 | ||
Keep Austin Weird is the slogan adopted by the Austin Independent Business Alliance to promote small businesses in Austin, Texas. It is intended to promote local businesses and is inspired by comments made by Red Wassenich in 2000 while giving a pledge to an Austin radio station. He later began printing bumper stickers and now operates the website keepaustinweird.com and published Keep Austin Weird: A Guide to the Odd Side of Town.
Despite a challenge from Wassenich, the slogan was later trademarked by Outhouse Designs and used to market T-shirts, hats, and mugs. Other cities adopted similar slogans later, such as Portland, Oregon in 2003, Louisville in 2005, and Indianapolis in 2013.
A recently released book on the topic, Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas, discusses the cultural evolution of the "Keep Austin Weird" movement as well as its commercialization and socio-political significance.
The Austin Independent Business Alliance is among at least 85 community organizations affiliated with the American Independent Business Alliance, a national non-profit that supports and connects pro-local community-based organizations.