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Instagram experiences are apparently still a thing for 2019, and a new one dedicated to tacos is heading to Austin next month. Tacotopia’s kicking off a planned six-city tour with an Austin location found at 3208 South Congress Avenue starting on Friday, March 1. It’s landing just in time for the South by Southwest festival, and despite being far away from that foot traffic, the event’s press release predicts it will sell out.
The company organizing Tacotopia, West 54 Media Group, is the same one behind the Art of Ice Cream Experience (not to be confused with The Museum of Ice Cream), which received mixed reviews in both Scottsdale and Austin. Interestingly, Tacotopia will take over the same site as Art of Ice Cream Experience (which closed last month). Event reps say they’ve worked to improve the issues with poor lighting at the space.
Tacotopia promises 20 interactive, photo-worthy exhibits like a tortilla chip slide into foam pico de gallo, a lime swing, and a taco teeter-totter. Originally, a photo on its Facebook page depicted an exhibit with the incorrect spelling of the Spanish word for telephone as “telephono” underneath a sign declaring “Taco Dirty to Me.” Per Tacotopia, that image, which has since been deleted from Facebook, was a rough rendering from its fabrication company, which was posted by mistake. It has been since updated with the correct Spanish word for telephone.
West 54 Media Group shared in a press release that the idea for the exhibit evolved because the company loves tacos. Per Tacotopia, the experience will include a sampling bar, access to assorted food trucks, and a token for a taco from one featured taco truck.
Tickets to the experience are $25 for adults and $14 for children aged 4 to 11 (free for children 3 and under). The experience is open Thursday through Tuesday (closed Wednesday) from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Future cities include Los Angeles (where it will head on Cinco de Mayo), New York, Chicago, and Miami.
Update, February 5: This article was updated to reflect that the event will serve tacos and that organizers corrected renderings of Tacotopia.
Update, February 6: This article was updated to reflect that the company is dealing with the lighting of the space, as well as clarifying the on-site food trucks and the nature of the reviews of the Art of Ice Cream experience.
