Sunlight had barely splashed across South Austin, and activity was already stirring around Taco Xpress. KXAN arrived to start their live remotes from the beloved taqueria, although nobody else was around to share the moment at 7am. Things get hopping at 9am and run until 3pm, with bands and nostalgia all on display. Notes in the Chronicle and Kelso’s Statesman article suggest that the party is a prelude to moving into the neighboring building later in the day, so power up on those tacos and get ready to lend a hand.

The old Maria’s building is likely to be demolished early next week. Stop by today if you’d like to say goodbye to an old friend, and establish a reliable baseline for the inevitable comparison once the new digs open.

Note: The event is being filmed, so by showing up you agree to appear on film. Hey, maybe you’ll get discovered while feeding your face.

Update: I made it back down to Maria’s around 2pm on Sunday, and the joint was hopping. The hordes were dancing to Papa Mali and consuming mass quantities of tacos and gorditas, lubricating it all with a few Coronas.

LIke a New Orleans funeral, the demo party helped close the book on the old location with a celebration of all things that made it special. And while we won’t be eating tacos in the dirt at the new location, at least the outside design seems to live up to some semblance of the original’s funkiness, certainly in contrast to the horrendously homogenous Walgreen’s in progress next door. Hopefully the good people on both sides of the counter won’t change as much as the floorplan; more than the tacos or the signage, they are the reason I go to Maria’s.

All my photos, from morning and afternoon at Maria’s, are available on Flickr.