Various nights of the festival would highlight different cultures of Texas. This first year there was Western, German, Czech and Jazz and Rhythm and Blues nights. Throughout the years the theme nights varied as new ones were tried and unpopular ones not repeated. These included Mexican, Black Heritage, Italian, American and International nights. Toward the end of the festival's life, the theme nights had settled to multiple nights with Western and Mexican themes. Also in 1969, Bergstrom Air Force Base, on the southeast edge of Austin, began an open house in conjunction with Aqua Fest and titled it Aero-Fest. In addition to the Thunderbirds performing, the gathering showed off many military airplanes and other hardware. A crowd favorite was a C-5 Galaxy, which visitors would walk through to get to the main display area. Aero-Fest was an instant success and in just two years it was drawing 80,000 people to the base. Aero-Fest ceased when the base closed in 1993. The new decade saw Aqua Fest's continued growth with the addition of more new events such as a photography contest and motocross in 1971 and the Pet Parade in 1972. But the growth of the event brought confrontation with the neighborhoods surrounding Festival Beach. Complaints had gone unheeded and people finally took to the streets in protest. The anti-Fest coalition was led by Paul Hernandez and a group calling itself the "Brown Berets." Protesters were arrested and they in turn sued the City of Austin and Aqua Fest. By the end of the decade, the drag boat races were gone from Town Lake and pressure was on to find a new location to hold other Aqua Fest events. Due to continued protest and growing crowds, Aqua Fest was moved from Festival Beach to Auditorium Shores, a larger park along Town Lake about a mile to the west of Festival Beach. This larger area meant the festival could now have multiple stages for entertainment. The festival organizers signed up corporate sponsors and local radio stations to co-sponsor the entertainment and began booking national acts. The City of Austin, which had subsidized Aqua Fest in its early years, now believed the Fest was self-sufficient and withdrew its financial support. The city began charging the festival for use of Auditorium Shores. In 1985, attendance at Aqua Fest peaked at 252,000. More criticism came at the festival for lack of parking, excessive noise and alcohol abuse issues. This time the rebuke was from residents of the Bouldin Creek neighborhood just south of Auditorium Shores. The opponents of the festival were able to force a non-binding referendum to move Aqua Fest to Lake Walter E. Long in far east Austin.