SEPTEMBER 2019
Hometown Rising with J.D. Shelburne
The Craft Bourbon Trail
Louisville Photo Biennial
Legendary Still Buster
v
Kentucky’s Premium Cigar
The Wabbit recipe inside
Cheers to N AT I O N A L BOURBON MONTH
Display until 10/08/2019
www.kentuckymonthly.com
SEPTEMBER featured
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14 The Other Bourbon Trail
The Craft Tour stretches across most of the Commonwealth
18 The Legend of ‘Big Six’
The Kentucky still buster led a colorful life
22 Hometown Proud
Taylorsville’s J.D. Shelburne is part of an all-star lineup for a new country music and bourbon festival
26 Photography: An Appreciation
The Louisville Photo Biennial showcases the most accessible art form
34 The Black Patch Is Back
A Kentuckian digs into the past to create a premium cigar in the present
38 Molasses and Memories
An annual Casey County get-together celebrates sorghum and simpler times
40 An Enduring Epitaph
A remote cabin celebrates the lives and work of Henry and Janice Holt Giles
42 In the Spotlight
Ten not-to-miss shows of the upcoming
performing arts season
departments 2 Kentucky Kwiz
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4 Mag on the Move
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6 Across Kentucky 8 Cooking 45 Kentucky Travel Industry Assn. Signature Fall Events 50 Gardening 51 Field Notes 52 Calendar
voices 3 Readers Write 48 Past Tense/Present Tense 64 Vested Interest
ON THE COVER The Wabbit cocktail, courtesy of Dan Calloway of Bardstown Bourbon Company’s Bottle & Bond Kitchen and Bar. See page 9 for the recipe.
KENTUCKY
Kwiz
Test your knowledge of our beloved Commonwealth. To find out how you fared, see the bottom of Vested Interest or take the Kwiz online at kentuckymonthly.com. Celebrating the best of our Commonwealth
1. John Fogerty, Friday night’s headliner at the upcoming Bourbon & Beyond Festival (Sept. 20-22), was once the lead singer of which iconic group?
6. True or False: More domestic travelers fly from CVG to both Atlanta and Chicago than live in all of northern Kentucky.
A. Bachman-Turner Overdrive B. Creedence Clearwater Revival C. The Doobie Brothers
2. Similarly, Saturday night’s headliner, Robert Plant, was the lead singer of which iconic group? A. Eagles
7. The frying pan at London’s World Chicken Festival can cook how many finger-licking chicken quarters at one time? A. 24 B. 240 C. 600
B. Grand Funk Railroad C. Led Zeppelin
3. Secretariat and Man o’ War share what?
8. Actor William Mapother’s first credited film role was in which film starring Tom Cruise, Mapother’s first cousin? A. Top Gun
A. The same sire
B. Risky Business
B. The same owner
C. Born on the Fourth of July
© 2019, Vested Interest Publications Volume Twenty Two, Issue 5, June/July 2019
Stephen M. Vest Publisher + Editor-in-Chief
Editorial Patricia Ranft Associate Editor Rebecca Redding Creative Director Deborah Kohl Kremer Assistant Editor Madelynn Coldiron + Ted Sloan Contributing Editors Cait A. Smith Copy Editor
Senior Kentributors Jackie Hollenkamp Bentley, Bill Ellis, Steve Flairty, Gary Garth, Rachael Guadagni, Jesse Hendrix-Inman, Kristy Robinson Horine, Abby Laub, Lindsey McClave, Brent Owen, Ken Snyder, Walt Reichert, Gary P. West
Business and Circulation Barbara Kay Vest Business Manager Jocelyn Roper Circulation Specialist
C. The same nickname
4. Man o’ War, who shared athlete of the year honors with Babe Ruth in 1920, won 20 of his 21 races. His only loss came to which horse?
9. The late Jim Varney played Jed Clampett in the film version of The Beverly Hillbillies and broke into show business as Ernest P. Worrell, but most people know him today as the voice of which Toy Story character?
A. Upset
A. Mr. Potato Head
B. Seabiscuit
B. Buzz Lightyear
C. Pipes of Peace
C. Slinky Dog
5. Boone County Airlines was founded in 1946 at what is today the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) and serviced which Cincinnati-based company’s travel needs? A. Western-Southern Insurance
10. Adolph Rupp considered it good luck to find what on game day? A. A four-leaf clover B. A bobby pin C. Wheat pennies
Advertising Lindsey Collins Account Executive and Coordinator John Laswell Account Executive For advertising information, call 888.329.0053 or 502.227.0053 KENTUCKY MONTHLY (ISSN 1542-0507) is published 10 times per year (monthly with combined December/ January and June/July issues) for $20 per year by Vested Interest Publications, Inc., 100 Consumer Lane, Frankfort, KY 40601. Periodicals Postage Paid at Frankfort, KY and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to KENTUCKY MONTHLY, P.O. Box 559, Frankfort, KY 40602-0559. Vested Interest Publications: Stephen M. Vest, president; Patricia Ranft, vice president; Barbara Kay Vest, secretary/treasurer. Board of directors: James W. Adams Jr., Dr. Gene Burch, Gregory N. Carnes, Barbara and Pete Chiericozzi, Kellee Dicks, Maj. Jack E. Dixon, Bruce and Peggy Dungan, Mary and Michael Embry, Wayne Gaunce, Frank Martin, Lori Hahn, Thomas L. Hall, Judy M. Harris, Greg and Carrie Hawkins, Jan and John Higginbotham, Dr. A. Bennett Jenson, Bill Noel, Walter B. Norris, Kasia Pater, Dr. Mary Jo Ratliff, Barry A. Royalty, Randy and Rebecca Sandell, Marie Shake, Kendall Carr Shelton and Ted M. Sloan.
Kentucky Monthly invites queries but accepts no responsibility for unsolicited material; submissions will not be returned.
B. Crosley Radio C. Procter & Gamble
www.kentuckymonthly.com
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VOICES FOCUS ON FOOD
MEMORIES OF THE DEPRESSION
I certainly enjoyed Bill Ellis’ food article in the May issue (page 42). I chuckled over everything, especially the eggnog his grandmother made for Christmas Eve. I’ve tried to replicate my mother’s dishes but with no luck. I asked her for the recipe for the cornbread she use to fry. As we were stirring the ingredients together, I had to know exact amounts, and she told me I would feel it when it was right. Needless to say, I’ve never been able to make it. Ann Cohen, via email
In response to Bill Ellis’s article on being a child of the Great Depression (June/July issue, page 48,) my grade school days were influenced by the Depression and World War II. Living on a farm made a big difference in our well-being, but there was very little money. Mother sold eggs and cream, and Dad raised tobacco on shares with little to show for the hard labor. We did have a radio and electricity, which many didn’t have, so we heard the news and “fireside chats.” We received ration books for store supplies, but there were often shortages of detergents, sugar, meat and other items. There even was a song, “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?” Most of the sweets went to the troops. We collected old toys and metals and took them to school for a scrap drive for the war. We received some commodities for food at school, like government cheese. I remember one teacher cooking some bean soup. We saved pennies for savings stamps/ bonds, too. The war was on everyone’s mind, although at some point, I asked if we would get bombed going to visit in Ohio. I had no concept of the world or where I was in it. With gas rationing and no new tires available, travel was rare. It was a trying time to grow up in, but my experience with frugality has served me well, and my memories are mostly good of a patriotic time in our history. Louise Eversole, Lexington
I read Bill Ellis’ May article and loved it. I was raised in rural Ohio, about 45 miles northeast of Cincinnati. Many of the “country” foods spoken of I grew up with. I especially remember Aunt Iona’s scrambled eggs and brains that was always on the Sunday brunch menu. Another favorite was pan-fried chicken with milk gravy and mashed potatoes. Also the tea—gallons and gallons and gallons. These are very fond memories. I love to cook and eat and read about food. My wife and I do not have cable or satellite TV, so I don’t watch cooking shows that much. I do like to read magazines, though. The main reason I am writing is to thank you for writing about the great food we grew up with. I and many like me tire of hearing about the latest fad food. I love the food that fed many generations of people around the country and continue feeding us today. Victor Gray, via email TWAIN TWIN I loved the June/July issue of Kentucky Monthly. Loved the butterfly on the cover, but I always turn to the last page to read “Vested Interest” first. I like to follow what Steve Vest is “up to.” Because I am a travel agent, I follow his travels and enjoyed his comments about Pikeville. My grandfather was a road builder and while in the area, he bought vegetables from Randall “Ole Ran’l” McCoy. Granddaddy always said, “He was nice, as long as you didn’t cross him.” Steve and Mark Twain are a match! Mary Lou Boal, Madisonville
I was not born until 1949, after my father, Robert D. Taylor, came back from World War II and met my mother, Dorothy Rose Ray. But my mother was born in 1927 and was a child during the Great Depression. She has memories still at 92 of the
Readers Write Depression, but she says, “We got by, as we lived out in the country.” Her parents, Chester and Sarah Lancaster Ray, always had a garden, and Grandma canned and put up fruits and vegetables. Grandpa had hogs, so they had bacon and ham, and they had chickens. Mom said that Grandma Ray made all their clothes when Mom was a child. She said that neighbors would share with each other. Grandma and Grandpa Ray lived at Maceo, about 10 miles from Owensboro going East. It had a post office and general store and four churches—Baptist, Methodist, Christian and a black church and school that were quite vibrant. My grandparents carried a store bill at the general store for items such as sugar, flour, coffee and tea. Everyone had an outdoor toilet and indoor slop jar. Electricity did not come until the 1930s with the rural electrification program. Everyone was on a telephone party line, and it was quite interesting if you happened to hear a conversation. My grandfather worked for the Work Projects Administration on the railroads, and he worked in tobacco as a sharecropper. He would get part of the money for the crop from the farmer who owned the land. He was a lifelong Democrat and credited Franklin Roosevelt for getting the country out of the Depression. My mother said that she did not know what people did in the cities but heard it was bad, with people starving and soup lines, and she was glad that they were “country folks.” Cindy Evans, Lewisport PRAISE FOR ‘PROGRESS’
Steve Vest’s article, “Signs of Progress,” in the June/July issue of Kentucky Monthly is excellent (page 64)! I hope the state employees who promote tourism and economic development read it carefully. Jim Gifford, Ashland
We Love to Hear from You! Kentucky Monthly welcomes letters from all readers. Email us your comments at editor@kentuckymonthly. com, send a letter through our website at kentuckymonthly.com, or message us on Facebook. Letters may be edited for clarification and brevity.
n Counties featured in this issue S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY. .
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Even when you’re far away, you can take the spirit of your Kentucky home with you. And when you do, we want to see it!
Take a copy of the magazine with you and get snapping! Send your highresolution photos (usually 1 MB or higher) to editor@kentuckymonthly. com or visit kentuckymonthly.com to submit your photo.
MAG ON THE MOVE
Look familiar? You may have seen Thomas Danbo’s work featured in our August issue. Find the Kentucky forest giants at Bernheim Forest!
B.J. Duvall and Melanie VanHouten COLORADO The co-founders of Frankfort’s Josephine Sculpture Park explored the Breckenridge International Festival of the Arts and came upon this giant troll sculpture, which was created along the Wellington Trail in Breckenridge, Colorado, by Danish artist Thomas Danbo.
ABOVE Tom and Karen Deringer JAMAICA The couple toured the Caribbean Island with their Jamaican friends. Originally from Hopkinsville and Lexington, they now live in Lantana, Florida.
LEFT Alison and Damien Lucas NORTH CAROLINA Family and friends from all across the Commonwealth and beyond traveled to Topsail Beach, North Carolina, to celebrate the wedding of the northern Kentucky couple. 4
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BELOW ALASKA Juneau, Alaska, visitors Terry Young, Lexie Young, Freida Smith and Richard Smith all hail from Harrodsburg.
ABOVE JERICHO Lisa Ladd, Ann Hofmann, Michael Hofmann, Luanne Cole, Anna Leasure Land Michael Ladd—all from Madisonville—toured the Holy Land and stopped in Jericho with their Kentucky Monthly. LEFT PUNTA CANA Erin and Matthew Cinnamon of Frankfort were able to share stories of their Kentucky home life in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, with this issue of Kentucky Monthly.
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BRIEFS
Across Kentucky
ELEGANT SMOKE A
cclaimed Kentucky Chef Ouita Michel is teaming up with Chef Joy Crum of Fredricksburg, Virginia, and her pitmaster, Matt Deaton, along with pitmaster Chad Lindon of Kentucky to create a premier barbecue dining experience at Woodford Reserve Distillery. Called Woodford Smoke, the dinner will be Saturday, Sept. 14, and include a five-course menu planned around the theme of smoke. “This is not your grandfather’s barbecue, but a more unusual and elegant approach to the smoker,” Michel said. Among the celebrations of National Bourbon Heritage Month, this event also will feature Woodford Reserve cocktail pairings and a special tour of the distillery. For more information and to make reservations for the dinner, visit woodfordreserve.com/events. Chef Ouita Michel
COCKTAIL COMPETITION
he Bulleit Distilling Co. Visitor Experience in Shelbyville played host to the United States Bartenders’ Guild World Class Finals, where Katie Renshaw Tof Chicago, Illinois, was named 2019 U.S. Bartender of the Year. Fifteen finalists from around the U.S. came for the two-day, five-part challenge. “Winning [the competition] has been one of my biggest dreams since I started bartending,” Renshaw said. In addition to Bartender of the Year, Renshaw placed first in the Bulleit Final Frontier Challenge, awarded to a finalist who mastered the art of the cultural frontier with which the Bulleit brand aligns itself. She also will collaborate with the distillery’s bar manager to create a signature cocktail menu for guests at the Bulleit Distilling Co. Visitor Experience, which opened in June. Want to try your hand at mixing an award-winning cocktail? Renshaw’s recipe for the Flex Yo Hustle, the winner of the Bulleit Final Frontier Challenge award, can be found online at kentuckymonthly.com. Bartender of the Year Katie Renshaw
ARTS HONORS
Governor’s Awards for the Arts are bestowed annually to individuals and that make significant contributions to the arts in Kentucky. Gov. TMattheorganizations Bevin will present the awards at a Sept. 10 ceremony at the State Capitol rotunda in Frankfort. The 2018-19 recipients are Cornelia Dozier Cooper of Pulaski County, the Milner Award; Tim Hall of Estill County, the Artist Award; First Southern National Bank of Lincoln County, the Business Award; Valera Brooks of Marshall County, the Community Arts Award; CKYO MusicWorks of Fayette County, the Education Award; George Anderson Beard of Calloway County, the Folk Heritage Award; the City of Greenville, Muhlenberg County, the Government Award; Bluegrass & Backroads of Jefferson County, the Media Award; and Chris Stapleton, a Johnson County native, the National Award. The Kentucky Arts Council receives nominations for the awards and forms a panel for the selection process. Nominations for the Governor’s Awards in the Arts are accepted from the public. 6
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BIRTHDAYS 1 Boyd Holbrook (1981), actor/ fashion model from Prestonsburg 1 Angaleena Loletta McCoy Presley (1976), singer/songwriter and member of the Pistol Annies from Martin County 2 Joey Goebel (1980), author/ novelist from Henderson 7 Kaitlynne Postel (1986), Lexington native and Miss Kentucky 2007 9 Keven McQueen (1966), Richmond-based author 12 Josh Hopkins (1970), Lexingtonborn film and television actor 12 Will Chase (1970), Broadway actor/singer from Frankfort 17 Richard Taylor (1941), Kentucky Poet Laureate (1999-2001) 20 Jude Devereaux (1947), Fairdaleborn romance author of more than two-dozen New York Times bestsellers 21 Jerry Bruckheimer (1945), television/film producer, who, along with his wife, Linda, have preserved numerous properties in Bloomfield (Nelson County) 22 Stephen Buttlesman (1964), official bugler at Churchill Downs and Keeneland 23 Les McCann (1935), Lexingtonborn soul jazz piano player and vocalist 23 George C. Wolfe (1954), Tony Award-winning theatre and film director from Frankfort, best known for Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk 25 Hal Sparks (1969), comedian/ actor from Peaks Mill in Franklin County, best known for hosting E!’s Talk Soup 25 Bell Hooks (1952), poet/writer originally from Hopkinsville, member of the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame 30 Lisa Thornhill (1966), Hardinsburgborn actress best known for the television series Veronica Mars
THE WORLD’S MOST
AWARD-WINNING DISTILLERY
This National Historic Landmark has been making legendary bourbon whiskey for over 200 years. Today, Buffalo Trace crafts the best collection of bourbons and whiskies in the world by honoring tradition and embracing change. Distilled and bottled by Buffalo Trace Distillery, Frankfort, KY. Alcohol by volume varies by product. www.buffalotracedistillery.com. 1-800-654-8471. Please Drink Responsibly.
FOOD
Cooking
Cold Fusion YIELDS 1 COCKTAIL
1½ ounces Bardstown Bourbon Company Fusion Bourbon ¼ ounce Lillet Blanc wine ¼ ounce Tattersall Amaro liqueur ¼ ounce rich syrup 5 drops Crude Bitters Pooter Lemon peel Tattersall Crème de Fleur liqueur, to coat glass Grapefruit peel, for garnish 1. Combine all ingredients in a Yarai mixing glass with lemon peel. 2. Fill with ice and stir until chilled and diluted. 3. Coat rocks glass with Tattersall Crème de Fleur and add one large cube. 4. Strain over the ice. 5. Garnish with grapefruit peel
PHOTO S CO URT E S Y O F BA R D S TOWN BO U R BON CO M PANY ' S B OTTL E & B O ND KI TCH EN AND BAR
A Touch of Bourbon September brings the first welcome hint of cool fall air to the Commonwealth. It also brings the celebration of a spirit that—along with lovely and swift Thoroughbred athletes and a certain fried chicken enhanced with 11 herbs and spices—gives Kentucky a unique identity. National Bourbon Heritage Month spotlights this spirit, which adds a distinct richness to culinary
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creations and is the basis for many tasty cocktails. The following recipes are courtesy of John Castro, executive director of culinary operations for the Bardstown Bourbon Company’s Bottle & Bond Kitchen and Bar. The cocktail recipes were provided by Dan Calloway, BBC’s director of bourbon education, visitors experience and product development,
For Each Sesame Tuna Taco: 1½ ounces sesame tuna tartare 1 teaspoon guacamole ½ teaspoon Sriracha mayonnaise 7- by 7-inch fried egg roll wrapper (see note below) Shaved scallions, to taste 1. Cut egg roll wrappers in uniform circles, approximately 6 inches in diameter. 2. Fry wrappers until light golden brown using a taco shell frying mold. Allow to cool and drain. 3. Pipe a bead of guacamole into the well of the shell.
Sesame Tuna Taco Plate YIELDS 3 TACOS
Sesame tuna tartare (recipe follows)
4. Squeeze a fine bead of Sriracha mayonnaise on top of the guacamole. 5. Layer the sesame tuna over the guacamole and Sriracha mayonnaise. 6. Squeeze another fine bead of Sriracha mayonnaise and garnish with shaved scallions. 7. Serve with cabbage and lime wedges.
Sriracha mayonnaise (recipe follows)
Sriracha Mayonnaise
3 egg roll wrappers
1 cup mayonnaise
Shaved scallions, to taste
¼ cup Sriracha sauce
Guacamole (recipe follows)
¼ cup green cabbage, diced 3 lime wedges
Sesame Tuna Tartare 4½ ounces Ahi tuna loin, sinew-free ¼ teaspoon sesame oil ¼ teaspoon white sesame seeds ¼ teaspoon black sesame seeds ¼ teaspoon lime juice 1. Clean tuna loin while maintaining over ice. Dice into small, uniform cubes. 2. Combine the tuna with the remaining ingredients.
1. Combine all ingredients in a stainless steel bowl. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed. 2. Place in an appropriate container and label and date.
Guacamole 8 ounces avocado chunks Kosher salt, to taste 1 teaspoon lime juice ¼ teaspoon citric acid 1. Mix avocado pulp vigorously with remaining ingredients. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed. 2. Transfer into a disposable pastry bag.
The Wabbit YIELDS 1 COCKTAIL
1½ ounces Bardstown Bourbon Company Fusion Bourbon 1 ounce carrot juice (recipe below) ¾ ounce lemon juice ½ ounce date syrup 5 drops of Crude Sycophant Bitters Fresh sage leaf, for garnish 1. Combine all ingredients in a shaker tin. 2. Shake until mixture is chilled and diluted. 3. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass. 4. Garnish with fresh sage leaf.
Carrot Juice 1. Peel carrots and slice into small chunks. 2. Add to blender with equal parts by weight of cold water. 3. Blend until smooth. 4. Pour into a bowl, cover and let sit in refrigerator overnight. 5. Strain with a fine mesh strainer and chill. (Will last in the refrigerator for one week.) S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY
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FOOD
Cooking
SERVES 5
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Bourbon Mushroom Cream Sauce Sweet Potato Gnocchi 1¼ cups Idaho potatoes, baked and riced 1 cup sweet potatoes, baked ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon cornstarch Salt and pepper, to taste 1 egg Semolina flour, to dust Bourbon Mushroom Cream Sauce (recipe follows) Lemon wedge, for garnish Parmesan cheese, for garnish 1. Bake sweet potatoes. Peel, cut and cook Idaho potatoes. Finish in the oven to ensure the moisture is minimal. 2. Rice Idaho potatoes, and peel and puree sweet potatoes. Fold in potato and sweet potato puree. 3. Fold in egg and allow mixture to cool. 4. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. 5. Add dry mixture to potato mixture. Incorporate just until uniform consistency, as if you were making a pie dough. Knead until smooth. 6. Roll out into long cylinders. Cut into one-inch pieces. Dust with semolina flour to keep from sticking. 7. Blanch in salted boiling water for 10
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5 minutes. Drain and reserve. 8. Sauté in a heated pan with butter until browned on two sides. 9. Arrange gnocchi onto plate, spoon bourbon mushroom cream sauce over, and serve with Parmesan cheese and a lemon wedge.
Bourbon Mushroom Cream Sauce ½ medium onion, diced 1 cup mushrooms (cremini, shiitake, oyster) ¼ teaspoon fresh thyme ¼ cup bourbon
1 tablespoon white wine 1½ cups cream 2 tablespoons butter 4 small pieces broccolini 1. Cook mushrooms in butter over low heat, stirring frequently. Do not allow to brown. Add thyme and bloom (heating it to release the flavor). 2. Add onion and continue to cook over low heat. 3. Stir in bourbon and white wine. Add cream and reduce by half. 4. Add broccolini and cook for 1 minute.
Barbecue Rub 1 cup hot chili powder ¾ cup Spanish paprika 3 teaspoons ground cumin 3 teaspoons ground coriander 3 teaspoons dry mustard 5 teaspoons garlic powder 3 teaspoons onion powder Pinch of cayenne pepper 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar 2 tablespoons kosher salt ¼ cup lard Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.
Bourbon Barbecue Sauce 1 gallon base barbecue sauce
Baby Back Ribs with Bourbon Barbecue Sauce SERVES 3
1 slab baby back ribs 4 ounces beer Barbecue rub (recipe on right) Bourbon barbecue sauce (recipe on right) 1. Rub all rib surfaces with the rub, reserving ¾ cup for the bourbon barbecue sauce, and place on a roasting rack in an appropriately sized roasting pan. Allow to rest for two hours. 2. Broil both sides of the ribs for
one minute on each side in the oven on a sheet pan. 3. Place pan on stovetop and reduce the oven temperature to 225 degrees. 4. Place ribs back in the roasting pan, pour beer into the pan and place into the oven. Allow to slow roast until tender. This will take three to four hours, depending on desired tenderness. Check after two hours. If ribs look slightly dry, wrap them with aluminum foil for the remainder of cooking time. 5. If using a smoker instead of a broiler, smoke with pale alesoaked hickory chips until a bark has formed and cracking of a rib segment reveals a fragmenting rose-colored smoked meat. 5. Test ribs for fork tenderness, and prepare bourbon barbecue sauce. 6. Place ribs back on smoker or broiler. Allow to brown while basting constantly with barbecue sauce to desired glazing. Ribs also can be browned on a charcoal grill.
1½ cups bourbon 1. Add bourbon to base sauce in a large pot and bring to a simmer. 2. Simmer until reduced by half.
Barbecue Sauce Base YIELDS 1 GALLON
2½ quarts tomato puree 18 ounces V8 Juice 12 ounces molasses 24 ounces cider vinegar 2 medium white onions, finely minced ¾ cup garlic cloves, minced ½ pound light brown sugar ¾ cup barbecue rub 1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot. 2. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook for one hour. 3. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY
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New Riff Distilling This craft distillery pairs tradition with innovation in producing its bourbon without chill filtration.
NORTHERN REGION
The Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour
New Riff Distilling Newport 859.261.7433 newriffdistilling.com Second Sight Spirits Ludlow | 859.488.7866 secondsightspirits.com The Old Pogue Distillery Maysville
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info@oldpogue.com oldpogue.com Boone County Distilling Florence 859.282.6545 boonedistilling.com Neeley Family Distillery Sparta | 859.394.3258 neeleyfamilydistillery.com
CENTRAL REGION Kentucky Artisan Distillery Crestwood | 502.822.3042 kentuckyartisandistillery.com Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. Louisville | 502.566.4999 kentuckypeerless.com Jeptha Creed Distillery Shelbyville | 502.487.5007 jepthacreed.com
The Other Bourbon Trail The Craft Tour stretches across most of the Commonwealth BY DEBORAH KOHL KREMER
V
isitors flock to Kentucky every year to travel the famed Bourbon Trail, but with the rising popularity of smaller distilleries, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour is another intriguing opportunity to get to know our native spirit. According to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, bourbon tourists made a record 1.4 million distillery stops in 2018, which is a whopping 370 percent increase over the last 10 years. The Bourbon Craft Tour had 340,000 distillery stops. The numbers for both the Bourbon Trail and Craft Tour visits are expected to rise this year. The Craft Tour began in 2012 with about eight distilleries. To be included in the tour, the distilleries are required by the KDA to maintain an inventory of fewer than 10,000 barrels or barrel equivalents of Kentuckyproduced distilled beverage spirits each year. By contrast, to be a member of the original Kentucky Bourbon Trail, a
Willett Distillery Bardstown | 502.348.0899 kentuckybourbonwhiskey. com Preservation Distillery Bardstown | 502.348.7779 preservationdistillery.com WESTERN REGION Boundary Oak Distillery Radcliffe | 270.351.2013 boundaryoakdistillery.com
Casey Jones Distillery Hopkinsville | 270.839.9987 caseyjonesdistillery.com MB Roland Distillery Pembroke | 270.640.7744 mbroland.com Dueling Grounds Distillery Franklin | 270.776.9046 duelinggroundsdistillery.com
BLUEGRASS REGION Limestone Branch Distillery Lebanon | 270.699.9004 limestonebranch.com Wilderness Trail Distillery Danville | 859.402.8707 wildernesstraildistillery.com Barrel House Distilling Lexington | 859.259.0159 barrelhousedistillery.com
James E. Pepper Distillery Lexington | 859.309.3230 jamesepepper.com Bluegrass Distillers Lexington | 859.253.4490 bluegrassdistillers.com Hartfield & Co. Paris | 859.559.3494 hartfieldandcompany.com
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“Every day, we meet people from all over. You just never know who will walk through the door.” — Steve Beam
distillery must have more than 25,000 barrels. Limestone Branch Distillery in Lebanon opened in 2011. Owners Steve Beam and his brother, Paul Beam, are seventh-generation bourbon distillers. Among the founding members of the Craft Tour, they noticed an immediate increase in visitors once the trail was created for the smaller distilleries. “People come because they are interested in our bourbon and our family history,” Steve Beam said. “But they enjoy our tours because they are personal and small. You can see everything we do all in the same room, so that is quite a change from tours of the large distilleries.” Beam said that the tour is attracting more younger visitors—in their mid20s or so—and women in recent years. This demographic expansion is great for the industry. In addition to the tour and tastings, visitors like to walk the grounds and admire the gardens at Limestone Branch, and Beam said that many like to see the two rescue dogs on the
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property—fluffy and friendly chow chows named Bosley and Char. “Every day, we meet people from all over. You just never know who will walk through the door,” he said. “But they are interested in us, and we are just as interested in them. We’re glad to have them.” Visitors who tour all 16 distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and collect stamps for each in their passports are rewarded with an official tasting glass. The KDA has a new incentive program for the Craft Tour. Guests earn a collectible challenge coin after visiting all the distilleries in four state regions—northern, central, western and bluegrass. If they tour all 20 distilleries, they will earn a free, custom-designed wooden barrel stave on which to display the coins. “Taking on this tour—since it is spread out all over the state—is kind of daunting,” said Adam Johnson, senior director of the KDA’s Kentucky Bourbon Trail Experiences. “So we
wanted to up the gift. If you finish, you deserve this.” Johnson said the design of the trail enables visitors to take on one region at a time. Included in the tour are micro distilleries—those that may not be producing bourbon or, in the case of Casey Jones Distillery in Hopkinsville, producing bourbon that might not yet be ready for consumption. As the bourbon quietly ages in barrels with hopes that it will be ready by the end of the year, Casey Jones sells moonshine that the distillery makes in a square copper pot, just as the owner’s family did generations ago. Visiting Casey Jones now, while it is still a “young” distillery, is a great introduction for guests, according to owner Peg Hayes. “It gives them even more reason to love distilled spirits,” she said. In just a few years, the number of craft distilleries has doubled, but the distillers said they don’t feel competition from one another. Instead, there is a camaraderie among them,
Grab your passport!
Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour passports can be purchased for $3 at any of the craft distilleries on the tour. Visit all of the distilleries in one of the Craft Tour’s four regions and receive a collectible coin. After visiting all 20 of the distilleries on the tour, you’ll receive a barrel stave that is custom made to display the coins, plus an official Kentucky bourbon tasting glass.
and they help each other out. “The saying that ‘the rising tide raises all ships’ is absolutely true,” Hayes said. “Since we are new to this industry, we have been overwhelmed with offers of help from other distilleries.” At Second Sight Spirits in Ludlow, co-owner Carus Waggoner has been distilling since 2014. He said the other distillers are always ready to lend a hand. One time, Second Sight needed to check the sugar level and proof of a spirit, and friends at New Riff Distilling in nearby Newport let the distillery borrow a $30,000 analysis machine. Second Sight also ages barrels in a rickhouse owned by another distiller on the tour, Hartfield & Co. in Paris. But it is not always the “little guys” helping one another out. Waggoner said that Bill Samuels Jr. of Maker’s Mark helped get legislation passed so that craft distilleries can serve cocktails on-site. Waggoner
acknowledged that this makes a huge difference in Second Sight’s bottom line but probably does not matter as much to the giants of the industry. “When we asked him why he did this for us, he said that when they were getting started, people from Old Fitzgerald helped them,” Waggoner said. “It is so neat to see that lineage.” Although the new incentive program just came out this summer, Waggoner said the distillery already has seen an uptick in visitors, including guests from India and a family who did the entire tour in about a week. A bonus for those who take on the Craft Tour is a 70-page passport to guide them. It is full of information about the distilleries as well as tips on other places to visit and even some cocktail recipes. “We recognize that the tour is sort of a backbone to seeing Kentucky,” KDA’s Johnson said. “With the bourbon belt in the central part of the state, this Craft Tour takes people to parts of the state they might not be familiar with, letting them see so much
IF YOU GO... Plan your trip now at kybourbontrail.com
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BY GARY P. WEST
The Legend
of
Big Six The Kentucky still buster led a colorful life
Big Six Henderson, left, with Coach E.A. Diddle
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elling untaxed alcohol is a big no-no, but there still are those who try to get away with it. They’re called moonshiners, and they’ve been around since 1791, when the federal government placed a whiskey tax on any and all alcohol produced in the United States. Kentucky was a hotbed for moonshine activities that became a game of cat and mouse as federal agents came looking for stills to demolish throughout the backwoods of eastern, south-central and western Kentucky. Although these back-road chemists might have operated on the theory of out of sight, out of mind, there was one Fed whose mission was to search and destroy. His name was William Bernard “Big Six” Henderson, and no one did it better. A few years ago, the History Channel produced a documentary, Rumrunners, Moonshiners and Bootleggers, tracing the history of moonshine. In it, Henderson was featured as the most legendary still buster, thus cementing his notoriety. Henderson stood 6 feet, 4 inches tall, weighed more than 250 pounds, and sported a thick shock of white hair. “I could run like a deer, didn’t drink nor smoke, and nobody outran me,” Henderson once said. Throughout his 28 years as a federal agent, he busted 5,000 stills and sent 5,600 moonshiners to jail, according to his personal daily record. “You can do the math,” he said. We did. Working a normal fiveday work week, Henderson would have “busted” 178 stills per year or one every other day of his career as a “revenoower.” He became so famous in some parts that moonshiners often painted “Big Six” on the sides of the barrels they illegally produced, knowing many of them would end up in his hands anyway. Thurlow, a moonshiner, named his still Big Six. Starting work one morning, Thurlow greeted it like a co-worker. “Good morning, Big Six,” he said to the still. “Why don’t we just run ourselves off a little batch, you and I? What do you say to that, Big Six?” “That you’re caught, Thurlow,” Henderson said, stepping out of the mist. Many kids in the 1950s and ’60s played games of cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians, but in the hills and hollows of Kentucky, a different version—moonshiners and revenuers— was popular. While the young boys
were playing their games, girls inserted “Big Six” into their jump-rope chant: “My mother told me … to watch the still … in case Big Six … came over the hill.” The people of eastern and southcentral Kentucky didn’t have the still business all to themselves. In the 1950s, Golden Pond in western Kentucky was known as the “Moonshine Capital of the World,” with as many as 15 stills running a day, although locations in North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia also laid claim to that moniker. Eventually, the Land Between the Lakes project left Golden Pond a ghost town (now free of spirits) between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake as part of the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. Henderson chased moonshiners from one end of Kentucky to the other. His larger-than-life reputation developed from some of his own tales, and part of his legend was the fair treatment he showed to those he apprehended. “I never regarded them as doing something evil,” Henderson said, “just illegal. I never abused them. Killed a few, but never abused them.” The moonshiners Big Six Henderson tracked down respected him as much as they feared him. “Mr. Six,” one woman said when he arrested her husband for a third time, “we’re proud to have folks know we know you.” Henderson was born in 1903 in Rineyville, a few miles from Elizabethtown in Hardin County. He died in 1987 at 84 and was buried in St. John’s Cemetery. How did he get the nickname “Big Six?” Many thought it was because of the .44-caliber pistol he was rarely seen without. Others said he threw a baseball much like Hall of Famer Christy “Big Six” Mathewson when he pitched in a semi-pro baseball league to pay for college and law school. In fact, it became so embedded in Henderson’s name that by the time he became a U.S. marshal, “Big Six” was part of his letterhead and signature on his official correspondence. Louisville resident Dr. Neal Garrison grew up in Bowling Green in the 1950s and ’60s when Henderson was the official timekeeper at Western Kentucky University games. Garrison’s dad, Dick, was Big Six’s assistant and took over for Henderson when he retired. “He was my godfather,” Garrison said. “He was close to lots of influential people, especially when it came to athletics.” He liked being a
man of influence and befriended many athletes. The crossover between Big Six’s career and love of sports is easy to explain. “It [busting stills] was a game to me—a challenge,” he said. “Big Six was close to [WKU Coach E.A.] Diddle and [the University of Kentucky’s Adolph] Rupp and helped them recruit. He was also close to Moose Krause at Notre Dame and one of the reasons [Louisville’s] Paul Hornung went there,” Garrison said. Henderson was proud of his association with Cliff Hagan, one of Kentucky’s greatest basketball players. “My first memory of Big Six was in 1949, right after our Owensboro team won the state championship,” Hagan said. “He was the timekeeper. I scored 41 points in our win over Lexington Lafayette, and he came out on the floor and handed me the game ball. He said, ‘I’ll probably get in trouble for this, but I want you to have this ball.’ ” Hagan’s friendship with Big Six grew, and they even traveled together on a college visit to Notre Dame. Hagan, of course, eventually chose UK, where he put together a legendary college career. Hagan wore No. 6 at UK as a tribute to his courtside friend who often told him about his raids. “Big Six was such a character and sometimes would embarrass his wife, Gladys, with all of the stories he told. He even had a hand-printed necktie that showed me shooting a hook shot. It was sometimes funny when he had it on and was around some people from Western, he’d put his hand over it to cover it up.” Henderson’s connection to WKU was special, too. “It was about 1928 when I first met Coach Diddle,” he recalled in an oral history. “I played against Western for L&N PanAmerican.” For decades, Henderson’s association with the school grew as he became the official timekeeper for Hilltopper basketball games. He thought so much of Diddle that on Jan. 6, 1962, in recognition of WKU’s 1,000th game, Henderson personally went out in the Bowling Green community and raised 1,000 silver dollars to present to the coach during the game. Tom Curley has been part of the Kentucky high school state basketball tournament stat crew for 45 years and operated the clock for the old ABA Kentucky Colonels basketball team. Before that, he manned the clock for several games at Diddle Arena while a
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student at WKU in the 1960s. Curley remembers the first time he met Henderson at the state tournament. “I was scared to death. He was so intimidating,” Curley said. “He’d show up in a coat and tie, wearing a cowboy hat with that big gun on his side. We had three seats— one for Big Six, one for his gun and one for me.” Curley said Henderson liked to engage the crowd, especially those sitting behind him. “Later in his career, he paid more attention to the crowd than the game. Sometimes, as much as a minute would run off the clock because he was talking and not paying attention.” Henderson was such a storyteller that he once participated in a national storytelling festival in Tennessee. Big Six stories took on a life of their own. There were a couple, however, that were a little far out, but still believable. Well, maybe. “Dad played poker with Gen. George Armstrong Custer,” Henderson was quoted as saying. Yes, Custer was stationed in Elizabethtown for two years. According to Henderson, Custer tried to persuade his dad to re-enlist in the Army, but he declined, missing the opportunity to die with Custer six months later at
the Battle of Little Big Horn. The time frame may not match the story, but that’s not to say Big Six wasn’t confused—or maybe he lived by the adage that facts should never ruin a good story. In an 1978 interview, he claimed a friendship with Babe Ruth. “I was there when Babe hit his called shot,” which Big Six called his biggest thrill. It was the third game of the 1932 World Series in Chicago’s Wrigley Field, in which the Yankees swept the Cubs 4-0. “I was sitting up there in the box seats he’d given me,” Big Six said. “ ’Course, that’s why I was so fond of Babe.” Henderson would have been 29. How Ruth and Henderson became acquainted, no one knows. Big Six played semi-pro baseball and worked for the L&N. Major League Baseball teams traveled by train then, so there’s a chance they could have met as the Yankees traveled from New York to Chicago. Or they might have crossed paths at one of the Yankees’ barnstorming games in Louisville. Big Six’s life reached folk hero status, earning him a spot in Esther Keller’s book, Moonshine: Its History and Folklore. Between what others said and what he said about himself, stories— embellished or not—have kept his
2019 NEA Big Read: KYGMC Maysville
exploits alive 30 years after his death. It was no myth that he could creep through the woods as quiet as smoke and could run like a deer for miles. Usually, he didn’t have chase his quarry. “Homer, halt,” he shouted at one fleeing ’shiner. The man froze in his tracks. “I’m halted, Big Six. I’m halted.” Why wouldn’t a distillery name one of its fine bourbon after Big Six to honor his exploits? It would be the perfect mix of fact and fiction, and Big Six Bourbon would be the real deal. California-produced Big Six Bourbon Barrel Aged wines are named for Mickey “Big Six” Doyle, said to be Kentucky’s fastest 1920s bootlegger. Doyle, not to be confused with a Boardwalk Empire character, drove a lightning-fast 6-cylinder car. Unlike Henderson, Doyle may be totally fiction and certainly had no connections to Ruth, Rupp, Diddle or Hagan. In a 1978 interview saved by the Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research, Big Six had “eyes the color of wet turquoise.” If ever a bourbon were named in his honor, he’d have been OK with it. His stories have been packed, unpacked and packed again. A good Kentucky bourbon in a turquoise bottle would keep the name “Big Six” around for decades to come. Q
2019 NEA Big Read: KYGMC Maysville Kick Off Event October 3, 2019 at 6:30pm
For the second year in a row KYGMC is one of the recipients of the NEA Big Read Grant. Thanks to this grant and our sponsors, October will be a month full of events, discussions, movies, and fun centered around this year’s book selection, “Everything I Never Told You.” Check our website and follow us on facebook for a full list of events. 2019 Big Read: KYGMC Maysville Sponsors
Join us as we jump into a month of activities centered around this year’s book selection, “Everything I Never Told You.” This event will feature Shuling Fister, a Chinese dance choreographer and performer, and her dance group teaching the choreography for the traditional Chinese fan dance followed by a performance. Keynote speaker for the evening will be Larry Xiong, PhD, full professor at the University of Kentucky. All Big Read events are FREE and open to the public. Event will be held at: Maysville Community & Technical College Fields Auditorium 1755 U.S. 68 Business, Maysville, KY 41056
The Charles E. and Mary Elizabeth Scripps Foundation
Kentucky Gateway Museum Center
215 Sutton Street
20
Maysville, KY 41056
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606-564-5865
www.kygmc.org
Open Tuesday – Saturday 10am to 4pm
By Tricia Despres
HOMETOWN
Proud
TAYLORSVILLE’S J.D. SHELBURNE IS PART OF AN ALL-STAR LINEUP FOR A NEW COUNTRY MUSIC AND BOURBON FESTIVAL Q 22
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“ E V E RYO N E K N OW S H OW PA R T I A L I A M TO K E N T U C K Y. . .” IF YOU GO: SEPT. 14-15 Hometown Rising Country Music & Bourbon Festival Kentucky Exposition Center Louisville hometownrising.com
W
hile a student at the University of Kentucky, he would ride around town with the songs of Tim McGraw blaring from his truck and fall headfirst into the luscious lyrics of Keith Urban in his dorm room. Now, Nashville recording artist and Taylorsville native J.D. Shelburne will play on the same stage as both of them. He still can’t believe it. “It’s pretty surreal,” Shelburne says, his voice showing his excitement over his upcoming spot in the lineup of the Hometown Rising Country Music & Bourbon Festival lineup. “I always loved both Tim McGraw and Keith Urban’s individual sound and, more importantly, their charisma. I mean, they are two guys I have looked up to my whole life. “I’ve been chasing my music dreams for over a decade now, and without them even knowing, they have shown me how to keep a level head and how you always need to keep grinding, no matter what.” The inaugural Hometown Rising Country Music & Bourbon Festival will make its much-anticipated debut in Louisville on Sept. 14 and 15 at the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Exposition Center. More than 30 artists will play on three stages—including two side-by-side main stages—over the course of the weekend. 24
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“I first got wind of the event about a year and a half ago,” Shelburne says. “I had no idea who would sign on to play, but I just knew I wanted to be there.” The festival also will include performances from country music powerhouses Luke Bryan, Little Big Town and Kentucky’s own Dwight Yoakam. Shelburne’s burning love for the state of Kentucky has been a common thread throughout his entire music career. “Everyone knows how partial I am to Kentucky,” says Shelburne, who recently performed in his home state as part of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400, presented by Walmart on July 13 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. “The best people I have ever met have come from Kentucky. My hometown of Taylorsville specifically gave me the platform to tell my story from the very beginning.” That story is one of perseverance, strength and a will to continue pursuing a dream that began when he found an old guitar in his grandmother’s home following her death in 2002. “I was raised on a tobacco farm, just outside of Louisville,” Shelburne recounts. “When I was 19, I found a guitar in my grandmother’s home—a guitar I never even knew she had. I taught myself how to play it, and I began writing and singing songs. By college, I started playing gigs at local
bars in Louisville and Lexington.” And before he knew it, he was on his way. “It’s been a crazy ride,” says Shelburne, who moved to Nashville in 2008. “Its amazing that I picked up a guitar, and here we are. I had no music in my blood growing up. I started from the bottom. And now I get to do it for a living.” It hasn’t always been easy, though. Shelburne’s first shows were in Kentucky churches and pizza joints. But those days are now far behind him. In 2018 alone, Shelburne played more than 200 shows. Singles such as “She Keeps Me Up Nights” and “One Less Girl” from his album Two Lane Town have gone far in raising his star power nationally. “I had a hometown show back in Taylorsville when the album came out last year, and thousands of fans came out,” Shelburne says. “I used to get excited if 100 people showed up to a show.” Working on the album with veteran Nashville songwriters such as Mark Nesler, Marty Dodson and Carson Chamberlain has brought a new sense of life into Shelburne’s music. “I’ve been playing so many shows in recent years, and each show brings in more fans,” says Shelburne, who has a regular weekend gig at Blake Shelton’s Ole Red bar in Nashville.
WILDERNESSTRAILDISTILLERY.COM “It’s so hard to break through these days from a national standpoint, but there is no reason to feel bad for me,” Shelburne says with a laugh. “I’m actually playing music for a living. It pays my mortgage and my car payment and, yes, I make more money making music than a 40-hour job I just wasn’t made to stay in.” Of course, Shelburne’s career has also experienced new heights thanks to social media, something that wasn’t around when he was just getting started. “I think people truly gravitate to my story because it’s really been done in a true grassroots sort of way,” says Shelburne, who through the years has performed with more than 50 national acts, including Craig Morgan, Jamey Johnson, Kellie Pickler, Steve Wariner and Clay Walker. “Whether its Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, social media has allowed me to talk to my fans one on one. I do all my social media myself. I mean, I have 100 percent control of all of that.” He pauses for a moment. “All of the encouragement I get from my fans on social media really motivates me to keep going,” he says. Shelburne shows no signs of slowing down. The vocal powerhouse has a new album in the works for next year and has a song on the next album that delves into his love for his beloved home state. “It’s called ‘Straight from Kentucky’ and, gosh, I would love to play it at Hometown Rising,” Shelburne says of the festival, which also includes bourbon tastings and workshops for fans ages 21 and over. “I know that audience in particular is going to get what I am talking about. They know why I love it so much.” Even today, as his career continues to skyrocket, Shelburne makes sure to spend time in his home state— uninterrupted time where he can reflect on all that has been and all that there is to come. “This past week, I got to spend time with my parents at the family farm, and there is just no explaining what that kind of peace and quiet feels like,” Shelburne says quietly. “Mom and Dad cook straight from the garden, and I go to the gas station and know the guys who work there …” His voice trails off. “It ain’t Nashville,” he says. “Life slows down for a little bit in a small town, you know? There’s no place quite like Kentucky.” Q
WILDERNESS TRAIL DISTILLERY - DANVILLE, KY Small Batch • Bottled in Bond Wilderness Trail encourages you to sip responsibly
RHETT BECK Jane Chancellor Moore Gallery 100 Moore Drive Frankfort
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PHOTOGRAPHY:
an appreciation
DAVID BECKER Brick Street Art Studios 428 East 6th Street New Albany, Indiana
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This year, the biennial will include 60 venues in Louisville, southern Indiana, central Kentucky and beyond. The growth “was gradual over the years, and every time we did it, we seemed to gather more venues, and more people would just call us and ask to be a part of it,” said Paul Paletti, the festival’s director since 2003. “It’s taken on a life of its own in that regard … It’s just a really cooperative effort.” Beginning Sept. 20, photography exhibits will pop up at art galleries, museums and
universities across the region. Even a car dealership and a Pilates studio will host exhibits showcasing what’s often called the most accessible art form. “It’s quite a wide variety of exhibits, and there’s literally something for everybody in this,” Paletti said. “We really love to promote photography as an art form. That’s something that we’ll never get tired of doing.” Best of all, the exhibits, public openings and artist receptions are free. Workshops also are scheduled throughout the time of the festival, which ends Nov. 10. Some of those workshops require a fee. The following pages show just a small example of the intriguing images that will be a part of the festival. Q
BY JACKIE HOLLENKAMP BENTLEY
wo decades ago, the owners of four art galleries in Louisville decided to present photography to the city on a scale larger than what their East Market Street locations could provide. The Louisville Photo Biennial was born.
The Louisville Photo Biennial showcases the most accessible art form
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KEVIN SCHULTZ St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kent Mansion Gallery 1015 East Main Street New Albany, Indiana MADISON CAWEIN Moremen Gallery 710 West Main Street Louisville PURDUE POLYTECHNIC STUDENTS STEAM Center Gallery 3000 Technology Avenue New Albany, Indiana
LISA MERCER JCTC’s Krantz Gallery 110 West Chestnut Street Louisville
DARRELL KINCER Jane Chancellor Moore Gallery 100 Moore Drive Frankfort
MATT GATTON Moremen Gallery 710 West Main Street Louisville
MARI MUJICA Sixth and Main Coffeehouse 547 Main Street Shelbyville
BEN BENNETT Periwinkle Interiors 333 West Broadway Frankfort
BEN BENNETT Periwinkle Interiors 333 West Broadway Frankfort
MICHAEL CLEVENGER Launch Louisville 816 East Broadway Louisville
HARRIET WISE Capital Gallery 314 Lewis Street Frankfort
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JOHN NATION Galerie Hertz 1253 South Preston Street Louisville
RAY WALLACE Kleinhelter Gallery 701 East 8th Street New Albany, Indiana
MADISON CAWEIN Moremen Gallery 710 West Main Street FRAZIER KY MONTHLY_ 8.25 x 5.5 _D.pdf 2 7/31/2019 2:31:49 PM Louisville
GET LOST IN THE MUSIC! From bluegrass to jazz, country to hip-hop, and folk to classic rock, this exhibit provides a multi-sensory experience that crosses racial, social and economic lines to celebrate the rich, mostly untold, tale of Kentucky music.
C
M
Y
CM
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CMY
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OPENS SEPTEMBER 12, 2019
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MARI MUJICA Sixth and Main Coffeehouse 547 Main Street Shelbyville
JAMES ARCHAMBEAULT Arts Association of Oldham County Gallery 104 104 East Main Street La Grange
FRED DIGIOVANNI Edenside Gallery 1422 Bardstown Road Louisville
You’re right on target with any of our options
GUILLERMO A. SOLLANO 1619 Flux: Art + Activism 1619 West Main Street Louisville
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OPTIONS TO RENEW YOUR CAR TAGS
Online ReNew
JeffersonCountyClerk.org
Telephone ReNew 569-3300
Mail-In ReNew
P.O. Box 33033 Louisville, KY 40232-3033
Jefferson County Clerk ViP serViCe
bringing you
Open 24 hours a day at JeffersonCountyClerk.org
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CHARLES TRAUB Paul Paletti Gallery 713 East Market Street Louisville ON VIEW
September 20–November 10 OPENING RECEPTION
September 20, 5-8 p.m.
The Paul Paletti Gallery is proud to present the work of Louisville native and 2019 Louisville Photo Biennial Guest of Honor, Charles Traub. “Taradiddle” is a collection of images—often funny, always serendipitous—of odd juxtapositions and photographic wanderings from around the globe.
Listings of photographers, exhibits and venues, plus a calendar of events can be found on the festival’s website, louisvillephotobiennial.com.
140 North Fourth Street, 2nd floor 32
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Galt House West Tower
10 Consecutive Appearances on Jay Mathews’ List of Top Performing Schools with Elite Students 5 Straight Years Advancing to the National Science Bowl Competition in Washington, D.C. 136 National Merit Finalists
We come from all across Kentucky to The Gatton Academy on the campus of Western Kentucky University. As juniors and seniors in high school, we enroll in WKU courses, conduct research with WKU professors, and study abroad. While we are challenged academically, we thrive in a supportive environment designed just for us and make lifelong friends. Best yet, our tuition, meals, housing, and fees are all paid for by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. You, too, can have a future filled with infinite possibilities.
WEBSITE: wku.edu/academy / EMAIL: academy@wku.edu / PHONE: 270-745-6565
facebook.com/gattonacademy
@gattonacademy
@gattonacademy
Class of 2022 Admissions Deadline: January 31, 2020
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BY KEN SNYDER
THE BLACK PATCH IS BACK I
f history does repeat itself, “you might wanna pay attention,” musician Quavo once astutely observed. Top-echelon cigar makers, reviewers and smokers are paying close attention to a surprising addition on the premium cigar scene that is repeating history— only in reverse. The history goes back to the 19th century, when the fertile Black Patch area of western Kentucky was home to indigenous “black tobacco” that preceded burley tobacco for cigarettes. Cigar makers up and down the Mississippi and Ohio rivers used this tobacco, blending it with “carob tobacco” from the Caribbean and parts 34
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of Latin America imported into New Orleans. Now, cigar makers in the Caribbean are importing tobacco from Kentucky, specifically from Eric McAnallen, a genial gent from Pike County, and his Black Patch Cigar Co. How it all came about is a perfect happenstance involving a trail from Paducah to the Dominican Republic and points in between; weather variances; and blind luck interspersed with naysayers, trial and error, and moments of utter discouragement. What was outside happenstance was something to make all of us in the Commonwealth truly Kentucky proud. “It’s all in the dirt,” McAnallen said succinctly of the Black Patch soil
in Logan and surrounding counties. According to McAnallen, a glacial wash 12,000 years ago left behind what he describes as “heaven’s garden,” an incredible, nutrient-rich soil ideal for great tobacco and virtually any other crop. The second factor is another dirt, 1,000-plus miles to the south. Soil in the Dominican Republic, Cuba and elsewhere in that region of the world yields tobacco that doesn’t have the “sweetness,” to use McAnallen’s description, of Black Patch tobacco. And that takes us back to the early history of cigar tobacco in Kentucky. “They knew then you had to blend,” McAnallen said of United States cigar
a Kentuckian digs into the past to create a premium cigar in the present
Black Patch Cigar Co. owner Eric McAnallen, right, with a leaf of his Kenbano tobacco
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makers and Caribbean-imported tobacco. McAnallen’s venture into cigars began when he helped strip and grade burley tobacco on his father-in-law’s farm in Princeton in Caldwell County, west of Logan County. But it was a small quantity of cigar tobacco he raised for a large manufacturer in Alabama that got his attention. When McAnallen suggested they produce their own cigars, his fatherin-law directed him to the University of Kentucky Research and Education Center’s Agricultural Experiment Station in Princeton, where he had been a consultant. A staff member, knowing the history of the Black Patch and the potential for resurgence of cigar tobacco, encouraged McAnallen and directed him to shipping manifests from the post-Civil War 19th century at the McCracken County Public Library in Paducah. That’s where McAnallen learned about the blending of local tobaccos with Caribbean and Latin American imports. Another Station staff member may have provided the impetus for what was to follow with, ironically, discouragement. “So then, I talked to the chief dude there,” McAnallen said. “He looked at me and said, ‘You’re not going to do it. You’re going to fail. You don’t know what you’re doing.’ “I know I didn’t know what I was doing, but I wanted to try it anyway.” McAnallen set about growing tobacco for his first cigars from 2000 to 2003 using Little Crittenden or LC-59 seed at his father-in-law’s farm. McAnallen then hopscotched among cigar makers from New Orleans to Key West and, eventually, to Miami and a Cuban émigré, Nestor Benedict. This cigar maker produced beautiful cigars, but the flavors, a blend incorporating Nicaraguan tobaccos, “were nothing,” McAnallen said. “I about gave up.” Benedict gave him a key piece of advice: “He said, ‘Listen, it’s finding the right “girlfriend”—other tobaccos to blend,’ ” McAnallen recalled. “You need Dominican tobaccos.” More important than the advice and critical to McAnallen’s eventual success, Benedict sent Black Patch tobacco to the Carbonell family in the Dominican Republic, documented as the oldest tobacco growers in that country and a major player in the cigar trade. “About four or five months later, I get a package in the mail. I smoked one of the cigars, and I was like, ‘Wow,’ ” McAnallen said. Benedict’s advice had proved spot on: The Black 36
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Patch tobacco, blended with Dominican tobacco, produced a “tada” moment for him. Another component in great cigars remained, however. “I was still using my father-in-law’s seed,” said McAnallen, referring to the LC-59, but the burn factor—how fast or slow it burned with other tobaccos—wasn’t correct. McAnallen visited the Carbonell farm in the Dominican Republic and solved the problem. They recommended their local seed to pair with the nutrients of the Black Patch soil. After going out on his own with land in Logan County in 2005, McAnallen received Corojo seeds from the Carbonells. Corojo is a premium tobacco first grown in Cuba and popular as a wrapper, or outermost leaf, on a cigar. “I brought it back in a Marlboro cigarette pack—half a pack—but that was enough to raise 20 acres,” McAnallen recalled. “It starts with the dirt, but then you have the variety of the seed that’s going to bring the best out of that dirt.” Having the soil and the seed didn’t mean being home free, as the late Jorge Carbonell well knew. “He said, ‘I hope everything—the stars, the crickets and everything else—lines up for you,’” McAnallen recalled with a laugh. Nothing did line up, though … at least, not right away. A portion of the Carbonell seeds died in the growing trays when McAnallen returned to Logan County in 2005. In 2006, seeds germinated and grew only a bit before they also died. Enter blind luck. “I have to have my tobacco inspected to ship it out,” a task that is performed by the UK College of Agriculture, McAnallen said. He and the UK inspector were in the fields when an employee at the Logan County farm told them to jump in his truck because he wanted to show them something. What McAnallen saw is something he will never forget. “He drove us to the other side of the farm, and there were eight rows about 300 yards long, and this tobacco was 7, 8 feet tall,” he said. “The employee said, ‘I had some of that Corojo seed left, and I thought, What the heck? I planted it, and there it is,’ ” resulting in another “ta-da” moment, but this time on a hugely meaningful scale. That tobacco launched Black Patch Cigars. “What we figured out in 2007, it was the hottest summer on record, and it was low rainfall, exactly like the Dominican Republic. [The tobacco] was in its environment. The genetics were
already there,” McAnallen said. Mother Nature had taken care of the rest. All that remained was the blending of this tobacco, dubbed “Kenbano” by McAnallen, with Dominican Republic tobaccos from the Carbonells. McAnallen described the importance of this last part of the story in making a great cigar: “Each has its own fingerprint, its own signature. The right combination of blends incorporates all the signatures. What you’ve created is essence.” The essence in McAnallen’s Kenbano line—using the Kentucky tobacco as “filler,” or the bulk of the cigar interior, with two other Dominican tobaccos—wowed cigar experts. One reviewer was effusive in his praise, describing it as “like a peppery candy bar. It literally becomes lip smackin’ good.” The Black Patch Reserve Cigar, which preceded Kenbanos, was McAnallen’s first commercial success. It combined a Kentucky-grown broadleaf wrapper with Dominican tobaccos. “Simply fantastic” was one critic’s appraisal. The sole mistake with the Reserve Cigar, according to McAnallen, was not holding some in literal reserve for later sales after the cigar earned acclaim and success. “Everybody bought them and smoked them up,” he said. “I wish I’d made 1,000 boxes and sat on them, because I could probably get around $500 a box for them. They were that delicious.” That’s a piece of history McAnallen will be sure not to repeat in the future with his burgeoning line of cigars. The success of Black Patch cigars surpasses what McAnallen could have imagined, and now he said he’s going “beyond the first, initial goal and dream of what I wanted to do.” He has, indeed, successfully repeated 19th-century history in reverse, and his hope now is that other tobacco growers in the Black Patch repeat his history. “There’s enough business to go around,” McAnallen said of both tobacco growing in the Black Patch and cigar production in the Dominican Republic. Online cigar magazine stogierate. com has added the Black Patch Cigar Co. among “auspicious businesses and products” originating in the Commonwealth, along with the bourbon industry, KFC and Papa John’s Pizza. Q
For more information on the Black Patch Cigar Co., visit BLACKPATCHCIGAR.COM
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IF YOU GO: Molasses Day, SEPTEMBER 21 The Lawhorn Farm, 984 Bryant Ridge Road, Liberty
An annual Casey County get-together celebrates sorghum and simpler times
B Y D I A N A C. D E R R I N G E R
Molasses and Memories I
f you head out Bryant Ridge Road in Casey County during a mid-September weekend, you may wonder if you’ve traveled back in time. For the past seven years at this time, the area around Greg and Carol Lawhorn’s home has transformed into an 1800s scene centered on the art of making sorghum. However, the Lawhorns and company make much more. Molasses Day includes open-flame cooking, gospel and bluegrass music, blacksmithing and other demonstrations of a simpler life. They share old memories and create new ones for family and friends who join them every year at the event, celebrated on Sept. 21 this year. MOLASSES OR SORGHUM? You may have heard the words molasses and sorghum used interchangeably. Greg said that happens often, but the two differ significantly. Although he calls his event Molasses Day, Greg actually makes sorghum. He says, “Sorghum comes from sorghum cane stalks. Molasses [or black strap] is a byproduct of sugar cane.”
MAKING SORGHUM Sorghum-making is a labor-intensive process. Friends and family help Greg harvest and strip the leaves from the cane. Then they run the stalks through a cane press or grinder. One of Greg’s mules, harnessed to a pole, walks in a circle to power the press. Juice flows from one side of the press, and stalks exit the back. Discarded leaves and stalks enrich the soil in Greg’s garden and fields. After the juice is strained four or five times, it is boiled in a 100 gallon pan over a wood-fired furnace about six hours. While it’s boiling, Charles Smithers and several others help Greg skim and discard the green foam that forms on top of the juice. When the juice reaches 227 degrees, four strong men immediately pull the hot pan off the fire. Greg believes a lower temperature makes the sorghum too thin; higher makes it too thick. When a valve on one end of the pan is opened, sorghum pours into waiting jars or pitchers. As soon as it cools, it is ready for biscuits and butter or a spoonful straight from the jar. Every guest receives a free half-pint of sorghum. MORE THAN SORGHUM Sights, smells and serenity surround visitors as soon as they step onto the Lawhorn property. Pinto beans, boiled potatoes, greens, apples, corn on the cob and other delicacies steam from large black kettles over open fires. Pulled pork is readied on an oversized grill. Guests snack on Greg Streeval’s chili throughout the day, but the full feast begins around 4 p.m. Several guests supply a bounty of side dishes that put church potlucks to shame. Military veterans go through the line first, followed by senior adults, and then the rest of the visitors. The strains of gospel and bluegrass vocals, accompanied
Tim Farmer of Tim Farmer’s Country Kitchen visited Greg Lawhorn on his farm and spoke with him about his sorghum-making. Catch the 7½-minute video here: youtube.com/watch?v=GKVjnovS78M.
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Molasses Day, his “gift to everyone who comes.” by banjo, guitar, fiddle, bass guitar and piano, inspire toe Every Christmas, Greg and Carol’s three children give tapping, head nodding and hand clapping. One of Greg’s them a photo album of that year’s Molasses Day memories. younger mules powers the corn grinder that operates much like a sorghum press. Emily Masiker cards and spins Angora An abundance of rain one year resulted in the album title “Soggy Days.” Yet, the event goes on, rain or shine. goat hair as she answers questions and explains the The Lawhorn family wants this special day to create spinning process. Meanwhile, Anthony Salyers wields memories for others, as it has for them. They welcome control of the blacksmith shop. He alternates pumping the anyone with craft skills from the 1800s to join the festivities. bellows to maintain the fire, heating the metal for his work In 2017, they hosted a Revolutionary War re-enactment. in progress, and hammering his creation into shape. Whether you have a craft to offer or simply want to soak it All this takes place in Greg and Carol’s backyard, just all in, you won’t leave disappointed … or hungry. beyond a massive oak tree estimated to be more than 200 Picturesque and peaceful, the setting invites you to slow years old. Greg constructed the property’s buildings and down, relax and remember what matters most. Q crafted many of their furnishings—replicas of a simpler, though harder, life. He split the rails for the fence that For more information, contact Greg Lawhorn at (606) 706-9422. fronts a small cabin and hand split the shakes (shingles) for the cabin roof. Greg planted flowers in front of the fence and filled the cabin with ancestral treasures as well as his own creations. Front-porch rockers beckon visitors to come and sit a spell. Other buildings include an outdoor kitchen, open-air entertainment center, stable, barn, shed and blacksmith shop. According to Greg, the blacksmith shop “is just like my dad and granddad built about 1932. The bellows came from Adair County in 1915.” From time to time, a mule team pulls a covered wagon loaded with visitors through the nearby trees and fields to a hilltop view of the surrounding countryside. Brush Creek SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 Church nestles in the middle of the Commencing at 10:00 AM picture-perfect scene below. St. Peter’s Episcopal Fellowship Hall, Paris, KY Near dinnertime, Greg introduces games and awards prizes. Log benches and chairs invite guests to relax and ORATORS INCLUDE: visit with others. Before visitors leave, Lea Lane, Curatorial Assistant, Decorative Arts and Design at Greg and Carol’s daughter, Tammy the Cincinnati Art Museum. Ms. Lane will be speaking on the Meece, snaps a photo of them in front importance of the William Tylee Ranney painting of “Boone’s the old oak tree. Party,” owned by the Duncan Tavern Historical Center.
PRESERVATION!
MEMORIES OLD AND NEW Greg started Molasses Day as an event for families and children— something everyone could enjoy. Signs near the driveway remind guests: “Be respectful: No alcohol or foul language.” Greg says mostly friends and family attend. However, he adds, “Anybody’s a friend, if they act nice.” Carol says Molasses Day is “pretty much Greg’s baby,” although she welcomes and signs in guests and mingles throughout the day. Perhaps the teacher in Greg spurred his desire to recreate a bit of history. The quality of that teaching shows in his commitment to excellence as he celebrates tradition and hard work. “This is how Daddy grew up,” Tammy says. “Papaw did this. He blacksmithed and farmed for a living. In addition to teaching, Daddy always farmed.” She says that her father wants others to remember and teach their children lasting values. “The world’s kind of going off the rails, not realizing what’s important.” Greg hopes to change that a bit with
Mel Hankla, a collector, researcher, speaker and writer of Kentucky’s heritage and an authority on the history surrounding the Kentucky Long-rifle. Mr. Hankla will feature the Stoner rifle, also owned by the DTHC. Lynne Hollingsworth, former chairman of the Duncan Tavern Historic Center and retired Manuscripts Archivist for the Kentucky Historical Society. Ms. Hollingsworth will be talking on the DTCH’s newly discovered rare print of Victor Collot’s “Upside-down Map of Kentucky.”
For checks & reservation requests:
Duncan Tavern 323 High Street Paris, KY 40361
859.987.1788
duncantavern@att.net Tickets >> eventbrite.com >> Search 65749 742249 Thank you to our Sponsors K E N T U C K Y B A N K • K E N T U C K Y M ON T H LY M AGA Z I N E • T E R RY B OY L E , C O L L E C TO R' S A RT G RO U P T H E J O S E P H I N E A R D E RY F O U N DAT I ON • L I N DA & J E R RY B R U C K H E I M E R
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IF YOU GO: Janice Holt Giles and Henry Giles Foundation Arts and Crafts Festival 302 Spout Springs Road, Columbia OCT. 5, 9A.M.–4 P.M. CT
AN ENDURING EPITAPH
By Diana C. Derringer
A remote cabin honors the lives and work of Henry and Janice Holt Giles
A
country lane off state Route 76 in northern Adair County hides a literary gem. Meander a few yards down Spout Springs Road to discover the log cabin of authors Janice Holt Giles and Henry Giles. The cabin and surrounding countryside are reflected in a lily paddotted pond beside the home. In their book, A Little Better than Plumb: The Biography of a House, Janice concluded, “We mean to leave it as an epitaph.” The cabin and land on which it sits continue to tell their story.
JANICE AND HENRY’S HOME Janice envisioned the cabin, and Henry built it in 1958 with the help of his cousin, Edgar Giles, and their neighbor, Joe Spires. They traipsed the countryside to find old logs. Four cabins, all built between 1800 and 1850 and purchased for $25-$100 each, became their one. The logs for the 40
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living room were sourced from an African-American church in Taylor County’s Hibernia community. Joe, now 98, lives in nearby Columbia, but he grew up on Spout Springs Road when it was “just an old dirt road.” He and Henry, who lived on nearby Caldwell Ridge as a child, went to school together. Joe said he is the last of the students who attended the school still living. After Janice and Henry married and moved to Spout Springs, Joe visited often. “I’ve eaten a lot of Janice’s cooking,” Joe said. “I built that deck out over the water for Henry.” Joe also roofed the Gileses’ cabin twice and gave Janice the title for A Little Better than Plumb. In the book, Henry wrote: Joe does fine carpentry work and a lot of it. He and his helper were putting up some studding once which had to be exactly plumb. He told his helper so. While the helper held the spirit level to the stud Joe nailed it securely in place. Finished, he asked, “Are you sure it was
plumb, Ab?” “Sure was,” Ab rejoined cheerfully. “Fact is, Joe, hit was jist a little bit better’n plumb ’ccordin’ to the level.” Joe checked for himself and sure enough it was— a little better than plumb. After that, Henry discovered many of the cabin walls also were “a bit better than plumb.” Some corners were “something more than square” and floors “better than level, too.” However, the cabin, with all its quirks, became their home and entertainment center for family, friends and fans who found their way there. It also became Janice and Henry’s haven and the site of their literary work during most of their 34 years together. Janice died in 1979, Henry in 1986. Many of Janice’s 18 fiction and three nonfiction books reflect her adopted home along Kentucky’s Green River. Henry, a journalist, wrote one novel. He also co-wrote three nonfiction books with Janice, including A Little
Better than Plumb. A marker at the entrance to Spout Springs Road informs visitors that Janice’s historical novels sold more than 3 million copies.
THE GILES FOUNDATION Several of the Gileses’ friends, including Spires, maintain the Giles epitaph. The Janice Holt Giles and Henry Giles Foundation, formed in 1996 to preserve the couple’s literary and architectural legacy, now owns the home, which has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Donations make up the bulk of its funding. The foundation hosts a fund and membership drive in March, in honor of Janice’s March 28 birthday. A tax-deductible donation of $30 includes a one-year membership. The cabin is open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, from 1-4 p.m. CT from the first weekend in June through the first weekend in October. Visitors can explore the Giles home as well as the 10 acres surrounding it. A docent—either a board member or a volunteer—is usually available on site. Many visitors find themselves drawn to pictures of the cabin’s move when the United States Army Corps of Engineers built a flood control dam on the upper Green River. The Corps
purchased part of the Giles property for easement. Rather than abandon their dream home or tear it down to rebuild, the couple hired a truck to help them roll the cabin on logs to another part of their property 1,200 feet away.
SPECIAL EVENTS During special events, Joe roams around the cabin and grounds or sets up shop in a chair beneath an old maple tree, willing to answer questions from anyone who happens by. Foundation president and cabin caretaker Keysha Tucker lives next door to the cabin. She organizes and oversees all events related to the property. Other neighbors and relatives mingle with visitors, delighted to share their connections to and memories of the cabin and its longtime occupants. Past events have included pottery workshops, traditional music programs, plant swaps and Kentuckians Reading Kentuckians, which promoted Kentucky authors and writers. The annual Arts and Crafts Festival falls on the first Saturday in October. In addition to admiring and purchasing arts and crafts, visitors can enjoy rib-eye sandwiches and
burgers fresh from the grill; homemade soups, chili, pies and cookies; fresh fruit; and other goodies. Live music spills from the front porch or from under a tree. Information tables hold old newspaper and magazine clippings, pictures, books (some for sale) and other memorabilia. Kentucky authors such as Lynwood Montell may be on hand to sign a book or tell a tale. The cabin door remains open for new authors, artists and browsers to explore. What better way to spend a crisp, cool October Saturday? Come mingle and connect with world-famous authors in the home that birthed most of their books. Q
FOR FOUNDATION INFORMATION, DONATIONS OR MEMBERSHIP, CONTACT: Janice Holt and Henry Giles Foundation Keysha Tucker, President 380 Spout Springs Road Knifley, KY 42753 270.789.1713
Our rich heritage began in 1919 with the invention of the Hard Boiled® Hat and continues today with the innovative seethrough visor design of the AboveView.™ We are proud to celebrate 100 years of developing head protection products to keep generations of workers safe.
of Innovative Solutions www.bullard.com S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY
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Laughing, dancing, singing— everything the world needs right now—are just a ticket purchase away at Kentucky’s performing arts venues. From tap dancing, to rock ’n’ roll, to SpongeBob SquarePants,
In the Spotlight
theaters, community arts centers
Ten not-to-miss shows of the upcoming performing arts season
2019-2020 season. Here are a few
B Y JAC K I E H O L L E N K A M P B E N T L E Y
your calendar.
L The
Tamburitzans / / SEPT. 14
O. Wayne Rollins Center Williamsburg 800.965.9324 fineartsseky.org
For more than 80 years, these college student musicians, singers and dancers have taken their audiences across Europe with their multicultural performances. Originating from Duquesne University and, more recently, other Pittsburgh-based universities, the Tamburitzans bring to life the diverse cultures of eastern Europe and beyond with historical dances, costumes and music. This month, they’ll light up the stage at the University of the Cumberlands.
L Beatles vs. Stones – A Musical Showdown
/ / OCT. 2
Preston Arts Center Henderson 270.831.9803 prestoncenter.org
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Challenge accepted. The Beatles’ tribute band Abbey Road faces off against its rival counterpart, Satisfaction – The International Rolling Stones Tribute Show, to see which is the best rock ’n’ roll band of all time. Both groups perform favorite hits— complete with erafaithful costumes and gear—throughout the country, stopping this October in Henderson.
L Arcadia / / OCT. 4-12
Village Players of Fort Thomas Theater Fort Thomas 859.781.3583 villageplayers.org
Explore the contradictory in what the Village Players of Fort Thomas call a “tragicomedy.” Set in two time periods—the early 19th century and the present—Arcadia “concerns itself with the relationship between past and present, order and chaos, certainty and uncertainty.”
K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9
and opera halls provide entertainment throughout the events we’ve highlighted to note in
L J.B. Smoove / / OCT. 25
The Kentucky Center Louisville 502.584.7777 kentuckycenter.org
You may know him as Leon from Curb Your Enthusiasm or from his appearances on several other hit television shows. This October, be ready for a “ruckus” when Smoove presents his internationally known stand-up comic routine at the Kentucky Center in Louisville.
L Escape to
Margaritaville
/ / NOV. 4
Carson Center for Performing Arts Paducah 270.450.4444 thecarsoncenter.org
Take “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere” to a different level this November when the Carson Center presents Escape to Margaritaville. This musical comedy features dozens of Jimmy Buffet favorites such as “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Come Monday” and more, as it
follows characters visiting a tropical island hotel. So grab a margarita and some flip-flops, enjoy the beach vibe, and forget that summer is over.
L Moonshine
and Mistletoe
/ / NOV. 29-DEC. 23
Appalachian Center for the Arts Pikeville 606.262.4004 theapparts.org
Kick off your holiday entertainment season with the Ballard Family as they celebrate Christmas in the mountains, even though they’re living during the Great Depression. Throughout December, Appalachian music, family challenges and even a Christmas miracle take the stage at the Appalachian Center for the Arts.
L The Santaland Diaries
/ / NOV. 24-DEC. 23
Actors Theatre Louisville 502.584.1205 actorstheatre.org
“effervescent candy-forthe-spirit.”
L The Tap Pack / / FEB. 5
Norton Center for the Arts Danville 877.HIT.SHOW 859.236.4692 nortoncenter.com
Sure, you have Rudolph, Frosty and even Buddy the Elf, but it’s Crumpet the Elf who takes the stage this holiday season at Actors Theatre in Louisville. This comedic take on one man’s journey through “retail hell” is based on David Sedaris’ essay, “The Santaland Diaries.”
L The
SpongeBob Musical
/ / JAN. 17-19
Lexington Opera House
Lexington 859.233.4567 lexingtonoperahouse.com
A cartoon on stage? Yep, the beloved yellow sponge is alive and well and on stage in theaters across the country, including the Lexington Opera House. This award-winning Broadway musical brings SpongeBob SquarePants and all his Bikini Bottom buddies to life in what musical critics have described as “candy for the eyes,” “a ravishing stream of color and invention,” and
L American
Spiritual Ensemble & Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra Play Duke Ellington
/ / FEB. 15
These Australian dancers have combined their tap dancing expertise with the music of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Beyoncé, Michael Bublé and others to entertain audiences at venues around the world. They dance into Kentucky in 2020 with a one-night show at Danville’s Norton Center for the Arts. But don’t expect just to watch some fancy footwork. The Tap Pack use their humor, dancing and singing to bring “high energy entertainment” to audiences.
Singletary Center for the Arts Lexington 859.257.4929 finearts.uky.edu/ singletary-center
Take a musical trip back in time to the 1930s and ’40s and enjoy some of the finest jazz by the legendary Duke Ellington. Some of the nation’s best classically trained singers in the American Spiritual Ensemble join forces with the Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra to present Ellington’s best works. It’s set for only one night at Lexington’s Singletary Center for the Arts.
max WEINBERG’S jukebox SEP6
iris DEMENT SEP13
marty STUART SEP19
tommy EMMANUEL SEP28
allman BETTS band NOV4 joe DIFFIE band NOV22
grandtheatrefrankfort.org terrance SIMIEN FEB25 502.352.7469
legends of YESTERDAY OCT18 queen MACHINE OCT 26 BTG A christmas STORY DEC5-8
take 3 FEB28 A diary of ANNE frank MAR436
J U N E / J U LY 2 0 1 7 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY
A FAI TH- BASE D PERF O RM A N CE S ERI ES
MYRE presents
2019 2020
Subscribe Now!
thecarsoncenter.org 270-450-4444
JORDAN FELIZ
SUNDAY OCTOBER 20, 2019 6:30 PM
THE VIENNA BOYS CHOIR
MONDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2019 6:30 PM
THE TEN TENORS
SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2020 3:00 PM
SUNDAY DECEMBER 15, 2019 6:30 PM
COLLINGSWORTH FAMILY GOSPEL
CROWDER
SUNDAY MAY 3, 2020 6:30 PM The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, provides operating support to The Carson Center with state dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts
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THE REIGLE FAMILY
TRAVEL
KTIA Signature Fall Events ach quarter, the Kentucky Travel Industry Association spotlights E Signature Events for the season. Following is a sample of the state’s prime activities for the fall. Festival of the Horse, Sept. 6-8, downtown Georgetown, festivalofthehorse.org. Celebrate the role of the horse as Georgetown commemorates its equine heritage with arts and crafts, regional cuisine, a beer garden, a horse and children’s parade, a horse show, amusement rides and live music sponsored by Country Boy Brewing that’s sure to impress. Fall Arts Festival, Sept. 8, Josephine Sculpture Park, Frankfort, josephinesculpturepark.org. Come make art and explore 70 sculptures on exhibit. There are workshops for every age and ability throughout the 30-acre park that feature hands-on activities, plus demonstrations such as glass-blowing, metal-casting, book-binding, sculpture, printmaking, pottery and fabric-dyeing. Enjoy live music all day, art scavenger hunts, walking tours, hot air balloon rides, food trucks and a few surprises. Bands & BBQ at the Point, Sept. 13-14, Carrollton waterfront, 1-800-325-4290, director@ carrolltontourism.com. This event features a variety of live music, a Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned barbecue competition, a backyard barbecue competition, delicious food vendors, two Rolling Thunder Air Shows, a tractor show, activities for kids and fireworks. Enjoy signature drinks from the Neeley Family Distillery. New for this year is the Handcrafted & Homespun Market, featuring juried arts and crafts. Mountain Heritage Festival, Sept. 23-28, downtown Whitesburg, mountainheritagefestival. com. The Mountain Heritage Festival is an integral part of Letcher and the surrounding counties’ culture—a beautiful blend of amazing food, music and learning. There are duck races, funnel cakes, photo contests, local artisanal booths, live music and more. Hoptown Harvest Festival, Sept. 26-28, downtown Hopkinsville, visithopkinsville.com/ hoptown-harvest-festival. This second-annual event features craft distilleries, breweries, food trucks, live music, antique vendors and more. Enjoy country music, a farmto-table dinner and a Bourbon Mashoree. The inaugural Hoptown Half Marathon and 5K take place on Saturday, followed by the Salute Saturday chili cook-off.
Explore
Anderson County Burgoo Festival, Sept. 27-29, downtown Lawrenceburg , kentuckyburgoo.com. Burgoo is no common stew; it’s a food that brings people together. The dish, prepared using various recipes, gives the festival its unique atmosphere. In addition the burgoo, there are carnival rides, food and craft vendors, live music and a talent contest. Oktoberfest, Oct. 11-13, downtown Harrodsburg, (859) 613-0790. Celebrate the traditions of Munich, Germany’s Oktoberfest here in the heart of central Kentucky. More than a beer festival, this event has delicious German and other specialty foods, 20-plus world-class beers, live music, exhibits, family activities, arts and crafts vendors and more. Glendale Crossing Festival, Oct. 19, downtown Glendale, (270) 765-2175, glendalecrossingfestival.com. Step back in time at the Glendale Crossing Festival. If antique cars and tractors are not your thing, then how about the great food, handmade arts and crafts, and local musicians? Grab some barbecue and funnel cakes, and find a bench in the shade to soak up the local culture and homegrown music. Bowling Green Bourbon and BrewFest, Oct. 26, Bowling Green Ballpark, (270) 883-0368, bgbrewfest.com. Celebrating its fifth year, this unique event features select craft brews from the region, such as Country Boy, West Sixth and Bowling Green’s own White Squirrel. Guests enjoy the best handpicked Kentucky bourbons, plus live entertainment and food trucks. Check out the Four Roses VIP Experience for even more. Holiday Market at the Community Arts Center, Nov. 15-Dec. 23, Community Arts Center, Danville, (859) 236-4054. Kick off the holiday season in style as you enjoy live music, holiday appetizers, beer and wine. The Holiday Market showcases artwork and gifts crafted by some of the region’s most talented artists for an inspiring shopping experience.
The Kentucky Travel Industry Association names its Signature Events four times a year. To be eligible, festivals or events must be recommended or produced by a KTIA member. A panel of impartial judges selects the winners for each season. For more information, phone 502.223.8687, email info@ktia.com or visit KTIA.com. ILLUSTRATION BY ANNETTE CABLE
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CULTURE
Off the Shelf
Home State Touring The State of Bourbon: Exploring the Spirit of Kentucky By Cameron M. Ludwick and Blair Thomas Hess; photography by Elliott Hess Indiana University Press, $16 (P)
The title of The State of Bourbon: Exploring the Spirit of Kentucky is a play on words, as this book covers the actual state, as in the Bluegrass State, and the state of Kentucky’s native spirit. Bourbon possesses a deep, rich heritage in the Commonwealth, and is more popular statewide—and worldwide—than ever before. This book is easy to read, with a conversational tone, making the reader feel as though he or she is talking to friends. And, luckily for the reader, these friends really like bourbon. The writers also spotlight Kentucky’s incredible food and hotels, along with the warm, welcoming people of the state. Authors Cameron M. Ludwick and Blair Thomas Hess traveled around their home state and relayed to readers what to expect at each distillery, adding a dose of history about every locale. Then, they go a step further and inform readers about other cool Kentucky must-see attractions near each distillery. Interesting tidbits, a glossary of terms and stunning photos by Elliott Hess all make this 118-page book a winner. BY DEBORAH KOHL KREMER
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(P)-Paperback (C)-Clothbound (H)-Hardback
A Bluegrass Murder The Bluegrass Files: Twisted Dreams (Book 2) By F.J. Messina Blair/Brook Publishing
A World of Uncertainty We Saw Something (Kentucky Summers 2 series) By Tim Callahan , $15 (P)
There’s not anything more “horsey” than setting a murder mystery novel in the Bluegrass Region, and that’s the case in the second installment of Lexington resident F.J. Messina’s series, The Bluegrass Files: Twisted Dreams. Private investigators Sonia Vitale and Jet Thomas, who share an office atop Magee’s Bakery in downtown Lexington, are out looking for a client’s missing daughter who worked at a horse farm on nearby Ironworks Pike. Made more passionate because of their sympathetic connection to the father, “Paco,” the two discover that personal danger lurks in their investigation. They find that not all life in the land of Thoroughbreds is sunny and genteel, and, sadly, even the horses can be administered harm. Additionally, Sonia is carrying the burden of some relationship problems with her boyfriend, who also is a private investigator. She’s been left at the altar before, and she’s not keen on it happening again. Consequently, her emotions get a little dicey, what with all the drama of both situations. But maybe a trip to Danville will help; Sonia thinks it might. PIs have to patiently explore many angles when solving the challenges set before them. In so doing, they sometimes can end up smack dab in the middle of the situation.
Could there be aliens in Morgan County, Kentucky? Timmy and his friends, the Wolf Pack, are worried that that there are. Strange footprints, disappearing livestock and weird lights are all clues in the latest installment of Tim Callahan’s Kentucky Summers 2 series, We Saw Something. Timmy and company decide to investigate, but a rift develops between the friends who believe in UFOs and those who think it is hype. As the group searches for solutions to mend the fences, their passion to keep their community safe reaches a new level. It is the early 1960s, and the world is changing, with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, African Americans struggling for civil rights and the beginning of the Vietnam War. The changes have Timmy and the Wolf Pack worrying how things might affect their family and friends. The disappearance of Foster, one of the boys from Blaze, and his mother after his father’s murder has them questioning what goes on behind closed doors. When an FBI agent comes to town looking for Foster and his mother, the community must decide if the reward offered for finding them is worth it. Illness befalls Timmy and opens him up to dreams that seem like reality. Can Timmy figure out what is real and what is a trick of the mind? Will his family and friends be able to support him as he works it out? We Saw Something keeps the reader guessing with every turn of the page.
BY STEVE FLAIRTY
BY LAURA KELLERSBERGER
$14.99 (P)
Lessons From the Past A Wounded Snake: The Politics of Race and Division During Reconstruction in Kentucky Joseph G. Anthony, Bottom Dog Press, $18 (P)
Joseph G. Anthony’s A Wounded Snake is historical fiction set in central Kentucky in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It recounts the turbulent post-Civil War reconstruction era of race relations as Bluegrass communities took on the challenges of long-established borders in politics, religion, education, judicial equality, voting rights, freedom of the press, racial segregation and women’s suffrage.
The three principal narrators are Noah Webster, Maria Lulu Benjamin and Judge Frank Bullock. Webster is a young black man in his 20s employed as a typesetter and an emerging journalist for the black newspaper The Standard, owned by black lawyer and journalist Robert O’Hara Benjamin. Robert’s wife, Maria Lulu Benjamin, who belongs to a group of suffragettes, acts as a bridge between the racial inequality protests led by her husband and the women’s suffrage movement. Early in the novel, Anthony establishes the primary conflict seated in the contentious relationships between blacks and whites in Lexington at the turn of the century, when established racism was abundant. Benjamin warns that for blacks to live their lives just trying to keep from getting shot, they wouldn’t have much of a life. He says to Noah, “Be careful, boy. You might careful yourself out of a life.” Most compelling is the story of Benjamin, who supported the black movement to enforce civil rights changes in the explosive environment of a state where not much had been accomplished for African Americans until well after the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. Early in the novel, Benjamin succinctly states a critical point: “Here
is the Negro problem: Our race’s continual persecution. Harriett Tubman says, ‘Never wound a snake; Kill it. The snake of racism was wounded in the freedom war, but its venom lives with us and grows more deadly as the years pass.’ ” Even today, we keep wounding the snake, instead of killing it. But early in the novel, Noah shines a beacon of hope despite the desperate times: “We full of life for all the death you throw at us. We wound that snake. We gonna kill it one day. We gonna smash its head one day. That sun gonna shine.” This novel contains advice and lessons we should all take to heart. When the corrupt Green Pickney Russell, superintendent of colored schools in Lexington, confronts Noah in the Briar Hill school yard and announces himself as his superior, Noah thinks: “A cat can be queen of the barn if it wants to call itself that. Don’t mean the mice got to call it that. But they need to take heed. All the mice need to take heed of a cat in the barn.” One will find numerous cats announcing they are the queen in Anthony’s novel. Their tracks are all over this work. BY JAMES B. GOODE
Kentucky Gateway Museum Center
215 Sutton Street
Maysville, KY 41056
606-564-5865
www.kygmc.org
Open Tuesday – Saturday 10am to 4pm
History, Heritage, and Tradition Visit the Old Pogue Experience and Bourbon History Exhibits at the KYGMC Limestone Building KYGMC Limestone Building
Corner of Sutton and Second Streets
Downtown Maysville
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY
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VOICES
Past Tense/Present Tense
Reconstruction in Kentucky BY BILL ELLIS
A
common view of the Civil War is that armed conflict ended with the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Even though President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated a few days later, slaves were given their freedom and the rights of citizenship with the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the United States Constitution. The nation settled into an era of reconciliation, growth and industrialization, on the brink of becoming a world power. What a beautiful picture. The reality was somewhat different, but you knew that, didn’t you? When the Civil War ended, slavery did not end abruptly. “Juneteenth” is still celebrated because on June 19, 1865, only with the entry of federal troops in Galveston, Texas, were slave owners forced to give up their slaves. In Louisville, a Union stronghold during the war, slaves were still being traded until the end of the year.
How did the Civil War and Reconstruction impact Kentucky? “Kentucky emerged from the Civil War in virtual ruin,” declared historian Melba Hay Porter. James Klotter pointed out in A New History of Kentucky that only Louisville prospered during the war. Out in the state, farms and plantations were devastated, with far fewer acres under cultivation. “There were 89,000 fewer horses, 37,000 fewer mules, and 172,000 fewer cattle in Kentucky in 1865 than at the start of the war,” Klotter, our state historian, wrote. In A History of Education in Kentucky, I quoted historian Michael C.C. Adams,
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who put it more bluntly: “Kentucky was in the top ten states by per capita income in 1860. It has been in the bottom ten since 1865.” Was Kentucky a Southern or a Union state? In 1860, slavery continued to be legal in the Commonwealth. Kentucky ranked ninth in total population in the nation. In 1790, slaves made up 16 percent of the state’s population. On the brink of the Civil War, that number had increased to 19 percent. Why only the slight increase when the economy of the Commonwealth appeared to be booming? Kentucky slave owners did not need the vast numbers of laborers used on cotton, sugar and rice plantations in the lower South. What did they do? Marshall Myers, my colleague at Eastern Kentucky University in years past, often writes about Civil War history and contributed an interesting piece to the Spring 2018 issue of Kentucky Humanities: “ ‘My Old Kentucky Home’: An Extended Look.” Most Kentuckians know the answer. Excess slaves were sold “down the river,” hence the words “By’n-by hard times comes a-knocking at the door [for the slave master], Then my Old Kentucky home, goodnight!” The slave narrator in Stephen Collins Foster’s classic tale laments his or her fate. Myers concluded: “ ‘Hard times’ have come to his master, and the narrator will be sold to the slave trader, and taken down South to work in dreadful conditions.” The former master will keep My Old Kentucky Home; the deported slave will “only have memories of his ‘old Kentucky home’ to sustain him in the terrible life he will have in the deep South.”
So, as tears come to your eyes when you next sing our state’s song, recall that it actually is a slave’s lament penned by Foster. It is more than just a boisterous or melancholy sideshow at an athletic or political event. Many Kentuckians continue to believe that the state was dominantly Southern and was only prevented from secession by the invasion of “Yankee” armies after the failure of Gov. Beriah Magoffin’s unsuccessful attempt at “neutrality” in the early months of the war. Where did Kentuckians stand in all of this furor? More than twice as many Kentuckians joined federal forces as the Confederacy during the war, approximately 100,000 to 40,000. With more than 600,000 war deaths in the North and South total, with perhaps 30,000 of those Kentuckians, is it any wonder that bitterness, lawlessness and political disruption existed for many years? A census toward the end of the war listed 21,000 fewer white males over the age of 21 than in 1861. Guerilla bands from both sides roamed the countryside during the war and in the last months afterward. Presbyterian Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge, a staunch unionist and former state superintendent of public instruction, had sons who fought on both sides of the conflict. He proposed a sure cure for the scourge of guerillas, both Yankee and Confederate: “Treat them all alike,” he said, “and if there are any among them who are not rebels at heart, God will take care of them and save them at last.” One western Kentucky Union
veteran doubted he could live with his Confederate neighbors. “One or the other of us will have to leave the country forever,” he said. Years later, a man recalled his father “slept with two pistols, two rifles and a machete at his bedside” during those uncertain, lawless times. “Across the commonwealth, vigilantes, the Ku Klux Klan, and individual groups killed and lynched blacks with seeming impunity,” Klotter concluded. E. Merton Coulter, a neoConfederate historian at the University of North Carolina, made a startling statement in his 1926 book, The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky. He claimed that Kentucky successfully seceded after the war, not having been able to do so during the war. “It is strange indeed that the vanquished ruled the victors,” explained Kentuckian Hambleton Tapp. Louisville, which had prospered during the war under Yankee protection for the most part, became a neo-Confederate stronghold. Confederate veteran Henry Watterson became editor of the Courier-Journal, the most influential paper in the state. The L&N Railroad and Louisville factories connected with the post-war South, as did the Cincinnati Southern Railroad. Basil Duke, John Hunt Morgan’s right-hand man, moved to Louisville and edited Southern Magazine. Moreover, the Democratic Party solidified its control of the state, except in some places in the mountains. Between 1867 and 1894, Kentucky elected six Democratic governors who had been Confederate soldiers or sympathizers. What about the ex-slaves, now freedmen in the state? Although never part of Reconstruction because Kentucky did not officially secede, the Freedmen’s Bureau kept offices in the state until 1868, and federal troops were sent to attempt to keep order. One of the most famous Union generals served in Kentucky after the war. George Armstrong Custer was stationed briefly in Elizabethtown, from 1871-73, in an attempt to suppress the Ku Klux Klan and enforce order. There were few signs of progress immediately after the war ended. Many Kentucky communities suppressed African Americans, with at least one not allowing blacks to live in the town. However, unlike the Southern states, Kentucky did not keep blacks from voting by legislation. Slowly but surely, blacks, through court actions, gained
the right to testify in court, eventually even against whites. Though public education remained segregated, black leaders led the fight to obtain a fair share of state and local funding. In 1887, the Kentucky State Normal School (now Kentucky State University) opened in Frankfort, offering a teacher education curriculum. The state Day Law of 1904 outlawed integration at the privately funded Berea College. To say that African Americans made great strides in education against nearly impossible odds and opposition is an understatement. Moreover, there was always the specter of the Ku Klux Klan operating in the state. George C. Wright estimated that “at least 353 people died at the hands of lynch mobs” from the end of the Civil War to 1940, with nearly three-quarters being black. Some people just disappeared. Reconstruction officially ended after the hotly contested presidential election of 1876. Democrat Samuel Tilden defeated Republican Rutherford B. Hayes by more than 250,000 popular votes, but Hayes had a 185-184 edge in the Electoral College. Fraud undoubtedly added to Tilden’s numbers in several Southern states. With uncertainty all over the country, an electoral commission with a Republican majority awarded the presidency to Hayes. Though a deal was never proven, after his inauguration Hayes ordered federal troops guarding statehouses in South Carolina and Louisiana to return to their bases. By 1877, every state capital in the South had been “redeemed” by neo-Confederate governments. Some Union supporters, black and white, left the state. According to an article in The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia, “almost 14,000 blacks left the state for the North” from 1860 to 1870, as the black population of the Commonwealth plummeted from 21 percent to 16 ½ percent. Many of these Kentuckians moved as far away as Nicodemus, Kansas. Kentuckian John Marshall Harlan served honorably in the Civil War as a Union officer, participated in the Battle of Mill Springs, and chased down Confederate John Hunt Morgan at the Rolling Fork River Bridge on Dec. 29, 1862. President Hayes appointed the 44-year-old Kentuckian to the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 10, 1877. Known as “The Great Dissenter,” Harlan served a long and often heroic term until his death in 1911. He is most famous for his lone dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, in which he wrote
eloquently that “separate but equal” facilities for African Americans violated the Constitution. Though not as stringent as in the old Confederate states, Jim Crow laws reigned supreme in Kentucky after the war. Segregation as well as town and city ordinances and practices existed well into my lifetime. I remember segregated schools, separate seating in theaters, and separate water fountains and restrooms at my hometown courthouse. A short while after the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, I saw a cross burning just off the roadside near Frankfort as my parents and I drove down the hill into the state capital. A year or so later on a summer outing to Herrington Lake, I recall seeing another cross burning on farmland. A product of segregated schools, including most of my college days at Georgetown College, I received valuable lessons when called to teach and coach football at Harrodsburg High School in the fall of 1962. More than one-fourth of my team were African Americans. On the way back from a scrimmage one hot August night, I was told that I could not bring my black players into a central Kentucky restaurant, though the white players were welcome. Infuriated, I stepped onto the bus and told a hot, sweaty bunch of kids what I had been told. They shouted, “Find another place.” We did. Twenty-two-year-old coach Bill Ellis got a badly needed dose of reality that year. I have been forever grateful to those young men, black and white, who put up with a coach so wet behind the ears that my shirt collar was always moist. Though the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments became part of the U.S. Constitution in 1865, 1868 and 1870, respectively, it was not until 1976 that the Kentucky General Assembly unanimously ratified these amendments in a resolution introduced by an African-American, Rep. Mae Street Kidd of Louisville. For further reading on this crucial era in the history of Kentucky, one should always begin with any of the general histories of James Klotter, The Kentucky Encyclopedia, The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia, On Jordan’s Banks: Emancipation and Its Aftermath in the Ohio River Valley by Darrel E. Bigham, A History of Blacks in Kentucky, Volumes 1 and 2 by George C. Wright and Kentucky in the Reconstruction Era by Ross A. Webb.
Readers may contact Bill Ellis at editor@kentuckymonthly.com
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY
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OUTDOORS
Gardening
Turn Garden Trash into Garden ‘Gold’ BY WALT REICHERT
T
hey say you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but you can make garden gold out of garden trash. I’m talking about homemade compost. When you clean up the garden this fall—and you should—you can throw those trimmings, clippings and debris in the trash where they’ll go to a landfill to reside for the next 10,000 years. Or you can create your own balanced, timerelease fertilizer—compost, that is. Dozens of books have been written about the art of compost making, and most make it sound as exhausting as doing your own wiring or plumbing. Compost making can be complicated, but it also can be quite simple.
RECIPES The building blocks of compost are organic materials, some of which will be high in carbon—wood, cardboard, straw—while others will be higher in nitrogen—grass clippings, animal manure, green leaves. Think of highcarbon materials as “brown” and highnitrogen materials as “green.” Mixed together, the brown/green material will be broken down by the action of bacteria, microbes and small soil organisms, such as sowbugs and worms. Oxygen and water also are required for the little guys to do their work. As the microbes feed on the brown/green mixture, their digestion produces heat that, theoretically at least, destroys weed seeds and plant diseases. A well-made, working compost pile should get so hot inside that you can’t stand to put your hand in it. While nearly everything eventually will break down and become compost, there are a few items you should never try to compost. Livestock manure is a great “green” for the compost pile, but you should avoid using hog manure as well as feces from dogs and cats. Those contain potentially harmful organisms that may not be destroyed
Compost making can be quite simple.
during the heat of decomposition. For the same reason, I don’t add any weedy perennials to the compost pile if they have gone to seed, and I avoid diseased plants as well. The heat may destroy seeds and disease, but not all parts of the pile may heat uniformly, and you don’t want to spread weed seeds along with your compost next spring. Also be wary of adding grass or pasture clippings that may have been treated with herbicides. Some herbicides stay active for up to a year and may harm plants next year if you use the compost from those sprayed plants as a fertilizer. The ideal mixture of brown to green materials is about 15 parts brown to one part green. But only the most anal among you will do the math as you add ingredients. Essentially, you want more brown than green, but the exact amount can vary. If you have too much brown, the pile will take longer to “cook.” Too much green and it may start to smell as it decomposes—the cure for that is to turn the pile more often, adding more oxygen. The smaller you can get the garden waste, the faster your compost pile will work. Running over leaves with a lawnmower works. If you add paper, shred it, not only to quicken decomposition but also to make sure identity thieves aren’t out there going through your compost bin trying to find papers with your Social Security number on them. The compost pile can be simply a pile of garden waste in the yard or a homemade bin of boards, pallets or concrete blocks. Or you can buy readyto-put-together bins. If you want compost in a hurry, you can buy barrels advertised in garden catalogs that you can turn with a handle. (Warning: Those are expensive, don’t produce a lot of compost, and often take longer than advertised to produce usable compost.) It is important that the compost pile be at least 3 feet by 3 feet. Too small a pile will not heat up
and produce compost. However you choose to house your compost pile, the ideal system is to have three piles. One is for adding the clippings, leaves, etc. from your garden cleanup. Once that pile reaches the capacity of your bin, you can turn the materials over into the second pile. The second pile is “cooking” and occasionally being turned with a pitchfork or shovel to add oxygen and stir the mixture so all parts compost evenly. The third pile will be finished compost that is ready to be used in the garden. It should be an even dark brown or black, with few, if any, large pieces of plant material remaining. The third pile will be much smaller than the first and second because composting, done correctly, greatly reduces the volume of material. USES FOR COMPOST The act of composting garden wastes produces a nearly complete and balanced fertilizer that is excellent to use on almost any plant. Because the nitrogen is “bound up,” compost will feed plants slowly over time—exactly the way plants like to eat. It is easy to overfertilize plants with chemical fertilizers and do more harm than good. You really can’t overuse compost. If you have enough compost, spreading a thin layer—no more than a dusting—over the lawn in the fall is a great way to add organic matter as well as fertilizer. Compost also is a far superior mulch to what you can buy in a bag or bulk. It not only keeps down weeds and holds soil moisture, but it also feeds plants at the same time. Some people use compost as a seedstarting material. I’ve seen it work well, but I prefer to use sterilized potting soil. Theoretically, compost is sterile, but I’m not willing to bet my expensive seedlings on it. Bottom line: Compost definitely turns trash into treasure.
Readers may contact Walt Reichert at editor@kentuckymonthly.com
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OUTDOORS
Field Notes
Notes on Hunting BY GARY GARTH
H
unting season never really closes in Kentucky. A few species, including coyotes and wild hogs, can be taken legally year-round, and wildlife officials generally encourage the removal of these critters. Hogs are a particular nuisance. Wild turkeys can be hunted in the fall but are most successfully pursued during the spring season. Squirrel hunters also enjoy a split season. Generally, though, hunting is a fall and wintertime activity. Squirrel season, the state’s longest, opened in mid-August and runs through February. September opens with dove season and unofficially marks the beginning of the fall hunting campaign. Archery deer (Sept. 7) and crossbow deer (Sept. 21) open this month. September also ushers in fall archery turkey (Sept. 7), early duck and teal season (Sept. 21), crow (Sept. 1) and bull elk firearm (Sept. 28, draw only). Upland game, furbearers and waterfowl seasons arrive in November. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, the state governing body that oversees wildlife management, lists more than 30 species for which hunting seasons are offered, from American woodcock and black bear to weasels and wild pigs. Deer are the state’s most sought-after game, and state wildlife officials strive to structure seasons to satisfy deer hunters of every stripe. We have hunting blocks for archers, crossbow shooters and muzzleloader aficionados as well as a modern gun season, during which all deer hunting tools are welcome.
Most Kentuckians, however, don’t hunt. State wildlife officials estimate that Kentucky is home to about 350,000 hunters. Kentucky enjoys a better hunter retention rate than many other states, but nationwide, hunter numbers are declining. Among other things, this ultimately will not bode well for wildlife conservation. Many conservation efforts are funded through hunting-generated revenue. Reasons for the decline in hunter numbers vary, but it generally isn’t due to lack of game. During the 2018, 16-day modern gun deer season, for example, Kentucky deer hunters tagged 106,797 whitetail deer. That was an all-time high. Deer numbers are surging nearly statewide—turkey numbers, too. Other critter numbers are strong. Game numbers are relatively strong nationwide as well. Every five years for the past six decades, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has conducted a National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and WildlifeAssociated Recreation. In the 2016 report, a copy of which is available at www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/ fhwar/publications/2016/fhw16-nat.pdf, the service calculated the number of hunters age 16 and older at 11.5 million. This was a decrease of 16 from the 2011 count of 13.7 million. That’s about 5 percent of the U.S. population. According to the USFWS, only 1.1 million of the nation’s 11.5 million hunters are women. Not only are most of us hunters men, the vast majority are graying men. The 2016 count
showed that 60 percent were age 45 or older (22 percent were 45-54; 24 percent—the highest of all age groups—were 55-64; and 14 percent were 65 or older). More bad news: The national survey also breaks down hunter numbers by race. Of the 11.5 million hunters in the U.S., 11.1 million were classified as “white.” The sample size for African Americans and Asians was too small to report. The ambiguous “other” category garnered 0.2 million. I don’t know what happened to the other 0.3 million. This racial breakdown is shameful, and the age bulge favoring the 45-plus crowd is worrisome. The solution to these woeful numbers is easy. Invite someone to join you afield. I learned to hunt with my father and older brother, but as demographics shift and populations became increasingly urbanized, those connections may not always be readily available. Recruitment of young hunters is critical, but don’t limit your invitation to youngsters. Hunting is ageless. Invite a coworker, a fellow worshipper or a retired neighbor. They don’t have to carry a gun or a bow. The smells, sounds and sights of the woods are intoxicating enough. Invite someone. The future of hunting and our open spaces depends on it. For more information, including upcoming Kentucky hunting season dates, bag limits, license requirements and location of public hunting lands, visit fw.ky.gov or call 1-800-858-1549.
Readers may contact Gary Garth at editor@kentuckymonthly.com S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY
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CALENDAR
Let’s Go
SEPTEMBER 2019 SUNDAY
1
Arts & Crafts Festival, Little Lake Park, Grand Rivers, through Sept. 2, (270) 362-0152
>>> Josephine Sculpture Park Fall Festival,
MONDAY
2
TUESDAY
3
Concert @ the Library: 275 Brass, Boone County Library, Union, (859) 342-2665
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
5
6
7
Castle & Key Distillery, Versailles, (502) 395-9070
McCracken County Public Library, Paducah, (270) 442-2510
Wilderness Trail Distillery, Danville, through Sept. 8, (859) 402-8707
Trimble County Courthouse, Bedford, through Sept. 8, (502) 255-7174
Labor Day
8
11
16
THURSDAY
4
Springhouse Music Series,
Jefferson Street Soiree, downtown Lexington, (859) 244-7738
Josephine Sculpture Park, Frankfort, (502) 352-7082
15
WEDNESDAY
Quilt City Mural Project,
Kentucky State BBQ Festival,
14
Trimble County Apple Festival,
<<< Interwoven Exhibit, University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, through Dec. 8, (859) 257-6218
17
18
21
General Butler State Resort Park, Carrollton, (502) 732-4384
locations, Bardstown, through Sept. 22, (502) 275-8384
Freeman Lake Park, (270) 234-8258
Kentucky Dulcimers Gatherin’,
Elizabethtown’s Premier Wine Festival,
Kentucky Bourbon Festival, various
22
26
Appalachian Center for the Arts, Pikeville, (606) 444-5506
downtown London, through Sept. 29 (606) 878-6900
29
Ongoing Exhibit by Photographer Sam Stapleton,
World Chicken Festival,
Darrell Scott Concert,
<<<
Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, Lexington, through Sept. 30
27
28
downtown Lawrenceburg, through Sept. 29, (502) 598-9748
Kentucky Railway Museum, New Haven, through Sept. 29, (502) 549-5470
Anderson County Burgoo Festival,
Pumpkin Patch Express,
Ongoing Pop Stars: Popular Culture and Contemporary Art, 21C Museum Hotel, Lexington, through May 31, (859) 899-6800
a guide to Kentucky’s most interesting events 52
K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9
BLUEGRASS REGION Ongoing Pop Stars: Popular Culture and Contemporary Art, 21C Museum Hotel, Lexington, through May 31, 2020, (859) 899-6800, 21cmuseumhotels.com
12-15 The ScareFest Horror & Paranormal Con, Lexington Convention Center, Lexington, (859) 494-2625, thescarefest.com
Ongoing Stilled Life: An Exhibit by Photographer Sam Stapleton, Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, Lexington, through Sept. 30, (859) 254-4175, carnegiecenterlex.org
13 Night Hike: Harvest Moon, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Lexington, (859) 281-5104, shakervillageky.org
1-2 Bluegrass Classic Dog Show, Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington, (859) 233-4303, bgclassic.org 1-2 Labor Day Weekend Celebration, Fort Boonesborough State Park, Richmond, (859) 527-3454, parks.ky.gov 4 Springhouse Music Series, Castle & Key Distillery, Versailles, (502) 395-9070, castleandkey.com 6 Friday Night Live, Woodford Reserve Distillery, Versailles, also Sept. 13, 20 and 27, (859) 879-1939, woodfordreserve.com
13 Wheels of Time Cruise-In, downtown Lawrenceburg, (502) 598-3127, lawrenceburgky.org 13-30 Andre Pater: An American Journey, Headley-Whitney Museum of Art, Lexington, through Nov. 17, (859) 255-6653, headley-whitney.org 14 Wynonna and the Big Noise, Equus Run Vineyards, Midway, (859) 846-9463, equusrunvineyards.com 14 Best of Kentucky Dinner Series, Woodford Reserve Distillery, Versailles, (859) 879-1812, woodfordreserve.com
6-7 Music on the Lawn, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Harrodsburg, Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 28, 1-800-734-5611, shakervillageky.org
14-30 Interwoven: Joan Snyder, Judy Ledgerwood, Crystal Gregory, University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, through Dec. 8, (859) 257-6218, finearts.uky.edu/art-museum
6-7 Back To School Weekend, Fort Boonesborough State Park, Richmond, (859) 527-3454, parks.ky.gov
15 Vintage Baseball Game, Waveland State Historic Site, Lexington, (859) 272-3611, parks.ky.gov
6-8 Festival of the Horse, downtown Georgetown, (502) 863-2547, festivalofthehorse.org
20 LexArts Gallery Hop, various locations, Lexington, (859) 255-2951, galleryhoplex.com
6-8 Kentucky State BBQ Festival, Wilderness Trail Distillery, Danville, (859) 402-8707, kybbqfestival.com
20-22 Spoonbread Festival, Memorial Park, Berea, (859) 986-9760, spoonbreafestival.com
6-14 The Drowsy Chaperone, Spotlight Playhouse, Berea, (859) 756-0011, thespotlightplayhouse.com
20-22 Autumn Fun Weekend, Fort Boonesborough State Park, Richmond, (859) 527-3454, parks.ky.gov
7 The Stave Fest, downtown Lawrenceburg, (502) 598-3127, lawrenceburgky.org
20-22 Fort Harrod Jazz & Art Festival, Old Fort Harrod State Park, Harrodsburg, (859) 734-3314, parks.ky.gov
7 Butterflies of Raven Run, Raven Run Park, Lexington, (859) 272-6105, ravenrun.org
21 Lexington Philharmonic Opening Night, Singletary Center for the Arts, Lexington, (859) 233-4226, lexphil.org
7-8 Waveland Art Fair, Waveland State Historic Site, Lexington, (859) 272-3611, parks.ky.gov
27-29 Anderson County Burgoo Festival, downtown Lawrenceburg, (502) 598-9748, kentuckyburgoo.com
8 Josephine Sculpture Park Fall Festival, Josephine Sculpture Park, Frankfort, (502) 352-7082, josephinesculpturepark.org
28-29 The 1778 Siege of Boonesborough, Fort Boonesborough State Park, Richmond, (859) 527-3131, parks.ky.gov
11 Jefferson Street Soiree, downtown Lexington, (859) 244-7738, jeffersonstreetsoiree.com
Fall 2019 Season
October 3-5 Ft. Harrod Beef Festival, downtown Harrodsburg, (859) 734-2364, fortharrodbeeffestival.org
Joan Shelley: 9/13/19 Eykamp String Quartet: 9/17/19 America: 9/27/19 Matilda: 10/25 & 26/19 Cirque Mechanics: 11/02/19 Hunter Hayes: 11/09/19 Yoonah Kim: 11/12/19 Complexions Contemporary Ballet: 11/19/19 Jaimee Paul & the MCC Singers: 12/06/19 Phil Madeira Quintet: 12/13/19
WWW.GLEMACENTER.ORG 270-821-ARTS (2787)
CALENDAR
Let’s Go
October 4-26 Keeneland Fall Meet, Keeneland Race Course, Lexington, (859) 254-3412, keeneland.com October 4-26 Halloween Lights Drive Thru, Fort Boonesborough State Park, Richmond, (859) 527-3454, parks.ky.gov October 4-26 Peculiar, Curious, Bizarre and Morbid Victorian Customs, Waveland State Historic Site, Lexington, (859) 272-3611, parks.ky.gov October 5 Kentucky Reptile Expo, Lexington Convention Center, Lexington, (513) 910-0900, kentuckyreptileexpo.com October 5-6 Battle of Perryville Commemoration, Perryville Battlefield, Perryville, (859) 332-8631, parks.ky.gov October 6 Family Fun on the Farm, Waveland State Historic Site, Lexington, (859) 272-3611, parks.ky.gov October 10 A Night with Janis Joplin, EKU Center for the Arts, Richmond, (859) 622-7469, ekucenter.com October 11-13 Boonesboro Boogie Nationals Car Show, Fort Boonesborough State Park, Richmond, (859) 527-3454, parks.ky.gov
LOUISVILLE REGION 1 Hunter S. Thompson’s Campaign for Sheriff, Frazier History Museum, Louisville, (502) 753-5663, fraziermuseum.org 1-28 While the Dew Is Still on the Roses Exhibit, Speed Art Museum, Louisville, (502) 634-2700, speedmuseum.org 1-2 Kentucky Flea Market Labor Day Spectacular, Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville, (502) 456-2244, stewartpromotions.com 2 Duck Regatta, Leitchfield Aquatic Center Lazy River, Leitchfield, (270) 259-5587, VisitLeitchfield.com 5 The British Are Coming, Gertrude Polk Brown Lecture, Filson Historical Society, Louisville, (502) 635-5083, filsonhistorical.org 6 Junction Creek Band, Rough River Dam State Resort Park, Falls of Rough, (270) 257-2311, parks.ky.gov 6-30 Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Actors Theatre, Louisville, through Oct. 31, (502) 584-1205, actorstheatre.org 7 Patriot Car, Truck, and Bike Show,
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Amvets Post 61, Louisville, (502) 492-7999, amvetspost61.com 7 Nickelodeon’s Jojo Siwa, KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, (502) 690-9000, kfcyumcenter.com 7 Free Louisville Orchestra Preview Concert, Iroquois Park, Louisville, (502) 584-8681, louisvilleorchestra.org 7-8 Trimble County Apple Festival, Trimble County Courthouse, Bedford, (502) 255-7174, trimbleapplefest.org 8 Bourbon, Patriots and Veterans, My Old Kentucky Home State Park, Bardstown, (502) 233-4585, parks.ky.gov 13 Sunset Concert Series, Foxhollow Farm, Crestwood, (502) 241-9674, foxhollow.com 13 Eddie Miles Returns, Angelic Hall, Lebanon, (270) 699-2787, kentuckyclassicarts.com
20 The Lohden Boys Concert, Rough River Dam State Resort Park, Falls of Rough, (270) 257-2311, parks.ky.gov 20 Jammin’ at Jeptha! Jeptha Creed Distillery, Shelbyville, (502) 487-5007, jepthacreed.com 20-22 Boubon and Beyond, Kentucky Fair and Expo Center, Louisville, (502) 367-5000, bourbonandbeyond.com 20-30 Louisville Photo Biennial, various locations in and around Louisville, through Nov. 10, (502) 5899254, louisvillephotobiennial.com 21 Linkin’ Bridge Concert, Historic State Theater, Elizabethtown, (270) 765-2175, touretown.com 21 Toast to Kentucky: Elizabethtown’s Premier Wine Festival, Freeman Lake Park, (270) 234-8258, etownevents.com
13 An Evening with Marty Stuart, Beckley Creek Park, Louisville, (502) 584-0350, theparklands.org
26-28 Vine Grove Bluegrass Festival, Optimist Park, Elizabethtown, (270) 765-2175, vinegrovebluegrass.com
13 Backstreet Boys Concert, KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, (502) 690-9000, kfcyumcenter.com
27 Owsley Brown Frazier Classic, Jefferson Gun Club, Brooks, fraziermuseum.org/classictickets
14 Winery Dinner Concert, Smith-Berry Winery, New Castle, (502) 845-7091, smithberrywinery.com
27-29 Marion County Country Ham Days, downtown Lebanon, (270) 692-9594, hamdays.com
14 Speak Easy of Murder, presented by the Murder & Merriment Troupe, Rough River Dam State Resort Park, Falls of Rough, (270) 257-2311, parks.ky.gov
27-29 Louder Than Life: World’s Largest Rock ‘n’ Roll Whiskey Festival, Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville, (502) 367-5000, louderthanlifefestival.com
14 Rolling Fork Iron Horse Festival, downtown New Haven, (502) 549-3177, newhaven.ky.gov
28-29 Pumpkin Patch Express, Kentucky Railway Museum, New Haven, (502) 549-5470, kyrail.org
14 Henry County Arts and Craft Guild Art Show, Henry County Fairgrounds, New Castle, (502) 845-4560, newcastleky.com
October 1-6 Dear Evan Hansen, Kentucky Center for the Arts, Louisville, (502) 566-5111, kentuckycenter.org
14 Long Run Massacre & Floyd’s Defeat, Red Orchard Park, Shelbyville, (502) 487-0379, paintedstonesettlers.org
October 4-6 St. James Court Art Show, St. James Court, Louisville, (502) 6351842, stjamescourtartshow.com
14 Nobody Could Hurt Like Hank, Angelic Hall, Lebanon, (859) 979-2488, kentuckyclassicarts.com
October 5-6 Lincoln Days Celebration, Public Square, Hodgenville, (270) 765-2175, lincolndays.org
14-15 Hometown Rising Country Music and Bourbon Festival, Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville, (502) 367-5000, HometownRising.com
October 8-30 Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular, Iroquois Park, Louisville, through Nov. 3, (502) 363-7766, jack-o-lanternlouisville.com
18-22 Kentucky Bourbon Festival, various locations, Bardstown, (502) 275-8384, kybourbonfestival.com
October 9 Phil Collins Concert, KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, (502) 690-9000, kfcyumcenter.com
NORTHERN KENTUCKY 1 Heritage Days, Augusta, (606) 756-2183, augustaky.com 1 Rubber Duck Regatta, Purple People Bridge, Newport, (859) 291-0550, newportonthelevee.com
When your dedication to wellness grows...
1-15 Mission Aerospace, Gateway Museum Center, Maysville, (606) 564-5865, kygmc.org 5 Summer Music on the Levee, Newport on the Levee, Newport, (859) 291-0550, newportonthelevee.com
Offering Master’s and Doctoral Degrees for Registered Nurses
7 NKY Music Festival, Devou Park, Covington, facebook.com/nkymf
Specialties Offered:
7 Limestone Cycling Tour, Limestone Landing, Maysville, (606) 584-3290, limestonecyclingtour.com 13 Friday Live Tunes, General Butler State Resort Park, Carrollton, (502) 732-4384, parks.ky.gov 13 Friday Live Tunes, General Butler State Resort Park, Carrollton, (502) 732-4384, parks.ky.gov 14 Owen County Horse Show, Owen County Fairgrounds, Owenton, (502) 514-1702, owencountyfairboard.org
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14 Swingtime on the River, Augusta, (606) 756-2183, augustaky.com 14 Old Friends: A Simon & Garfunkel Tribute, Kenton County Library, Erlanger, (859) 962-4003, kentonlibrary.org 15 Concert @ the Library: 275 Brass, Boone County Library, Union, (859) 342-2665, boone.libnet.info/events 15 Burlington Antique Show, Boone County Fairgrounds, Burlington, also Oct. 20, (513) 922-6847, burlingtonantiqueshow.com 17 Kentucky Dulcimers Gatherin’, General Butler State Resort Park, Carrollton, (502) 732-4384, parks.ky.gov 21 Twilight in the Gardens, Baker Hunt Art and Cultural Center, Covington, (859) 431-0020, bakerhunt.org 21 Sweet Owen Day, downtown Owenton, (502) 563-5050 21 Miranda Lambert Concert, BB&T Arena at Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, (859) 442-2652, thebbtarena.com
Into the Bluegrass: Rifles of the Kentucky Frontier on display now through Oct. 26 at the Kentucky History Center & Museums This once in a lifetime exhibit brings together 27 rare examples of antique longrifles made in Kentucky and their accoutrements. PLUS the historic reunion of the rifles of William Whitley and Garret Wall, together for the first time since the 1813 Battle of the Thames. Presented by: Guest curated by Mel Hankla.
Tues – Sat., 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. 100 W. Broadway | Frankfort, KY 40601 | 502.564.1792 | history.ky.gov S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY
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CALENDAR
Let’s Go
21-22 Farm Tour, various farms in Kenton County, (859) 356-3155, kentoncountyfarmtour.com 27 Harvest Jamboree Gospel Music Festival, Gallatin County Fairgrounds, Glencoe, mullinsmusic15@gmail.com 27-28 The 39 Steps, Falcon Theater, Newport, also Oct. 3-5 and 10-12, (513) 479-6783, falcontheater.net 28 Miscast, Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts, Covington, (859) 957-1940, thecarnegie.com 28-29 Carrollton River Rod Run Car Show and Cruise, General Butler State Park, Carrollton, (502) 732-4384, parks.ky.gov October 4-5 Kentucky’s Edge – Where Bourbon Begins, various locations, Covington, kentuckysedge.com October 4-6 Kentucky Wool Festival, 48 Concord Caddo Road, Falmouth, (859) 951-8025, kywoolfest.org October 9 An Evening with Griffin House, Southgate House Revival, Newport, (859) 431-2201, southgatehouse.com
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WESTERN KENTUCKY
downtown Franklin, (270) 586-8482, fsrenaissance.org
October 12-13 Turning of the Leaves Festival, Main Street, Augusta, (606) 756-2183, augustaky.com
6-7 Gospel Music Extravaganza, Victory Church, Madisonville, (270) 821-4171, childressfamily.com
1 Labor Day Celebration, Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park, Gilbertsville, (270) 362-9205, parks.ky.gov
7 Awesome ’80s Show, Badgett Playouse, Grand Rivers, 1-888-362-4223, badgettplayhouse.com
1 Beach Blast, Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park, Dawson Springs, (270) 821-4171, parks.ky.gov
7 Benton Cruise In, downtown Benton, (270) 527-8677, cityofbenton.org
1 An Evening with the Black Eyed Susans, Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park, Gilbertsville, (270) 362-9205, parks.ky.gov 1-2 Arts & Crafts Festival, Little Lake Park, Grand Rivers, (270) 362-0152, grandrivers.org/festivals-events, 1-7 Columbus’ Nina & Pinta Tours, Green Turtle Bay, Grand Rivers, (270) 362-0152, grandrivers.org 5 Quilt City Mural Project, McCracken County Public Library, Paducah, (270) 442-2510, mclib.net 6 Summer Nights Concert Series,
7 First Saturday of the Month Hike, Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park, Dawson Springs, also Oct. 5, (270) 821-4171, parks.ky.gov 7 Cadiz Cruz In, downtown Cadiz, (270) 348-7718, gocadiz.com 7-15 Monarch Butterfly Migration Mysteries, John James Audubon State Park, Henderson, (270) 826-2247, ext. 228, parks.ky.gov 8 Wet and Water Loving Native Plants, Mahr Park, Madisonville, (270) 821-4171, visitmadisonvilleky.com 8-9 2019 Pow Wow, Trail of Tears Park and Heritage Center, Hopkinsville, (270) 887-2300, visithopkinsville.com
11-15 Fall AQS Quiltweek, Schroeder Expo Center, Paducah, (270) 444-8508, paducah.travel 12 Governor Ned Breathit: Class Act, McCracken County Public Library, Paducah, (270) 442-2510, mclib.net 13 Joan Shelley, Glema Mahr Center for the Arts, Madisonville, (270) 821-4171, glemacenter.org 13-15 Owensboro Airshow, Owensboro Convention Center, Owensboro, (270) 926-1100, owensboroairshow.com 14 Squash & Gobble Arts Bazaar, downtown Greenville, (270) 338-1895, tourgreenville.com 14 Vanilla Ice with Tone Loc, Lu-Ray Amphitheater, Central City, (270) 754-5097, LuRayAmp.com 17 Eykamp String Quartet, Glema Mahr Center for the Arts, Madisonville, (270) 821-4171, glemacenter.org 19-21 Antique Gas Engine & Tractor Show, Carson Park Fairgrounds, Paducah, (270) 443-8783, paducah.travel 19-22 Fall Scrapbooking Weekend, Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park, Dawson Springs, (270) 797-3421, parks.ky.gov 20-21 Big Toy Expo, Julian Carroll Convention Center, Paducah, (270) 4081346, local6bigboytoyexpo.com 20-21 Onton Hay Days Cruise In, Onton United Methodist Church, Sebree, (270) 635-5887 20-29 The Penguin Project, Playhouse in the Park, Murray, (270) 759-1752, playhousemurray.org 21 Christ the King Old-Fashioned Barbecue Picnic, Christ the King Catholic Church, Madisonville, (270) 821-5494, visitmadisonvilleky.com 21 Gourd Festival, Ice House Gallery, Mayfield, (270) 247-6971, icehousearts.org 21 Paducah Dragon Boat Festival, Paducah riverfront, (270) 443-8783, paducah.travel 21 Archaeology Day, Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site, Wickliffe, (270) 335-3681, parks.ky.gov 26-28 Barbecue on the River, 27 The Foot of Broadway, Paducah, (270) 444-8508, paducah.travel
September Happenings in Western Kentucky Gospel Music Extravaganza Joan Shelley in Concert Christ the King BBQ Picnic America 50th Anniversary Tour
Friday & Saturday, September 6 & 7 Friday, September 13 Saturday, September 21 Friday, September 27
877-243-5280
www.visitmadisonvilleky.com
27 America – 50th Anniversary Tour, S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY
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CALENDAR
Let’s Go
Glema Mahr Center for the Arts, Madisonville, (270) 821-4171, glemacenter.org
5 Live Horse Racing, Kentucky Downs, Franklin, also Sept. 7-8 and 12, (270) 586-3040, franklinky.com
28 Tree I.D. Hike, John James Audubon State Park, Henderson, (270) 826-2247, ext. 228, parks.ky.gov
6-8 Holley LS Fest East, Beech Bend Raceway, Bowling Green, (270) 781-7634, beechbend.com
28 Kenlake Cruise-In, Kenlake State Resort Park, Hardin, (270) 474-2211, parks.ky.gov
7 Main Street Saturday Night Car Cruise, downtown Campbellsville, also Oct. 5, (270) 789-7852, tri-countycarclub.com
28 National Public Land’s Day, Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park, Dawson Springs, (270) 821-4171, parks.ky.gov
12-14 Vette City Motorcycle Music Fest, Edge Hill Farm, Oakland, (270) 782-0800, vettecitymotorcyclemusicfest.com
October 4-5 Mum Festival, 139 North 4th Street, Barlow, (270) 334-3500
19-21 Cumberland River Bluegrass Festival, Burkesville Commuity Center, Burkesville, (513) 708-3022
SOUTHERN KENTUCKY October 5 The Steeldrivers Concert, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, Owensboro, (270) 926-7891, bluegrassmuseum.org 1-2 Labor Day Weekend Celebrations, Lake Cumberland State Resort Park, Jamestown, (270) 343-3111, and Nolin Lake State Park, Mammoth Cave, (270) 286-4240, parks.ky.gov
20 Friday Folk Coffeehouse, Carnegie Community Arts Center, Somerset, (606) 305-6741, carnegiecac.org 20-21 Rotary Club Cow Days, Greensburg Square, (270) 537-3237, greensburgkyrotaryclub.com 21 Festival on the Square, Main Street, Franklin, (270) 586-3040, franklinsimpsonchamber.com 21 Lakeshore Cleanup, Green River Lake State Park, Campbellsville, (270) 465-4463, parks.ky.gov
PICK YOUR
PRICE
21 Orchestra Kentucky: Abbey Road, Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center, Bowling Green, (270) 904-1880, theskypac.com 22 Taste of Monroe, Old Mulkey Meetinghouse State Historic Site, Tompkinsville, (270) 487-8481, parks.ky.gov 26-28 Casey County Apple Festival, Court House Square, Liberty, (606) 7875355, caseycountyapplefestival.org 26-29 21st Annual NMRA All-Ford World Finals, Beech Bend Raceway, Bowling Green, (270) 782-0800, nmradigital.com 27 Morgan County Sorghum Festival, downtown West Liberty, (606) 743-3330, morgancountysorghumfestival.com 28 Somernites Cruise Car Show & Shine, Fountain Square, Somerset, (606) 679-6394, somernitescruise.com October 4-5 Camperama, Lake Cumberland State Resort Park campground, Jamestown, (270) 343-3111, parks.ky.gov October 5 Gospel Singing Event, Capitol Theatre, Bowling Green, (270) 904-1880, theskypac.com
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One coupon valid for up to 8 admissions. No double discounts. Expires October 27, 2019.
EASTERN KENTUCKY October 5-17 Franklin-Simpson County Bicentennial 1819-2019, downtown Franklin, (270) 586-7609, franklinsimsonchamber.com 1 Manchester Music Fest, downtown Manchester, (606) 594-6074, manchestermusicfest.com 2 Labor Fest, Central Park, Ashland, 1-800-377-6249, visitashlandky.com 4-7 Fraley Festival of Traditional Music, Carter Caves State Resort Park, Olive Hill, (606) 286-4411, parks.ky.gov 6 End of Summer Concert, Pine Mountain State Resort Park, Pineville, (606) 337-3066, parks.ky.gov 6 Junior Naturalist Days, Pine Mountain State Resort Park, Pineville, (606) 337-3066, parks.ky.gov 6 First Friday Outdoors, Rowan County Arts Center, Morehead, (606) 780-4342, rowancountyartscenter.com 7 The Great Caterpillar Count, Natural Bridge State Resort Park, Slade, (606) 663-3575, parks.ky.gov 8 Camper Trade Days, Greenbo Lake State Resort Park, Greenup, (606) 473-7324, parks.ky.gov
UPCOMING EVENTS SEPT 2 Labor Fest Central Park SEPT 6 First Friday Live! Downtown Ashland SEPT 6 Catlettsburg Labor Day Celebration Oak Ridge Boys, Neil McCoy and The Davissons SEPT 12 Lee Ann Womack & Marty Stuart Paramount Arts Center SEPT 14 Thunderstruck in Concert Ashland Riverfront SEPT 2022 Poage Landing Days Downtown Ashland SEPT 28 Chili Fest 14th & Winchester Parking Lot SEPT 28 Brisket, Bourbon, and Bids 2019 Delta by Marriott for Sensory Garden
PATRIOTS BOURBON DINNER
12 Lee Ann Womack & Marty Stuart, Paramount Arts Center, Ashland, (606) 324-0007, paramountartscenter.com 13 The Story Patch: Told for the Truth, SIPP Theatre, Paintsville, also Sept. 15, and 20-22, (606) 297-3305 13-14 Martin County Harvest Festival, downtown Inez, (606) 298-2815 13-14 Narrows Fall Encampment, Pine Mountain State Resort Park, Pineville, (606) 337-3066, parks.ky.gov 14 Thunderstruck, Ashland riverfront, 1-800-377-6249, visitashlandky.com 14 Pike County Horse Trail Ride, Lick Creek, Pikeville, (606) 432-5063, pikecountytourism.com 14 Bluegrass Festival, Greenbo Lake, Greenup, (606) 473-7324, parks.ky.gov 17 Frozen, presented by the Parmount Players, Paramount Arts Center, Ashland, (606) 324-0007, paramountartscenter.com
Sponsored by: The Kentucky Department of Parks | Willett Distillery | Heaven Hill Knox Hills | PowerHouse Gaming | Paramount Gaming
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • K E N T U C K Y M O N T H LY
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CALENDAR
Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Go 17-21 Poppy Mountain Bluegrass Festival, Poppy Mountain, Morehead, (606) 780-4342, poppymountainbluegrass.com 20 Main Street Live, downtown Pikeville, also Oct. 4 and 18, (606) 432-5063, tourpikecounty.com
Snug Hollow Farm Bed & Breakfast
(606) 723-4786 info@snughollow.com
www.snughollow.com BBAK member
19KYmonth_SaveBE.pdf
1
8/7/19
SAVE
BERNHEIM FOREST Help Bernheim in fighting the proposed LG&E Pipeline and Interstate 65-71 Regional Connector project. Go to forestunderthreat.com to voice your concern! Farm House Inn Bed & Breakfast
735 Taylor Branch Road, Parkers Lake (606) 376-7383 www.farmhouseinnbb.com
20-21 Jesse Stuart Weekend, Greenbo Lake State Resort Park campground, Greenup, (606) 4737324, parks.ky.gov 20-22 Poage Landing Days, downtown Ashland, 1-800-377-6249, visitashlandky.com 21 Morehead Arts & Eats Festival, Main Street, Morehead, (606) 780-4342, rowancountyartscenter.com 4:36 PM
21-30 Elk Viewing Tours, Jenny Wiley State Resort Park, Prestonsburg, through Dec. 7, (606) 889-1790, parks.ky.gov 22 Darrell Scott Concert, Appalachian Center for the Arts, Pikeville, (606) 444-5506, theapparts.org 26-29 World Chicken Festival, downtown London, (606) 878-6900, chickenfestival.com 27-28 Cave Run Storytelling Festival, Twin Knobs Recreation Area, Morehead, (606) 780-4342, caverunstoryfest.org 28 Levisa Fork Paddlefest, downtown Prestonsburg, (606) 886-1341, prestonsburgky.org 28 Chili Fest, 4th and Winchester Parking Lot, Ashland, 1-800-377-6249, visitashlandky.com
Bluegrass Music AMERICAN ROOTS. INtERNATIONAL TREASURE.
28 Amy Grant Concert, Mountain Arts Center, Prestonsburg, (606) 886-2623, macarts.com October 4-5 Cumberland Mountain Fall Festival, Levitt Amp Middlesboro, (606) 248 2482, cumberlandmountainfallfestival.net October 4-19 Haunted Trail, Carter Caves State Resort Park public pool, Olive Hill, 1-800-325-0059, parks.ky.gov October 10 Paul G. Blazer: The Man
For additional Calendar items or to submit an event, visit kentuckymonthly.com.
Colonial Cottage Restaurant 3140 Dixie Highway, Erlanger 859-341-4498 thecottagenky.com
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Owensboro, Ky
Submissions must be sent at least 90 days prior to the event.
quarterpageclassic.pdf 1 6/25/2019 2:08:17 PM
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reser vewoodford.com Known for our picturesque countryside and love for all things bourbon, Woodford County provides a quintessential Kentucky getaway to experience life in the Bluegrass. Browse eclectic shops and antiques, delicious restaurants and charming B&B accommodations, with open doors and arms full of hospitality. It It’s not just the beautiful land and southern smiles that make Woodford County such a delight; it’s the charm that can only be described as... “Uniquely Woodford”! Woodford County Tourism Commission 141 N. Main Street| Versailles, Kentucky
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1 0 1 W. R I V E R S I D E D R I V E , A U G U S T A , K Y 4 1 0 0 2 | 6 0 6 . 7 5 6 . 2 1 3 7
MJAURN CEH 22000189 •• KKEENNTTUUCCKKYY MMOONNTTHHLY LY
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VOICES
Vested Interest
Yart Is in the Eye of the Beholder
S
tately Vest Manor rests in a hilltop subdivision south of Frankfort, on a corner lot with nine large, healthy oak and maple trees. As I have mentioned before, when I introduced myself to my neighbor shortly after moving in, he said, “Steve, you have many leaves,” before closing the door. He was correct. Soon, the process of leaf removal will begin again. The leaves start falling in October, and by Thanksgiving, 95 percent of them will have been taken to the curb, creating a 5-foot-tall, 3-foot-wide wall of leaves extending 120 feet across the front and side of our lot. Yes, that is many leaves. g g g
A decade ago, I was flipping through one of the shopping catalogs they have on airplanes, which must prey on vacationers’ mentality. You’ve seen those people returning to the airport wearing Hawaiian outfits from, I guess, Hawaii, or 10-gallon cowboy hats from Texas. The happy STEPHEN M. VEST Publisher & Editor-in-Chief travelers looked so appropriate when they were leaving wherever they went, but once they return home, they look comical, and you know that stuff will quickly find its way into a closet, never to be worn again. The catalog has such things—things you might not buy elsewhere—but, while traveling, they look like a good idea. You know, items like huge “meditating” turtles, rabbits, dogs. A hippo that appears to rise up out of the grass or a zombie clawing out of your garden. Gnomes. Alligators. Chickens. My favorite ad was for “Bigfoot the Giant Life-Size Yeti Statue” for $2,600. He is 6 feet tall, 45 inches wide, 38 inches deep and weighs more than 200 pounds. For $99, I could have him delivered. All I could think was,
“What in the world would anyone do with a life-sized Yeti statue?” g g g
The dad of one of my fraternity brothers once poured a concrete slab and erected a metal shed on his Oldham County property, visible from the intersection of two A Yard Yeti like this one can be found on country highways. Soon, he walmart.com for around $200. received a letter stating that his building did not meet the assumed was a World War II airman. standards of the county review board, I took pride in cutting his front yard, and it would need to be removed. which sits at the entrance to our The metal shed was nothing great neighborhood, and his backyard. to look at, but it wasn’t an eyesore, either. He tried to talk with the functionary in charge of such things and got nowhere other than that the shed needed to be removed or replaced with a more acceptable structure. “We don’t care what it looks like,” the functionary said. “The guidelines say that it must be made of wood, brick or stone. No metal structures are permitted.” “But it’s a shed,” the dad said. “It’s to store a lawn mower and some tools.” “Wood, brick or stone,” said the bureaucrat. Mr. (name withheld) went home, dismantled the shed and moved it. Over the next weeks, months and years, wood planks, bricks and an assortment of rocks, large and small, from far and near found their way to the concrete slab and grew against the celestial blue Kentucky sky. Held together with mortar and Quikrete, the “structure” served no earthly purpose. It had no windows or doors. Some thought it a modern sculpture. He called it the spite building. No one said a word. g g g
During our recent round trip between Kentucky and Colorado, I saw lots of yart—yard art: something of significance to the landowner, but maybe not to passersby. Pallets painted to look like flags, concrete cowboys, buffalo, Indian chiefs … g g g
I take great pride in my lawn and those of my neighbors. For several years, I mowed the lawn of a neighbor who was in his 90s and whom I
g g g
I tell you these stories to get to another. This spring was unlike any other I’ve seen. It was filled with rain followed by rain, only to be followed by more rain. Between rainy days, we attended more funerals than I can count, coupled with work, travel, graduations and more rain. In early April, there was a day nice enough that I was able to get the leaves that had fallen over the winter out of the flowerbeds and bushes. I got them out to the street, along with the fallen branches from the trees. The branches were picked up by the road department, but the leaves, in a pile that might have been 5 feet long, 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep, remained. It rained some more, compacting the leaves. Another week went by. More funerals. More rain. One night there was a letter in my mailbox addressed to “OCCUPANT.” It had a Lexington postmark and no return address. Inside was a letter typed in a 6-point font. “I noticed your leaf pile. The county will not pick these up. You are the only neighbor with this problem. It is a eyesore … tend to your leaves.” It was late, well after 11, but I couldn’t let this stand. I went outside with a rake and a flashlight and got my leaves into the trashcan. They’re now in a landfill. A friend suggested I should have put a sign by the leaf pile: “Free leaves: help yourself.” That might have been funny, but I finally understood why someone might want a life-size Yeti statue—he’s a Spite Yeti.
Readers, and those looking for a speaker for a church or civic group, may contact Stephen M. Vest at steve@kentuckymonthly.com KWIZ ANSWERS: 1. B. CCR; 2. C. Led Zeppelin; 3. C. Both were called “Big Red”; 4. A. Upset; 5. C. Procter & Gamble; 6. True; 7. C. 600; 8. C. Born on the Fourth of July, for which Cruise won a Golden Globe as best actor; 9. C. Slinky Dog; 10. B. A bobby pin
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