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Sunday December 21, 2025
Local Connection
Mayor Greg Fischer, Metro Councilmembers and officials from Louisville Parks and Recreation helped dedicate a new five-a-side soccer field at Beechmont Community Center in south Louisville today.
Funding for the new soccer field is the result of a partnership between the Louisville Parks Foundation, a non-profit that supports Louisville Parks and Recreation, and Louisville City FC. The outdoor artificial turf field is the first of five planned for local parks in south Louisville.
“Soccer is a growing sport in our community. So when the opportunity presented itself to add this new amenity to parks, with the help of our friends at LouCity, we seized it!,” said Louisville Parks Foundation, CEO, Brooke Pardue. “We hope other individuals and organizations will see the value and help us complete our goal of building four more fields.”
“I’m grateful to Louisville City FC, which is creating a huge buzz around soccer right now in our city, for joining the Parks Foundation to help to create soccer fields in South Louisville where all residents, bound by a love for this sport, can come together,” Mayor Greg Fischer said.
“As our community and team continue to grow, LouCity makes this donation with the future in mind. The community’s youth will be an integral part of both our city and our support one day and we are excited to see this project come to fruition,” said Brad Estes, Executive Vice President of Louisville City FC.
Five-a-side soccer is a variation of soccer, where each team fields five players. Other differences include a smaller pitch, smaller goals and a reduced game duration. Matches are played on artificial grass pitches that may be enclosed within a barrier or “cage” to prevent the ball from leaving the playing area and keep the game flowing.
The $75,000 project was funded by the Louisville Parks Foundation and includes a turf donation from Louisville City FC valued at $45,000. The Louisville Parks Foundation is seeking to raise an additional $383,000 to complete the other four fields.
Anyone interested in donating to future fields should contact Brooke Pardue or visit lpfky.org.
Laughter is the best medicine, or so the saying goes! We’re thrilled to offer so many top-notch comics on stage at the historic Brown Theatre on Broadway. Tickets are on sale now. Follow the links below or call The Kentucky Center Ticket Service at (502) 584-7777.
- NICK SWARDSON: Too Many Smells Tour Friday, June 15 *Mature Content
- Eddie Griffin – Undeniable Tour Saturday, July 21 *Mature Content
- Miranda Sings Live…No Offense Starring Colleen Ballinger Saturday, July 28 *Rated PG-13 due to mild profanity
- David Cross: Oh Come On Thursday, August 9 *Mature Content
- The wellRED Comedy Tour: From Dixie with Love Saturday, September 8 *Mature Content
- Brian Regan Saturday, September 29 *All Ages
Locust Grove is pleased to welcome Kentucky Opera, the State Opera of Kentucky, to the Summer Thursday Concert Series at the historic site. This three-concert series brings the voices of Kentucky Opera to explore the history of Kentucky from its beginnings to the present date through song. Concerts will be held on Thursdays June 14, July 19, and August 30 at 6:30 pm. Each program will focus on a different theme, from traditional regional music, drinking songs, and opera favorites.
Music in the American Wild – Thursday, June 14, 6:30 pm
From the early farm beginnings in the 1790s, to the present day historic site, Kentucky Opera artists will explore the history of Locust Grove through the music of the region, featuring the evolution of spirituals, hymns, American art songs and opera. Featuring Kentucky Opera artists Christina Booker, David George, and Sankara Mitchell Harouna.
Cheers! Prost! À Votre Santé! – Thursday, July 19, 6:30 pm
Enjoy a toast…or several, with appropriate libations and your favorite opera drinking songs performed by Kentucky Opera artists. Come early to explore the distilling activities of early small-farm Kentucky with The Farm Distillery Project.
Locust Grove and Opera—A Musical Timeline – Thursday, August 30, 6:30 pm
Enjoy your opera favorites as explored through the history of Locust Grove. Settler William Croghan was calling Louisville home by 1784. That same year, Mozart became a Freemason in Austria, personally adapting ideals that not only influenced the American Founding Fathers, but would later embed themselves in his acclaimed opera, The Magic Flute. When The Magic Flute premiered a few years later in 1792, Italian opera legend Gioacchino Rossini was born in Italy, and back in Kentucky, William and Lucy Clark Croghan were building their home, Locust Grove. The Croghan family sold the land to riverboat captain James Paul in 1878, when productions of Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S Pinafore premiered in the states, inspiring great interest in light opera throughout the country. When the site was purchased by Jefferson County and the Commonwealth of Kentucky and subsequently restored and opened to the public in 1964, Kentucky Opera was producing Bizet’s Carmen, Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte and Verdi’s Rigoletto.
Guests are encouraged to bring their own blankets and chairs for all concerts. Doors open at 6:00 pm; performance begins at 6:30 pm. Concessions will be available for sale. Tickets: $16/$14 for members.
The Military Vehicle Preservation Association International Convention brings together historic military vehicle enthusiasts from around the world. Many of the best vehicles of all types and eras including hundreds of restored and original vehicles, parts vendors, seminars and more.
The Convention is in the South Wing at the Kentucky Exposition Center. It starts this Thursday, June 14th, and continues through Saturday. The show opens at 8 AM each day and closes at 5 PM.
Tickets are $35 for all three days, or $10 for Saturday only. Children under the age of 12 and active duty military are free. Parking at the Exposition Center is $8 per vehicle or $20 per bus.
More information can be found online at: www.mvpa.org/convention
An employee of the Speedway located at 5400 Antle Dr. has been diagnosed with acute hepatitis A.
Only customers who ate prepared food products such as pizza, hot dogs, breakfast sandwiches at this Speedway from May 15, 2018 to May 31, 2018 may have been exposed to the hepatitis A virus. Customers who purchased fuel or packaged goods are not at risk.
While the risk of contracting hepatitis A from eating at Speedway is low, the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness is issuing this advisory out of an abundance of caution. The hepatitis A outbreak remains centered among the homeless and those who use illegal drugs.
When a food service worker is diagnosed with hepatitis A, he or she is immediately excluded from work and not allowed to return without release from his or her medical provider. Additionally, all employees at the establishment are vaccinated and disinfection and sanitation practices are followed. This Speedway’s last two food service inspection scores were 98-A and 100-A.
Symptoms of hepatitis A are fatigue, decreased appetite, stomach pain, nausea, darkened urine, pale stools and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes). People can become ill 15 to 50 days after being exposed to the virus. Anyone experiencing symptoms should seek medical attention.
Hepatitis A is usually transmitted by putting something in your mouth such as an object, food or drink, which has been in contact with the feces of an infected person. In November, the Kentucky Department for Public Health declared a statewide hepatitis A outbreak and has recommended that all residents be vaccinated. Since the outbreak began there have been 446 cases diagnosed in Louisville and almost 73,000 vaccinated. Of those, more than 5,700 are food workers.
“Food-borne transmission has not been a factor in this outbreak,” said Dr. Lori Caloia, medical director of the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness. “The virus continues to be transmitted person-to-person, primarily among those who use illegal drugs and the homeless. We have had a very small number of food workers diagnosed with hepatitis A. We continue to encourage the restaurant industry to get their workers immunized.”
Reduced-cost vaccinations continue to be available to restaurant workers. Restaurant workers wishing to be vaccinated should contact their managers for details.
The best ways to prevent hepatitis A infection are to get vaccinated and to practice good handwashing. “Washing your hands thoroughly and often with warm water and soap, especially before preparing meals or eating, after using the bathroom or changing a diaper is a proven way to prevent the spread of diseases,” Dr. Caloia added. “Hand sanitizer is not as effective as hand washing against hepatitis A.”
For more information about hepatitis A visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/health-wellness/hepatitis or call 211.
Photo: Louisville Metro Office of Resilience and Community Service
Thanks to the generosity of local businesses, community organizations, and residents, hundreds of electric fans have been collected to provide heat relief for seniors and people with disabilities. A “Fan Fair” giveaway and resource event is scheduled for Saturday, June 16 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. at the Edison Center, 701 W. Ormsby Ave., Louisville, KY 40203.
Fans will be available for seniors 60 and older, as well as for individuals with documented disabilities, on a first-come, first-served basis.
Fan Fair qualifications and guidelines are as follows:
- Person 60 years or older
- Or documentation verified by a physician of a disability
- Resident of Jefferson, Oldham, Henry, Shelby, Spencer, Trimble or Bullitt Counties
- Proof of address and age
- One fan per household
A Resource Fair will coincide with the fan giveaway event to provide basic health checks and information from local resources. Participating vendors include Aetna, AARP, JenCare, Kentuckiana Regional Planning & Development Agency (KIPDA), National Kidney Foundation, Louisville Metro Office of Resilience and Community Services, Senior Medicare Patrol and several other Metro Government divisions.
The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office of Senior Protection will also be educating and distributing prescription drug disposal kits to properly and safely dispose of unwanted or expired prescription drugs in the home.
Staff with Louisville Asset Building Coalition’s VITA (the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program) will provide resources, answer questions and set up appointments for individuals needing assistance with past due and amended tax returns.
Fan Fair is sponsored by KIPDA Area Agency on Aging and Independent Living and Louisville Metro Office for Aging & Disabled Citizens (OADC). These organizations joined forces in 2016 to implement a fan drive and for the first annual Fan Fair in response to the numerous calls they received requesting heat relief.
This year’s fan collection will end June 13. Drop-off donations of new box fans can be made Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. at one of the following: KIPDA, 11520 Commonwealth Drive (Lou., KY 40299) or WLKY Studio, 1918 Mellwood Ave. (Lou, KY 40206). Monetary donations are also appreciated to purchase fans and checks can be made payable to KIPDA, Attn: Fan Fair, mailed to the address above on Commonwealth Drive, and postmarked by June 8.
To date, more than 250 fans have been donated, and more than $3500 in monetary donations have been received to purchase additional fans. Some of the many donors include:
- AARP
- Aetna
- CareSource
- JenCare
- Lowe’s
- WLKY
- Numerous individual donors
- Local churches
WLKY served as the media partner providing both on-air and on-line advertising to promote the fan collection and serving as one of the donation drop-off sites. Lowe’s provided multiple levels of support including donating more than 200 fans and allowing the purchase of additional fans at cost from the monetary donations that were collected.
“The amazing generosity we’ve received again this year is evidence of the compassion and desire to take care of one’s neighbor that exists in the Louisville community,” stated Sarah Teeters, Coordinator for OADC, part of the Office of Resilience and Community Services. “We hope to offer Fan Fair every summer as long as the need and the interest continue.”
“The increased support from the business community this year has been astonishing! It shows just how much dedication our city’s professionals have towards increasing the overall health of our community,” stated Jennifer Craig, Aging and Disability Resource Specialist for KIPDA.
For more information about the Fan Fair event, visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/resilience-and-community-services or www.KIPDA.org.
Mayor Greg Fischer was presented a Health Leadership Award yesterday at the opening dinner of the US Conference of Mayors 86th annual meeting in Boston. The award was presented by CityHealth, an initiative of the de Beaumont Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, that regularly evaluates the nation’s 40 largest cities on the number and strength of their policies that help people live longer, better lives.
Louisville was one of only nine cities recognized for health leadership at the event.
In its annual health rankings released May 22, CityHealth awarded Louisville a bronze medal overall, meaning the city has a bronze, silver or gold medal in four of the nine CityHealth policies: affordable housing, alcohol sales control, complete streets, earned sick leave, food safety/restaurant grading, healthy food procurement, high-quality universal pre-kindergarten, smoke-free indoor air, and having a minimum legal age of 21 for purchase of tobacco products.
Louisville is one of only five cities nationwide that increased its overall medal status in 2018.
Over the past year Louisville strengthened its smoke-free indoor air ordinance by prohibiting the smoking or vaping electronic cigarettes as well as hookah. The city was also recognized for instituting a healthy vending policy, as well as a restaurant grading system that requires food establishments to post their food inspection grade where customers can see it.
“This award affirms the work my administration has been focused on since day 1: that we become a healthier city,” Mayor Fischer said. “We know that policy has a tremendous impact on how healthy the people of our city can be. That’s why we adopted a health in all policies approach to all that we do. It’s great to see our efforts having positive results, and we will continue working toward that overall goal of creating a culture of health.”
