Laguna Gloria is closed this Thursday, Nov. 5. The Contemporary Austin has shut the grounds at 3809 West 35th Street from Wednesday, Nov. 4, through Sunday, Nov. 8, for its annual Art Dinner fundraiser on Saturday. Regular hours resume Wednesday, Nov. 11. That means this week has no free Thursday, the one night when the sculpture park on Lake Austin's east shore stays open after the afternoon.
It also starts a pattern that runs through the end of the year. Two holidays on the museum's closure list fall on Thursdays in 2026. From Nov. 5 through Christmas Eve there are eight Thursdays, and Laguna Gloria is open on five of them.
Why Thursday is the one that counts
Laguna Gloria keeps short hours on most days. The museum's posted schedule for the sculpture park is below.
| Day | Laguna Gloria hours | Admission |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. | $10 adults, $5 seniors and students or educators with ID |
| Thursday | 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. | Free for everyone |
| Friday through Sunday | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. | $10 adults, $5 seniors and students or educators with ID |
On its posted schedule, Thursday is the only day the grounds stay open past 3 p.m., and it is also the only day admission is free for every visitor. Members, visitors under 18, military with ID, and Museums for All visitors with an EBT card and photo ID get in free any day. For someone who lives a few minutes away in Tarrytown, near Mount Bonnell or along Lake Austin Boulevard, that makes Thursday the only time to walk the 14 acres after work without planning around a 3 p.m. close.
The museum encourages advance tickets on its visit page and also welcomes walk-ups.
The Thursdays left in 2026
The museum's posted holiday closures are New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In 2026, Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 26 and Christmas Eve on Dec. 24, both Thursdays. Add the Art Dinner closure this week and the season looks like this.
| Thursday | Laguna Gloria |
|---|---|
| Nov. 5 | Closed for Art Dinner week |
| Nov. 12 | Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., free |
| Nov. 19 | Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., free |
| Nov. 26 | Closed for Thanksgiving Day |
| Dec. 3 | Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., free |
| Dec. 10 | Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., free |
| Dec. 17 | Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., free |
| Dec. 24 | Closed for Christmas Eve |
The year's final Thursday, Dec. 31, is not on the posted holiday closure list.
The closures are bunched together. After Nov. 19 there is a two-week gap before the next free Thursday on Dec. 3. Then come three open Thursdays in a row before Christmas Eve closes the grounds. If a guest is visiting over Thanksgiving week, the free Thursday they might expect to use is the one the museum takes off.
What the five Thursdays are for
The main reason to go this season is a set of sculptures with an end date. HOST: Laura Lit is the first solo museum exhibition and first outdoor installation by the Austin-based artist. At Laguna Gloria it fills the Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park with her Impossible Beings, newly commissioned sculptures placed around the Driscoll Villa. They have been on the grounds since spring. The Austin Chronicle reported four sculptures at Laguna Gloria from April 2026.
One of them is Big Drip (2026), made from Pal Tiya clay, steel, Styrofoam, foam board and acrylic paint. It measures 85 by 62 by 107 inches. According to the museum, Lit's background includes figurative painting, special-effects makeup, architectural restoration and medical prosthetics, and her forms "hover between the phantasmic and the corporeal." The pieces are built from wood, Styrofoam, cardboard, clay, resin and paint.
The exhibition closes at Laguna Gloria on Jan. 17, 2027, a Sunday. The last Thursday before then is Jan. 14. Counting the five open Thursdays left in 2026, plus Dec. 31 and two January Thursdays if the grounds keep regular hours, only a handful of free evenings remain to see the sculptures on the lake.
The Driscoll Villa is currently closed for installation, so this season the time is spent outside, on the paths and among the sculptures around the villa.
A Wednesday-Thursday pairing downtown
The exhibition has a second part. Since Sept. 18, a set of Lit's colored-pencil drawings has been on view at the Jones Center, 700 Congress Avenue. The museum describes these drawings as the first step in her process, before the sculptures. The Jones Center is free on Wednesday evenings and on Thursdays. On Wednesdays it is open noon to 9 p.m., and Thursday through Sunday noon to 6 p.m.
That gives Lake Austin households a free two-night plan, drawings downtown on Wednesday evening and sculptures on the lake on Thursday. On a paid day, the museum says a ticket also includes free admission to the other location within seven days.
The Thursday tour runs on lanterns
The museum's Visitor Engagement team leads drop-in tours at both locations. They are free with admission, so on Thursdays they cost nothing. The museum says the tour during Laguna Gloria's extended Thursday hours uses solar-powered lanterns "as current lighting conditions require." Tour dates and times are posted on the museum's events calendar, and that is the page to check before planning a Thursday walk around one.
Bring a phone light for the paths, and plan for the parking. Public parking on West 35th Street is limited. ADA-accessible parking is on the grounds, and the gate attendant can help.
Daytime dates between the Thursdays
The grounds also have dated programs this season that fall on other days of the week:
- Second Saturdays Are for Families: Fuzzy Frenzy, Saturday, Nov. 14, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a wet-felting activity.
- Arty Party: Food!, Friday, Nov. 20, 10 to 11 a.m., a free story-time and art-making session for children three and under.
- Saturday Sampler: Beyond the Bloom, an Art School class on Saturday, Dec. 5, 1 to 4 p.m. Tuition is $60 plus a $20 supply fee.
- Wildflower Weekend: Exploring Laguna Gloria's Botanicals in Watercolor, Ink & Gouache, Dec. 5 and 6, $190 tuition, currently listed as full with a waitlist.
- Saturday Sampler: Holiday Jumpstart, Saturday, Dec. 12, 1 to 4 p.m., $60 tuition plus a $20 supply fee.
The two Saturday Samplers fit around the Thursday calendar. Dec. 5 comes two days after the Dec. 3 free Thursday, and Dec. 12 comes two days after Dec. 10.
The grounds are being replanted
In an April 2026 interview the museum published, Laguna Gloria's grounds team described a restoration project that has run for almost 10 years. They have removed hundreds of invasive trees and acres of invasive vines and replanted hundreds of native trees suited to the different habitats on the 14-acre site.
Much of that work is paid for by the City of Austin's Urban Forest Grant. The team said 2026 is the sixth year it has received the grant. Most of the money comes from the city's Urban Forest Replenishment Fund, which collects mitigation fees developers pay for trees lost during construction. This year's plans include more invasive removal, native replanting and reseeding. The team also hopes to add educational signs for existing trees and work toward arboretum accreditation.
The restoration and the sculptures share the same 14 acres. The calendar allows one Thursday visit in November, on Nov. 12 or 19, and another in mid-December, on Dec. 10 or 17.
The week Laguna Gloria is closed
The closure this week is for Art Dinner 2026 on Saturday, Nov. 7, The Contemporary Austin's annual fundraiser on the grounds. Cocktails are at 6 p.m., dinner at 7:30 p.m. and an afterparty at 9:30 p.m. Afterparty tickets are listed at $100 for members and $150 for nonmembers. The museum says Afterparty tickets support its exhibitions and education programs.
Gates reopen Wednesday, Nov. 11, and the next free Thursday is Nov. 12, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Laguna Gloria's Thursdays are one of the small rhythms that shape life along Lake Austin's east shore. If you'd like a local's take on the places near the water that fill an ordinary week, Kathryn Scarborough Group is happy to share what we know. Contact Us.
