A beloved Dripping Springs-area live music venue will stay for one final season before making a move north in 2018.
Mike Farr, owner of the Nutty Brown Café and Amphitheater, said plans to move the music venue to a new location in Round Rock have been delayed for one year.
Farr said the venue, which opened in July 2000, would remain open at its current location along U.S. 290 just outside of Dripping Springs until spring 2018.
“We intend for the 2017 season – our final year in our original location of 17 years – to be a year-long celebration of the very best live music in Central Texas,” Farr said in a statement.
The reasoning for delaying the move was to further develop the new site in Round Rock, Farr said.
As he began to design the new Nutty Brown location, Farr said his design team expanded on what it wanted the site to look like. But as a result, he said it has “gotten bigger and more complicated.”
The new site, located on 18.4 acres at McNeil Park in Round Rock, would have more outdoor space for the venue, Farr said. In addition, the new site would increase the total capacity to roughly 6,000 people. The current site has a capacity of 3,800 people.
Farr purchased the McNeil Park property in August 2015. In early 2015, the H-E-B Grocery Company purchased land the current 25-acre Nutty Brown property is located on. According to a press release, H-E-B does not have immediate plans to develop the property.
Instead of rushing the opening in Round Rock, which was slated for November 2017, Farr said the decision was made to wait until they were ready.
Farr said he approached H-E-B in August regarding the decision. He said H-E-B gave them the green light to stay on the property until the move.
“If we could stay at our current location until next year, we would then have some breathing room,” Farr said.
With the venue staying in Dripping Springs for another season, a wave of sentiment from the community on social media has followed.
While many are still disappointed the venue is moving to Round Rock, Farr said the excitement is also rising for the final season at the current location.
Farr said regular acts such as the Randy Rogers Band could play at the Nutty Brown. While he couldn’t disclose specific acts, Farr said the venue could have national acts hit the stage in 2017.
“We think we will be able to get a few acts we haven’t had before, or we haven’t had in many years,” Farr said. “There are a few bigger national acts that want to be a part of the last season.”
For Farr, who is a Dripping Springs resident, helping guide the success of the Nutty Brown is a surreal feeling.
“It has been a dream come true,” he said.
