Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon – the burnt orange and white dive bar on Burnet Road that’s as “old Austin” as it gets and famous for its Sunday bingo game involving chicken poop – is expected to reopen in early November under the ownership of Austin musician Dale Watson.

Rumors swirled in August when Ginny’s abruptly closed. There was lots of speculation at the time of the property falling to developers but it was soon learned that the bar was going through a remodeling job. When I took a drive by the property at the time there was plenty of evidence of that in the bar’s trash bins outside. In a short phone conversation with owner Ginny Kalmbach’s daughter at the time I was told the plan was for the bar to reopen “soon” once the property improvements were complete.

Things had been quiet since then but the Austin American-Statesman reports that Kalmbach has decided to retire and long-time friend Watson has stepped in to pay for a $20,000 renovation and relaunch. Country rocker Watson – who just learned he’s going to record an episode of Austin City Limits in late November – played his first show in Austin at Ginny’s 20 years ago and he and his band are the soundtrack to the Sunday bingo games.

Chad Swiatecki