You want a festival that offers you a little bit of everything. You want a great venue, with plenty of room so you don't feel squashed amidst the masses of people sure to attend. You want masses of people sure to attend. You want food, drinks, music and vendors. You want fun that, if possible, is not at the expense of the environment - after all you are from Austin, so you must be green - and you want it all at a reasonable cost. Fortunately, the Austin City Limits Music Festival is just that.

Held every year in Zilker Park at the end of September, the Austin City Limits Music Festival offers a great lineup of bands for three days of unbeatable music. In 2008, the Foo Fighters, Allison Krauss, N.E.R.D., Jenny Lewis, Gnarls Barkley, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Patty Griffin, Tegan and Sara, Iron & Wine and so many more took the stage at the festival, entertaining guests with their varying styles and great tunes. They performed at the AMD, the AT&T Blue Room, the Austin Kiddie Limits stage, the Austin Ventures stage and the BMI, WaMu, Dell and AT&T stages, so that no matter what your taste there was always someone worth listening to playing. It was just a matter of finding them.

In between shows, participants were able to sample some amazing cuisine from numerous Austin eateries. At the Austin Eats Food Court, Aquarelle Restaurant, Austin's Pizza, Solar Natural Wraps, The Best Wurst, Thistle Caf?, Saba Blue Water Caf? and Wahoo's Fish Taco, among others, served their best dishes to famished music fans. Those who walked away did so full of burgers, gyros, pizzas, salad, fish cones, potatoes and so much more. Famished they may have been to start, but they were anything but to end.

While eating and listening, guests were also able to relax their eco-conscience, knowing that the Austin City Limits Music Festival is as green as it possibly can be. The festival's motto is Love the Music. Love the Park. Love the Planet. The festival more than lives up to that motto by offering its guest suggestions on how they can be a green part of the weekend. Recommendations include biking or taking the festival shuttle, carpooling, buying carbon offsets as a part of the ticket or once at the festival, and reducing the number of water bottle littering the park by refilling or making use of the water fountains throughout Zilker. However you choose to make a difference - try them all - you'll know that the weekend of fun you had wasn't one of waste.

The Austin City Limits Music Festival is a phenomenal, annual event that all should attend. It is the opportunity to see bands few have the privilege of seeing live, and to enjoy warm fall days with your friends and family. If interested, head to aclfestival. You can purchase your ticket or wristband (and maybe that carbon offset?) there, and find out about parking, getting to and from the festival, the lineup and the schedule. That way, you'll be all set when the festival begins for three days of music-packed fun.