Fun Fun Fun Fest brand may be changing hands

The hot word in Austin music circles this week was a rumor flying in several directions that C3 Presents had purchased the Fun Fun Fun Fest brand from local developer Stratus Properties, which retained the festival as part of its 2016 split with fest founders Transmission Events. Representatives from both companies were mum on whether the deal has been done, but multiple former Transmission employees have said they’d received word the sale was complete or imminent. Stratus emailed the Austin Monitor to say, “We have no comment,” and Charles Attal, one of the co-founders of C3 and one of the entrepreneurs responsible for the successful Austin City Limits Festival, texted that he had “nothing to talk about right now sir.” Whether the festival is revived or not, the Fun Fun Fun Fest brand had a three-day early November run reserved at Auditorium Shores for the next decade, and if those reserved dates convey to a new buyer, they’d be valuable to a large event promoter since the city has plans to scale back events held in its core urban parks.