Downtown Watch Parties Start March 18

Z'Tejas Southwestern Grill - their original location on West 6th Street in downtown Austin, Texas

One of Austin's most iconic restaurants, Z'Tejas Southwestern Grill, will host the first Formula 1 2012 season watch party, Texas style!

Join us on Sunday, March 18 at 1:00PM to watch the Australian Grand Prix and enjoy a delicious Z'Tejas brunch buffet while cheering on your favorite drivers or learning more about the sport.

We've started an Eventbrite page to manage our events this season. This will be the most up-to-date place to find out about watch parties, gatherings and other community events in Austin.

Click here to read more about the Australian Grand Prix watch party on Eventbrite!

Event Registration Online for The Austin Grand Prix Downtown Watch Party Hosted By Z'Tejas: Australian GP powered by Eventbrite

Over 17 Million To Austin Annually

An aerial view of Austin's annual Austin City Limits Music Festival in Zilker Park. Image Courtesy of austincool.com

Austin City Limits Music Festival + South By Southwest Film, Music and Interactive Festivals + The University of Texas at Austin football games + Republic of Texas Biker Rally + more = over 17,000,000 visitors to Austin annually. How will Austin continue to evolve as an international destination?

Austin's major event organizers and business leaders will address this topic in an upcoming panel hosted by Leadership Austin, titled "Festival Fever." The panel is not free, but it is open to the public and will take place over breakfast on February 7.

Geoff Moore, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer for Circuit of The Americas, will be one of four panelists discussing the impact of large festivals in Austin. Austin event veterans Hugh Forrest (SXSW Interactive Festival), Lisa Hickey (Austin City Limits Festival), Jon Roberts (Former Director of Business Development for The State of Texas) and Mr. Moore will discuss the pros and cons of being a festival target city and trade-offs between economic impacts and quality of life.

Here's an introductory video to Geoff, filmed at last year's InnoTech Austin conference.

Many Austinites know this isn't our first rodeo, but we look forward to an engaging discussion from festival veterans and learning how to "Keep Austin Weird!" while evolving as an international destination.

Click here to register for the Leadership Austin Engage event on February 7, "Festival Fever."

Keep Austin Weird!

Courtesy of louellacourt.typepad.comThis evening the official Formula 1 United States Grand Prix (TM) site reported an official partnership with Haynes-Eaglin-Waters to provide minority-owned and women-owned business enterprise outreach and support. What does this mean? F1US is committed to supporting the local economy and making sure minority- and women-owned businesses have a chance to play a big role in developing this world class multi-purpose venue! 

This reminds me of a slogan that originated in Austin: Keep Austin Weird!  The Austin Independent Business Alliance coined this phrase in 2002 to promote small businesses in Austin by making Austinites think, shop and grow locally.  You can find this slogan on bumper stickers, tye-dye t-shirts, coffee mugs, and proudly displayed in numerous locally-owned businesses around town.  However, do not confuse Austin as a small-minded town: Austin is a major player on the global scale (technology, education and communication just to name a few) but one of the things that makes Austin "Austin" is that it values its resources and people and will work hard to support the people that make it "weird"!

Check out the Austin Independent Business Alliance and Keep Austin Weird and see how we like to keep it weird!