A KENTUCKY AGRITOURISM INDUSTRY MANAGEMENT NEWSLETTER September/October 2016

Kentucky Department of Agriculture, Ryan F. Quarles, Commissioner • Amelia Brown Wilson, Director, Division of Agritourism • (502) 782- 4136 • amelia.wilson@ky.gov

Agritourism KentuckyKENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Ryan F. Quarles, Commissioner Division of Agritourism ∙ Amelia Brown Wilson, Director

(see GRAND RIVERS, page 2)

Little town, big festival 350-person town has held Labor Day event over 40 years

By Jim Trammel

Do you think your town could hold a festival, except that it’s too small? (Never heard of Fancy Farm, eh?)

Livingston County’s Grand Rivers, population 350, might have a lesson to teach.

Over the upcoming Labor Day weekend, this little lakeside town will host a predicted 10,000 visitors to its annual Grand Rivers Arts and Cra�s Festival – three days of original cra�s, art, and music in Kentucky’s beautiful Land Between the Lakes.

�e festival is extending its ��h decade despite being located in a sparsely populated town, in a county where the tourism commission has succumbed to a budget pinch.

In their corner, however, is the support of other organizations, a couple of vitally interested businesses, the beauty of the lake country, and perhaps most importantly, a corps of volunteers (in groups or by individuals) that turns out several times a year to put on this and other Grand Rivers events.

Chamber stepped in

�e city wasn’t about to let a little thing like the shutdown of the sponsoring and administrative-support organization stop a festival with over 40 years of history going for it.

For many years the mainspring of the festival was Kentucky Western Waterlands (KWW), a tourism

organization that launched the festival decades ago and over the years had provided strong logistical support, building the event toward the �ve-�gure attendance it enjoys today, Kraemer said.

KWW ceased active operations last year in the face of budget problems, as did Livingston County Tourism, so they passed festival management to the Grand Rivers Chamber of Commerce, which had previously assisted KWW with the festival.

�e GRCC looked to Kim Kraemer to direct this year’s festival. Kraemer was executive director of the Grand Rivers Tourist Commission for the past decade, retiring from that work last October but still involved with the festival. (Christine �ompson is current commission executive director.)

Grand Rivers Mayor Tom Moodie sets the tone for his city’s volunteers by doing much hands-on festival work himself. Here, he tosses candy to children watching the Hunters’ Moon parade. (Photo by permission of Loyd Ford, The Lake News.)

2 • Agritourism Kentucky • September-October 2016

GRAND RIVERS ... �om page 1

“When KWW disbanded, it was important the traditions stay in place,” Kraemer said. “�is is the largest and longest-running arts and cra�s festival in western Kentucky.” Since the 1970s, the festival had grown to represent a huge economic impact for the area, and it couldn’t be allowed to capsize a�er 40 years.

”We are a tourism destination, and on Labor Day weekend we will have 10,000 people come through our 1.8 square miles of town,” Kraemer said.

She explained the strengths on which the festival continues to draw. “We are a town of only 350 people, but we sit on two beautiful lakes [Kentucky and Barkley]”. �ere are resorts on both lakes, and the town is home to Patti’s 1880s Settlement. Patti’s has been in Grand Rivers since the 1970s.

Business interest vital

�e Settlement is a recreated historical log cabin village consisting of three restaurants, gi� shops, gardens, streams, mini-golf, a gold- and gem-panning recreation, animal park, a children’s playlot,

a convention facility, and a wedding chapel, write travel bloggers Les and Diana Shapiro on their website “Guided Discovery.”

Patti’s Restaurant, the linchpin of the Settlement, “has grown over the years and now serves 400,000 meals a year,” Kraemer said. Also, Patti’s Inns and Suites and Rose of the Lake Bed & Breakfast o�er lodging nearby.

Badgett Playhouse, at le�, another major supporter of the festival, is located across the street from Patti’s and one block from the festival’s headquarters park.

PATTI’S 1880s SETTLEMENT RESTAURANT is the jewel

of business recreation in Grand Rivers, and it

follows that the restaurant complex plays a key role in

getting all that tourist traffic coming in and enjoying

themselves. The restaurant is part of a reconstructed

1880s settlement that provides historical tourist entertainment during this

and many other festival-style events during a typical year.

(photos this page courtesy Les and Diana Shapiro)

Agritourism Kentucky • September-October 2016 • 3

Sara Minihan, one of the Playhouse’s owners, is on the festival planning committee and this year made the contribution of booking the music program. “She’s got some great music connections,” Kraemer said.

Enthusiastic volunteers

Volunteers by the score, some organized through the Chamber and many reporting through allied organizations or just on their individual initiative, handle the parking, tra�c, and other logistical challenges of making a festival run smoothly. �e National Guard pitches in to manage tra�c, Kraemer said.

One parking gate will be sta�ed by volunteers from the Battle of Smithland Historic Group. Chamber volunteers, planning committee members, and individual citizens all come in to assist. “With 10,000 people visiting our little town, we have to handle and provide for all the logistics,” Kraemer said.

Grand Rivers Mayor Tom Moodie sets the pace for the individual volunteers by his detail work, such as marking vendor booth spaces the day before the show, Kraemer said. He and his sta� will be there all through the holiday weekend. “We have a fabulous mayor, and he’ll put in many volunteer hours,” Kraemer said.

“We have a great group of volunteers we can call on time a�er time. �ey also help us run a fall festival

in October, an ultra-run in March with 1,000 runners, bike events throughout the year, a quilt show in April, and six car shows a year,” she said.

Art, food, and music

One hundred cra�ers and artisans from 10 states are booked to show their works. Singer-songwriters will entertain through the lunch hours while the Food Court sells carnival foods and regional specialties.

Original items from from 10 states will include �oral arrangements, baskets, lawn furniture, paintings, honey, soaps, lotions, jewelry, quilts, woodwork, holiday decorations, pottery, candles, gourds, stained glass, birdhouses, rocking chairs, rocking horses and weather vanes.

�e festival runs 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 3 and 4, and 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Monday, Sept. 5 at Little Lake Park in Grand Rivers, one block behind the Playhouse. Grand Rivers is located at exit 31 of Interstate 24. Admission is $1 for walk-ins or $3 per vehicle.

Festival website, www.grandriversartsandcraftsfestival.com. Les and Diana Shapiro, “Guided Discovery” travel blog:

http://mvguideddiscovery.blogspot.com/2010/10/land-between- lakes-day-19-green-turtle.html — Also published in PassageMaker

Magazine, www.facebook.com/PassageMakerMagazine

Left: Signs enumerate the Settlement’s fun activities. Right: The festival will feature over 100 vendors, and, new this year, a slate of lunchtime musical performers.

(Sign photo used by permission of Les and Diana Shapiro; Vendors photo furnished by Kim Kraemer.)

4 • Agritourism Kentucky • September-October 2016

Story and Photo by Carrie Taylor

Robertson County producers, some with Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operations, and many of whom are involved in the Mason County Farmers’ Market, have formed the Limestone Farm and Food Alliance. We are currently focusing on networking and marketing through events.

Group member Shannon Ulrich with Wholesome Foods received a Kentucky Department of Agriculture grant through the Kentucky Proud program to help their farm with growth and expansion, including marketing.

We held a Farm-To-Table event to create an experience in our rural area at which people could enjoy local foods and products.

�anks to the McGee family and Turtleback Ridge Wares, who hosted the Farm-To-Table, we were able to showcase locally grown and harvested foods, such as meat, dairy, eggs, vegetables, fruits, herbs, spirits, and value- added products, all produced and locally sourced.

We sold 31 tickets, because our goal was to be successful with this �rst Farm-To-Table before we planned for a larger, similar event.

Meat producers, Cedarhill Farm and Rosser Farms provided poultry for the event.

Culinary artist Barbara Goldman, and Sean Connelly who owns Li’l Jumbo Co�ee, prepared dishes featuring

Robertson Co. Farm-To-Table event first of a series planned by new group

meats, fruits and vegetables from regional farms and from our local community garden, Mulberry Gardens, that uses all recycled water and environmentally-friendly practices.

�e group has held other events. One was an open-air market last June called “Pickers and Grinners,” hosted by Carlson So�ware™. �is festival featured 30 vendors, local foods, and culinary artists. Several hundred attended.

We will host another event, “Hunter’s Moon,” in Maysville’s Limestone Park Oct. 15 (see page 8). We invite everyone to Maysville in October to taste fresh foods, sample products, and visit talented cra�ers. We will have hundreds of fresh, local products, a testament to our regional pride and our Kentucky Proud pride.

As an educator and as a consumer, I support farmers who are responsible and producers who really care about the products that come from our land. My goal is to promote these agricultural operations. �ey should be seen as model businesses in our region. �ey are positive for the economy. �ey o�er higher-quality products and healthier foods, meats, spirits, and produce.

Most of the people involved in this planning group, such as Chris and Mary Breeze of Whispering Breeze, and Eric Keef who owns Springcreek Farms, share like-minded ideas and concepts about reducing or avoiding chemical applications, and raising healthier livestock through alternative pest management systems and sensible rotational grazing.

All these producers are also involved in the Kentucky Proud program.

Carrle L. Taylor is an associate professor and adult-agriculture instructor at Maysville Community and Technical College.

Agritourism Kentucky • September-October 2016 • 5

�e Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Kentucky Grape & Wine Council have announced that the fourth annual Kentucky Commonwealth Commercial Wine Competition & Commissioner’s Cup (KCCWC&CC) will take place at Sullivan University in Louisville on Oct. 29.

With a goal of public awareness and education through promotion and recognition, the CCWC&CC is the quintessential yearly guide to the best wines produced throughout the state.

Eligible only to licensed Kentucky small-farm wineries, the KCCWC&CC assembles panels of expert judges made up of industry leaders throughout the nation to systematically assess and score entries.

“We are very excited to partner with Sullivan University for this year’s competition,” Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles said. “Sullivan is one of

the top culinary institutes in the country, and their expertise will help showcase Kentucky’s grape and wine industry.”

Tyler Madison, the KDA’s Grape & Wine Marketing Program manager, added: “It makes a lot of sense for us to work together. �e facilities at Sullivan are incredible; it’s a perfect place to hold a top-tier wine competition.

“I’m looking forward to working with some of the students. �ese students represent the next-generation culinary scene, and we’ll have the opportunity to not only get them involved in the planning of a wine competition but also teach them about Kentucky wine.”

-- KDA press release

For more information about the Kentucky Commonwealth Commercial Wine Competition, visit http://competition.kentuckywine.com/.

Sullivan University to host annual state wine competition

6 • Agritourism Kentucky • September-October 2016

U P C O M I N G

Campbellsville wet-dry vote scheduled for Sept. 20 CAMPBELLSVILLE (Central Kentucky News-Journal) — An alcohol referendum a�ecting those within Campbellsville city limits is set for Tuesday, Sept. 20, a�er 570 signatures were turned in for the referendum, which needed 527.

If the referendum passes, Campbellsville will go from being “moist,” where restaurants can serve alcohol by the drink, to “wet,” where liquor stores are allowed.

Taylor County itself will still be “dry,” with no alcohol of any kind served.

More (subscription required): www.cknj.com/content/city%E2%80%99s-wet-dry-vote-set-sept-20

Barren Co. wet-dry vote Sept. 27BOWLING GREEN (Daily News) — A local option election for alcohol sales in Barren County was set for Sept. 27 a�er enough signatures were certi�ed on a petition to pose the question to voters.

Barren County Attorney Je� Sharp said the petition, which calls for package alcohol sales, was circulated by a group called Move Barren County Forward. �e paperwork was submitted in late July.

Butler Co. votes in late September MORGANTOWN (Daily News, Bowling Green) — Cities in Butler County are prohibited by state law from imposing regulatory licensing fees on the sale of alcohol, but the three movements to go wet in Morgantown, Woodbury and Rochester are not expected to slow down.

Morgantown Mayor Billy Phelps said he doesn’t think the lack of city authority to levy regulatory licensing fees on alcohol sales will play much of a role in the upcoming balloting Sept. 27.

�is fact was well known during January’s county-wide wet/dry vote in which alcohol sales were rejected, he said. “It was made pretty prevalent that [licensing fees weren’t] going to be a tax base for anyone,” he said.

Perryville will battle Oct. 4 over allowing alcohol salesPERRYVILLE, Ky. (Lexington Herald-Leader) — Residents of the western Boyle County city of Perryville will vote Oct. 4 on whether to allow alcohol sales in the city limits.

Approval of the ballot measure would allow packages sales but no bars, said Mike Lankford, a Perryville resident who led an e�ort to collect signatures for a petition drive.

�e other two incorporated cities in Boyle County, Danville and Junction City, allow alcohol sales. Unincorporated areas of the county remain dry.

More: www.kentucky.com/news/state/article93781992.html

D E C I D E D

Benham residents approve alcohol sales at historic inn as business boosterBENHAM (Lexington Herald-Leader) — Residents in the historic coal town of Benham voted 74-15 to allow alcohol sales at the School House Inn, which many saw as a way to help keep the hotel in operation. �e vote will allow the inn to sell alcohol at events such as school reunions and in the restaurant. �e inn was created by converting classrooms to lodging in a building constructed in the 1920s as the high school in a town that was wholly owned by International Harvester.

Photo & more: www.kentucky.com/news/state/article92161177.htm

127-vote margin keeps Casey Co. dryLIBERTY (Casey County News) — Casey County denied alcohol sales by a margin of 127 votes, 2,097 to 1,970. Of 10,824 registered voters, 37.5 percent cast ballots.

Boyd Co. soundly rejects going wet ASHLAND (WSAZ-TV) — Voters decisively

turned back expanding alcohol sales in Boyd County, reports Jay Melvin of WSAZ-TVB. Fi�y-eight percent of the turnout voted against county-wide liquor.

Alcohol sales are legal at certain places in Ashland. Had the vote passed, alcohol purchases would have soon taken place at service stations and convenience stores all across Boyd County.

WET-DRY WATCH

Agritourism Kentucky • September-October 2016 • 7

LAWRENCE COUNTY

SEPTE MBER FE ST“BEST LiTTLE

FESTivALiN KENTUCKY”

SEPT 9 - 11LOUiSA

Contact: Harold Slone (606) 638-4038

8 • Agritourism Kentucky • September-October 2016

KENTUCKY CALENDAR OF EVENTS September - October 2016

How to get your event listed hereEmail details, with the word “Event” in the subject line, to j im. trammel@ky.gov.

Compiled from the list of county fairs and ag events from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture website, www.kyagr.com; and the Kentucky Festivals Schedule page at ohiofestivals.net. Events subject to change or cancellation; check before attending.

SEPTEMBER1-3: Isom Days Festival1-4: Terrapin Hill Harvest Festival –

Harrodsburg2: Fest of Ales – Lexington2-4: Daniel Boone Pioneer Festival –

Winchester2-4: Elliott Co. Tobacco Festival –

Sandy Hook2-4: Heritage Days – Augusta2-4: Ky. Bluegrass & Bourbon Experience

– Louisville 2-4: Swift Silver Mine Festival – Campton2-6: WorldFest – Louisville3: Arts ’n Barks in the Park (merged

Goldenrod Gala Arts Festival & WoofStock) – Carrollton

3: Monroe Co. Watermelon Festival – Tompkinsville

3: Wayne Co. Heritage Festival – Monticello3-4: Homecoming – Livingston3-4: Native American Heritage

Museum Festival – Corbin3-5: Arts and Crafts Festival – Grand

Rivers (see story)3-10: Pecan Festival – Hickman4: Riverfest – Newport5: Labor Day Celebration – Paducah7-10: Clay Co. Fair – Manchester 7-10: Fraley Festival of Traditional Music –

Olive Hill8-10: Meadowgreen Park Fall Festival –

Clay City 8-10: Old Fashioned Trading Days –

Williamsburg8-17: Edmonson Co. Fair - Brownsville9-10: Area Days – Neon 9-10: Family Fun Festival & Craft Show

– Middletown9-10: Ice Cream Festival – Murray9-10: Lake Cumberland Blues, BBQ and

Arts Festival – Somerset

9-10: Lake Cumberland Poker Run – Jamestown

9-11: Chautauqua Days – Millersburg 9-11: Christ the King Oktoberfest –

Lexington9-11: Festival of the Horse – Georgetown9-11: Hart Co. Civil War Days – Munfordville9-11: Hofbrauhaus Oktoberfest – Newport9-11: Ky. State BBQ Festival – Danville9-11: Lawrence Co. Septemberfest – Louisa9-11: Mainstrasse Village Oktoberfest –

Covington9-11: Roots and Heritage Festival –

Lexington9-11: U.S. Bank Balloon Classic –

Bowling Green10: Black Patch Heritage Festival –

Princeton 10: Dragon Boat Festival – Louisville10: Fall Festival – Simpsonville10: Fall Heritage Festival – Campbellsville10: Highlands Fest – Louisville10: Hillbilly Daze Festival – Frankfort10: Japan Summer Festival – Lexington10: Mackville Harvest Homecoming10: Pagan Pride Day – Louisville10: Rolling Fork Iron Horse Festival –

New Haven10: Via Colori Street Painting Festival –

Elizabethtown10: Wooden Bridge Festival – Island

10-11: Apple Festival – Georgetown10-11: Fleur de Lis Regatta – Louisville10-11: Kids Fest – Richmond10-11 September Art Fair at Mellwood –

Louisville10-11: Trimble Co. Festival – Bedford10-17: Banana Festival – Fulton

11: Fall Arts Festival – Frankfort11-18: Gaslight Festival – Jeffersontown12-17: Powell Co. Fair - Stanton13-18: Bourbon Festival – Bardstown 13-18: Poppy Mountain Bluegrass

Festival – Morehead

14: Jefferson Street Soirée – Lexington15-17: Black Gold Festival – Hazard15-17: Blazin’ Bluegrass Festival –

Whitley City15-18: Robertson Co. Fair – Mount Olivet16-17: Bourbon Co. Secretariat Festival –

Paris 16-17: Cow Days – Greensburg16-17: Fall Festival – Mount Washington16-17: Hay Days – Onton16-17: Hazel Day – Hazel16-17: Heritage Festival – Horse Cave16-17: River Days Festival – West Point16-18: Cirque de Virgo – Hustonville16-18: Poage Landing Days – Ashland16-18: St. Timothy Oktoberfest – Union16-18: Waterfowl Festival – La Center

17: Arts and Eats Fest – Morehead17: Berry Festival – Berry 17: Butchertown Oktoberfest –

Louisville17: Dixie Music Festival – London17: Dragon Boat Festival – Paducah17: GourdPatchFestival–Mayfield17: Jane’s Saddlebag Craft Beer &

Bourbon Festival – Union17: National Jug Band Jubilee –

Louisville17-30: Harvest Festival (weekends) –

Georgetown 17-18: Fall Festival – Midway17-18: Festival Latino – Lexington17-18: Simon Kenton Festival – Maysville21-24: Honeyfest – Clarkson22-24: Barbecue on the River – Paducah22-24: Bluegrass Festival – Vine Grove22-24: Casey Co. Apple Festival – Liberty22-24: Mountain Heritage Festival –

Whitesburg22-24: Ohio Co. Fair – Hartford22-25: World Chicken Festival – London

23: Brewfest – Louisville23-24: Cave Run Storytelling Festival –

Morehead23-24: Central Ky. Crafts Festival –

Owenton23-24: Proud Days – Cave City

(see CALENDAR, page 10)

Agritourism Kentucky • September-October 2016 • 9

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Send your activity newsto your state newsletter!

Publicize your end-of-year events in the next Agritourism Kentucky,

out Friday, November 4 ‒ in time to let everyone know how your agritourism venue

plans to mark the holiday season. Copy deadline: Friday, Oct. 14.

Agritourism KentuckyA KENTUCKY AGRITOURISM INDUSTRY MANAGEMENT NEWSLETTER

Published by the Kentucky Department of AgricultureRyan F. Quarles, Commissioner ∙ Amelia Brown Wilson, Director, Division of Agritourism

23-24: Wall Street Festival – Lebanon Junction

23-25: Anderson Co. Burgoo Festival – Lawrenceburg

23-25: Marion Co. Country Ham Days – Lebanon

23-25: Morgan Co. Sorghum Festival – West Liberty

23-25: Oktoberfest – Newport23-25: Ol’ Cider Days – Versailles

24: ButterflyFestival–OakGrove24: DKY Harvest & Heritage Fest –

Danville24: International Festival – Bowling Green24: Merchants and Music Festival –

Fort Thomas24: Nulu Fest – Louisville24: St. Francis of Assisi Fall Festival –

Louisville24: Seven Springs Sorghum Festival –

Sulphur Well24-25: Fort Harrod Jazz Festival –

Harrodsburg24-25: Irish Fest – Louisville24-25: Ol’ Cider Days – Utica

25: Art Off Pike Arts Festival – Covington26-10/1: Spencer Co. Octoberfest –

Taylorsville29-10/1: Bittersweet Festival – Mount Vernon 29-10/1: Carroll Co. Tobacco Festival –

Carrollton29-10/1: Down Home Days – Muldraugh 29-10/1: Old Fashion Days – Greenup30-10/1: Apple Festival – Paintsville 30-10/1: Black Bear Festival – Cumberland30-10/1:JimBeamBBQClassic–Springfield30-10/1: Mary Breckinridge Festival – Hyden30-10/2: St. James Court Art Show –

Louisville30-10/2: ScareFest – Lexington 30-10/2:SorghumFestival–Springfield30-10/2:WashingtonCo.Fair–Springfield

OCTOBER1: Arts and Crafts Festival – Wilmore 1: Crittenden Co. Pumpkin Festival –

Marion 1: Edmonton-Metcalfe Co. Chamber

Pumpkin Festival – Edmonton

1: Noble Pioneer Village Heritage Day – Booneville

1: Northern Ky. Kite Festival – Dayton1: Octoberfest Celebration – Smithland

1-2: GRADD Arts & Crafts Festival – Henderson

1-2: Lincoln Days – Hodgenville 1-2: Louder than Life Festival – Louisville1-2: Pumpkin Festival – Paris1-8: Logan Co. Tobacco and Heritage

Festival – Russellville2-8: Daniel Boone Festival – Barbourville

5: Taste of Louisville5-8: Jenny Wiley Festival – Prestonburg6-9: McCreary Co. Heritage Trail Days –

Whitley City7-8: Belknap Fall Festival – Louisville7-8: Caneyville Fair and Homecoming7-8: Downtown Days – Columbia7-8: Garvin Gate Blues Festival – Louisville7-9: Civil War Days – Columbus7-9: Oak, Toast and Two Aging Barrels

Festival – Covington7-9: Wool Festival – Falmouth

8: Barktoberfest – Louisville 8: Foxhollow Farm Fall Festival –

Crestwood 8: Harvest Fest – Newport8: Hunters Moon Fall Festival – Grand Rivers8: South Elkhorn Christian Church

Fall Festival – Lexington

8: Southwest Festival – Louisville8: Turning of the Leaves Festival –

Augusta8-9: Arts, Crafts & Antique Fair – Bardstown8-9: KGAC Fall Fair – Berea8-9: Old Fashioned Court Days –

Flemingsburg8-9: Perryville Commemoration –

Perryville9: Farmington Harvest Festival –

Louisville13-15: Big Buffalo Crossing BBQ Cook-

Off – Munfordville14-15: Foothills Festival – Albany 14-15: Forkland Heritage Festival and

Revue – Gravel Switch 14-15: Trigg Co. Country Ham Festival – Cadiz14-16: Salt Festival – Union14-17: October Court Days – Mount Sterling

15: Craft Beer Festival – Bardstown 15: Crossing Festival – Glendale15: Maiden Alley Oktoberfest – Paducah

15-16: Apple Festival – Owensboro 15-16: ColorFest – Clermont21-22: Harvest Festival – Wickliffe 21-23: Hermitage Classic and Fall Festival –

Goshen21-23: Woolly Worm Festival – Beattyville22-23: Independence Bank Sorghum

Festival – Hawesville 28: Beer Festival – Louisville

CALENDAR ... �om page 8

Agritourism Kentucky • September-October 2016 • 11