interactive festival

No interactive festival is complete without a swag bag or two, and the SXSW Interactive tote has always been up to the task in being equal parts necessary and adorable.

This year they will up the stakes in both regards, as the festival grows to staggering heights and the Big Bag wears a design from the reigning Queen of cute, Yiying Lu.

St. Patrick's Day 2011 may have been the most crowded that I have ever seen downtown. With SXSW music in full force, a packed free concert for the Strokes at Auditorium Shores, and a steady stream of locals headed downtown to celebrate St.

Patrick's Day, downtown was absolutely crazy.

This year's SXSW music festival packed downtown with 13,000 paid attendees.

The interactive festival attracted just over 19,000 paid attendees. In 2012, it's expected the first Formula One race in Austin could attract as many as 300,000 attendees.