Our speaker was Rosa Fry, Programs Manager at Preservation Austin, who spoke on "Preservation Austin's Legacy Business Month."
Preservation Austin exists to empower Austinites to shape a more inclusive, resilient, and meaningful community culture through preservation. It is the only citywide nonprofit providing programming to connect Austinites with architecturally and cultural heritage.
Its Grants Program procures grants for their own work as well as providing grants to other nonprofits with the same mission. The Events Program engages Austinites in history and preserving culture. In the words of the Executive Director Lindsey Derrington, “Rather than look to the past and lament what has been lost, we’re looking to the present, at the incredible places we still have, and are working to protect them for the future.”
The Homes Tour showcases the community’s diverse heritage and neighborhoods every April. Five private residences are showcased on Saturday and five on Sunday. Docents give information not just on architecture and interior design, but the people who lived there and in the neighborhood.
The Merit Awards Program honors great preservation work. Twelve honorees will be acknowledged on November 10 at Central Machine Works.
October is Preservation Austin’s Legacy Business Month. A legacy business is defined as a beloved local establishment that has been open 20 or more years that anchors a community and epitomizes classic cool. Every October, the Legacy Business Month passport features 10 beloved local businesses, encouraging Austinites and tourists alike to visit participating businesses, show their support with a purchase, get their passport stamped, and win awesome prizes. Several of our members picked up passports!
