AUSTIN (KXAN) — Local nonprofit Preservation Austin will celebrate some of the city’s oldest small businesses in October during its “Legacy Business Month.” Part of the celebration includes a “passport,” in which Austinites can collect stamps from the city’s participating legacy businesses.

The month will begin with an Oct. 3 kickoff event at Zilker Taproom, located at 1701 E. Sixth St. Passports will be available during October at Zilker Taproom and Whole Earth Provisions, located at 1014 N. Lamar Blvd.

“The city’s explosive growth has made protections and support for legacy businesses more important than ever,” Preservation Austin Executive Director Lindsey Derrington said in a press release. “We urge Austinites to come out in full force this October to support these incredible places and tap into a heavy dose of old-school Austin and enthusiastic city pride.”

Businesses included in the passport are:

• Antone’s Record Shop, 2928 Guadalupe St., Ste. 101

• Aster’s Ethiopian Restaurant, located at 2804 N. I-35

• BookWoman, located at 5501 N. Lamar Blvd.

• The Continental Club, located at 1315 S. Congress Ave.

• Esther’s Follies, located at 525 E. 6th St.

• Joe’s Bakery, located at 2305 E. 7th St.

• The Little Longhorn Saloon, located at 5434 Burnet Road

• Nature’s Treasures, located at 4103 N. I-35

• Scholz Garten, located at 1607 San Jacinto Blvd.

• Zilker Park Boat Rentals, located at 2101 Andrew Zilker Road

2023: BookWoman owner hopes store makes it to 50

Meghan King, Preservation Austin’s policy & outreach planner, said that the month’s selection changes each year. After three years, a business is eligible to return for another year.

“We have a running list that’s got probably 200 on it,” King said. “We’re just doing restaurants, retail, entertainment and bars, things that are public facing, that people can go into and make a purchase for not too much money. We want the barriers to participate to be really low.”

Preservation Austin defines a business as “legacy” if it has been owned and operated by an Austin resident or family, and for at least 20 years in the same location. Businesses must also be deemed to have “contributed to the history and/or the identity of a particular neighborhood, community, or the city as a whole.”

“It is really hard to maintain a business for over 20 years, and that requires a lot of maintenance, a lot of upgrades, a lot of scrappy ingenuity, which oftentimes is not consistent with what preservation [typically] looks for,” King said. “We wanted to create legacy business month as a way to drive attention and business to these local legacy businesses, so that we can support them and sustain them for generations to come. We need to support them with our dollars if we want these places to stay around.”

The month will wrap with an event at Scholz Garten on Nov. 4, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Participants with the most stamps will have a chance to win prizes, according to Preservation Austin.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.