” Keep Louisville Weird ” first appeared in 2005 on a billboard on Bardstown Road in the Highland neighborhood.
The “Keep Louisville Weird” slogan was adopted from Austin, Texas, where it was used to promote small, unique and local businesses. It was John Timmon’s idea to co-op the slogan for Louisville. At the time, Timmons owned ear X-Tacy , an iconic Louisville record store on Bardstown Road. A year before it closed in 2011, Rolling Stone Magazine listed ear X-Tacy as one of the top three record stores in the country.
That slogan, and idea, launched the Louisville Independent Business Alliance , and 20 years later, the grassroots effort to uplift and unite Louisville business owners has become one of the country’s largest alliances of independently owned businesses…