric designations. The festival adopted the old street name to honor that local heritage.

That heritage is tied directly to preservation efforts. The Sixth Street Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 after local preservationists rallied to protect its late 19th-century Victorian commercial buildings from redevelopment and demolition, according to the Pecan Street Association. Those preservation efforts led directly to the festival's creation in 1978, and the event continues to support preservation of Austin's original Sixth Street neighborhood.

The festival has been produced by event management firm Special Events Live since 2006, according to official event disclosures from the Pecan Street Association, overseeing operations that have historically drawn over 300 vendors and up to 400,000 attendees per weekend. Proceeds from the festival fund grants and historical preservation work tied to its Sixth Street roots.