by John Murphy

It’s 3 a.m. on a Friday early in May 1983. I’m standing in the middle of 6th Street with a homemade gizmo in my hand; a length of PCV. pipe with a socket on one end holding a large stick of white chalk. Beside me, clipboard in hand stands French Smith III, the factor of Roadstar Productions and producer of the Old Pecan Street Arts Festival.

We are marking out and numbering the booth spaces for the Festival. Soon crews will begin erecting stages on two of the side streets; the port-a-potties will be hauled in; and by 6 a.m. all will be ready for the arts and crafts vendors to begin setting up their tents and unloading their wares.

This is a true crossroads fair, and it is a tradition that harks back to medieval times. Instead of re-enacting that scene though, French has set it down smack dab in the middle of late 20th century Austin.

Shortly I will be directing traffic for the vendors. They will (hopefully!) be all set up and ready for business by 9 a.m. Then I will work pulling beers from the ice-water filled tubs until my hands go numb. Then I will manage the booth selling souvenir t-shirts and by the end of the day I’ll be standing watch outside the headquarters R.V. A typical day working for Roadstar Productions.

French will be everywhere at once all day taking care of the unexpected, smoothing ruffled feathers, setting things to right. He knows who everybody is, where everything is or should be, and what will be happening next; and he carries it all in his head. His office is in his hat.

Fast forward to April 2004. I am sitting in the office of Roadstar Productions; French and his son “Quad” have arranged a half hour for an interview, in spite of a very busy schedule. A list of events produced by Roadstar looks like a litany of “What Keeps Austin Weird”:
-- Spring and Fall Old Pecan Street Arts Festivals
-- Victorian Christmas on 6th Street
-- KLBJ Summer 6 Pack at Auditorium Shores
-- Freedom Fest
-- Republic of Texas Biker Rally

That’s just the current list of activities. In the past add:
-- T-Bird River Fests at Fiesta Gardens
-- Last Chance Christmas Bazzars at Palmer Auditorium
-- K98 Haunted Houses on 6th Street

Then just for fun throw in new events that will be happening later this year for the first time:
-- Two Brazos Valley Arts & Music Festivals (in Bryan-College Station)
-- Juneteenth Celebration (Austin, June 19)
-- Memorial Day Concert (in conjunction with Triathelon, to benefit families of Killed and Wounded Veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts)
-- Best of the Wurst Fest (Austin gets its very own Octoberfest)

It’s no exaggeration to say that Roadstar Productions, through its events, pumps millions of dollars into the Austin economy. For the Old Pecan Street Festivals, demographics show that 20% of the attendees are from more than 50 miles away; 2.5% from Dallas; 2.5% from Houston; 2% from San Antonio. The Republic of Texas Biker Rally alone accounts for 18,000 hotel room nights.

So, how did a production company so near the heart of Austin’s culture get its start? Well may you ask!

Naturally, it had to do with music. Early in the 1960s French opened Discovery Records, selling new and used LPs and 45s. If you don’t know what an LP or a 45 is, ask your grandmother. Discovery Records also featured Listening Booths where, for a small fee, you could listen to any record in the inventory. Take my word for it, this was a Big Deal and a popular way to spend the afternoon in the 60s. What did we know?

It was this background in selling records that impelled French into forming Roadstar Productions to promote live music concerts.

The Old Pecan Street Arts Festival came about almost by accident, however. In 1977 the Old Pecan Street Association, a group of 6th Street merchants, held a street fair that got mixed reviews, at best.

They then approached French to see if he would lend his production expertise. (The Last Chance Christmas Bazzar had debuted in 1977, also.) In spring of 1978 the First Annual Old Pecan Street Arts Festival was produced by Roadstar, and the rest, as they say, is history. It is now listed in the top 20 events of its kind in the USA.

French Smith IV, a.k.a. Quad, has now taken over the day to day operations at Roadstar. He began getting interested in the business when he was in high school, and started out doing the tasks I described in the opening of this article. When he had learned what needed doing, he worked into the planning side of things. Quad has brought considerable expertise to Roadstar, also. He has a B.A. in Accounting from St.Edwards (Magna Cum Laude with Honors), is a Licensed CPA and is just a few hours from completing his MBA. No longer is the office under French’s hat; Quad has brought the Computer Age to Roadstar. But, he still knows where everything is.

The half-hour interview stretched into an hour, and French shared some thoughts on the status of Austin’s music scene. Here are a few highlights:

“I’m going to the City Council about the Parks. Jesus (Garcia) shut the Parks down. There really has been hardly any music in the parks. We’re fixin’ to get it opened up!”

“Austin has a personality. What makes it special and what draws people here and business here is the music. Take away live music at the big concerts and the live music at the bars goes away. There’s hardly any live music on 6th Street anymore. It used to be every damn door. That all comes out of the big shows. You go to see a live music show, it makes you want to see another live show!”

“I’ve worked with every Mayor since the first Pecan Street Festival. The guy that actually understood the whole thing was Lee Cook. He really took advantage of it, he used it, the music industry. He helped me get the Music Commission set up. He was in favor of music and he was the main one in government that helped us. And he’s willing to do it again!”

Back again in 1983; it’s the end of a LONG day, and I’m standing watch at the office-for-a-day R.V. while the receipts are being counted. It was a weird day. Everybody brought small bills to spend, and the counting has taken forever. Rumor has it that they’ve counted over $25,000 in ones. Nancy steps out of the R.V.

“You look exhausted,” I tell her.

“Yeah,” she replied, “but it’s a Good kind of tired!”

–From the June 2004 Austin Review