Where to celebrate July 4 in Austin (plus the new face of Lockhart)

🧨Happy birthday weekend, America! 🧨We've been experiencing sea-breeze showers from a surge of tropical moisture streaming into Texas this week and our best shot at real rain is tonight. Our new meteorologist, Mary Wasson, says it's unlikely that Mother Nature will spoil fireworks displays Friday, although a few isolated showers and thunderstorms may still linger across Central Texas.

Read on for Fourth of July events, details on 🤠 Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic (with Bob Dylan!), a look at the new face of Lockhart, 💘 this month's budget date ideas and much more.

🎆Where to celebrate the Fourth of July in Central Texas

The big Fourth of July party at Auditorium Shores features food and drink, music on two stages and a patriotic concert from the Austin Symphony Orchestra to accompany the city's official fireworks display. The event is family-friendly and free, but leave the dog at home (cowering in a corner, probably). The party starts at 4:30 p.m. and the fireworks and the symphony performance are scheduled for 9:30 p.m.

Thousands attend the event each year, so expect significant delays traveling through downtown. And when we say significant, we mean the kind of traffic that will make you long for a presidential visit during South by Southwest. A road closure map, as well as parking and bus information, is available on the city's website. CapMetro services are free after 5 p.m. tomorrow, and biking to the event along the Butler Hike & Bike Trail is also a solid transportation option.

Not up for the trek downtown? We rounded up plenty of other great events happening this weekend, too. We've also got info on where to buy fireworks and where you can legally launch them.

🤠 Willie's Fourth of July Picnic comes home

After celebrating the Fourth of July in (side-eye) New Jersey last year, the Patron Saint of Austin, Willie Nelson, is bringing his annual Fourth of July Picnic back to where it all began, deep in the heart of Central Texas. This year, Willie's Picnic features fellow roots music legend Bob Dylan, as well as the Avett Brothers, the Mavericks and more.

A storm in Missouri last week damaged equipment and instruments, forcing Willie's Outlaw Music Festival to cancel a show in El Reno, Okla. this week, but Willie's representatives assured the Statesman that the picnic is still on. This year's shindig takes place at Circuit of the Americas. Here's everything you need to know before you go.

The new face and flavor of Lockhart (plus food scene quick bites)

Our restaurant critic Matthew Odam spent a few weeks exploring the small Central Texas city, Lockhart recently. Best known as the Barbecue Capital of Texas, the city has seen a massive revitalization over the past decade as entrepreneurs and creatives — many fleeing Austin's high prices and looking for a slower pace of life — have relocated to the small city.

"Everyone seems to know everyone in a way that feels like something out of a movie, a romantic notion enhanced by a preserved historic square with a made-for-movie-set quality that has drawn numerous Hollywood productions with its authentic appeal. All but two of the buildings are occupied on the square that was at about 50% capacity just a decade ago," Matthew writes.

• 📷 Check out the photos

More small bites:

• Matthew's favorite dishes from area restaurants last month included a pork chop from Lockhart's Kreuz Market and a grilled tuna from Turf N’ Surf Po Boy🐟.
• ☕Our dining and nightlife correspondent Ana Gutierrez rounded up four new restaurants and cafes that opened (including the new Café Crème at the downtown library), plus three we lost last month.
• One of the restaurants we lost was Z'Tejas, which closed its final location after 36 years in business.
• Meanwhile brewing has launched a new lager in collaboration with favorite local Tex-Mex joint Matt's El Rancho 🍺
• Yelp named Austin the best city in the country for food trucks. (duh!)
• One of our favorite Austin Indian restaurants now has an outpost in Round Rock.

💘Dating on a Dime: Summer swims and jazz clubs

Ana is back with this month's installment of our budget dating series Dating on a Dime. Each month, she devises three fabulous Austin dates for under $50. This month's adventures include a swim at Deep Eddy, followed by happy hour at Pool Burger and a night at the Paramount Theatre's Summer Classics Film Series followed by a late night set at Austin's classic jazz basement🎷.

You could also try to woo your boo with one of those weird little Labubu dolls, but prepare to throw some 'bows to get one. When local gift shop ElliCor, which stocks the little monsters, opened last week, there was a line around the block.