Weather
Traffic
@LouisvilleDispatch
@LouisvilleDisp
Subscribe
Sunday December 21, 2025
Local Connection
The four outdoor pools operated by Louisville Parks and Recreation will open for the season on Saturday, May 26. The Algonquin, Norton, Fairdale and Sun Valley Park pools are fully staffed with lifeguards, though the department is looking to hire additional staff for the pools this summer.
The department will be hosting a lifeguard training course for those who are interested from 4-9 p.m. Monday, May 21 to Friday, May 25. The course will take place at the Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center in Crescent Hill Park. Those who take the course and become certified will have all course fees waived if they commit to working at a Louisville Parks and Recreation pool for one year. Lifeguards will be paid $10.50 per hour.
Admission is $2 for children 17 and younger and $3 for adults 18 and over. Photo identification is required for anyone age 9 or older; children 8 and under must be accompanied by a guardian 12 or older with photo identification. Metro Parks can make identification cards for children who need them for $4 per card; call (502) 897-9949 for details.
(Note: For information on the Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center, click here.)
Parks pools will be open:
Summer 2018: May 26, 27 & 28- Memorial Day Weekend &
June 2 – August 4 pools will open with the following schedules:
Algonquin Park
1614 Cypress Street, 40210
502/772-7907
Open Daily: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. • Closed Tuesdays
Fairdale (Nelson Hornbeck Park)
709 Fairdale Road, 40118
502/361-8270
Open Daily: 1 p.m. – 6 p.m. • Closed Mondays (but open Memorial Day)
Norton (Camp Taylor Memorial Park)
4201 Lee Avenue, 40213
502/451-0678
Open Daily: 11 a m.- 4 p m • Closed Thursdays
Sun Valley Park
6506 Bethany Lane, 40272
502/935-0302
Open Daily: 1p m – 6 p.m. • Closed Wednesdays
Prerequisites for Lifeguard Training
The following are prerequisite skills for lifeguard training; you will be asked to perform these skills on the first day of class.
- Swim 300 yards continuously– 100 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, and 100 choice of freestyle or breaststroke.
- Tread water for two minutes no hands.
- Swim 20 yards and surface dive 10 feet retrieving a 10-pound brick. Once swimmer has retrieved brick then the swimmer must swim 20 yards on their back while holding both hands on the brick to the original starting point.
- The swimmer must exit the water without using a ladder or steps. This prerequisite must be completed in 1 min and 40 seconds.
To register for the course, call Keith Smith at (502) 895-6499.
Photo: Louisville Metro Council
He was a great leader, committed to being a voice for minorities and other disadvantaged citizens and his work will be long remembered by the people he served and touched in Metro Louisville and across the United States.
On Friday, May 18th Councilwoman Barbara Sexton Smith (D-4) will join the family and friends of the late Rev. Dr. C. Mackey Daniels to unveil an honorary sign at the corner of 18th and West Chestnut Streets to commemorate his life and legacy.
“It was an honor to serve alongside Rev. Dr. C. Mackey Daniels on the Simmons College of Kentucky Board of Trustees. He provided informed wisdom and governed with a steady hand every step of the way. Simmons College of Kentucky and our community are better today because he lived a legacy-filled life,” says Sexton Smith.
A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Rev. Dr. Charles Mackey Daniels came to Louisville in 1977 to be the pastor of the West Chestnut Street Baptist Church and served there for 40 years. He passed away earlier this week at the age of 81.
Dr. Daniels earned a BA and BD from Morris College and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity from both Morris College and Simmons College of Kentucky.
During his time as pastor, Dr. Daniels expanded the church’s youth and outreach ministries, as well as its physical structure by building a $1.3M Christian Life Center, and has improved the church’s beautification and strengthened its property assets and fiscal management. He also established the C. Mackey Daniels Scholarships to provide financial assistance to college-bound students, and a Bridge to Success program to help youth get ahead rather than having to play “catch up” in life
Under his leadership, the church has partnered with the Highland Presbyterian Church to embark on innovative, community ministries that include a court monitoring program, a reading program in the poorest elementary schools, a pulpit exchange, and annual joint worship service, all which have been interracial bridge builders that enhance on-going racial harmony.
In his lifetime, Dr. Daniels has served as President of the Progressive National Baptist Convention and as a member of the World Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches, the Baptist Joint Committee, the Congress of National Black Churches, Inc., and U of L’s Upward Bound, and is a Lifetime Member of the NAACP, Urban League, and Trustee of Simmons Bible College.
Councilwoman Sexton Smith sponsored the Resolution which called for the placement of honorary street sign at the southeast corner of 18th and West Chestnut Streets to be designated as “Dr. C. Mackey Daniels Way.”
The Metro Council unanimously passed the Resolution.
The unveiling ceremony will take place at 2:30pm at the corner of 18th and West Chestnut Streets.
There a few places in Metro Louisville where you will find scenic beauty and hear great Bluegrass Music. In the springtime, the best place to find both is in the Jefferson Memorial Forest.
On Saturday, May 19th Council members Vicki Aubrey Welch (D-13), Cindi Fowler (D-14) and David Yates (D-25) proudly present the 14th Annual Forest Fest.
“I am pleased to once again join with The Jefferson Memorial Forest as a presenting sponsor to bring this wonderful spring tradition to everyone in the community . It’s a one of kind event where you can sit back on a Saturday afternoon and enjoy some great music,” says Welch. “Every year I encourage those who have never been to the Jefferson Memorial Forest to take this opportunity to come out and experience the spectacular view from the overlook at Jefferson Memorial Forest!”
The 14th Annual Forest Fest will feature The Lonely Heartstring Band, Nora Jane Struthers, the Whiskey Bent Valley Boys, Hog Operation and the Local Honeys.
“Forest Fest brings together the best opportunity for adults and children to come to one of the prettiest spots we have in Southwest Jefferson County,” says Fowler. “The people of our area know this is where you can celebrate the beauty of spring and hear some very talented musicians at the same time.”
“Forest Fest is just another way the people of our districts show their pride and hospitality by welcoming those who may not know we have a great urban forest right here in Metro Louisville,” says Yates. “This third Saturday in May is always fun and entertaining for all.”
While Bluegrass Music is the main attraction of Forest Fest, it is also an opportunity to take a walk around the forest and see some fine arts and crafts, food and other refreshments presented by vendors.
Forest Fest Band Schedule
11:30 a.m. Local Honeys
12:45 p.m. Hog Operation
2:00 p.m. Whisky Bent Valley Boys
3:50 p.m. Nora Jane Struthers
5:30 p.m. Lonely Heart Strings
Forest Fest Schedule of Activities
10:30 a.m. Booths open to the public; food areas open; Forest Nature booth opens for children
11:30 a.m. Music begins; Children’s activities begin (until 5 p.m.)
1-1:45 p.m. Band Workshop: Local Honeys Children’s songwriting
2-2:45 p.m. Band Workshop: Hog Operation
2:45 -3:30 p.m. Band Workshop: Nora Jane Struthers
4:30-5 p.m. Band Workshop: Lonely Heart strings
7:00 p.m. Forest Fest concludes
The Jefferson Memorial Forest staff will have nature presentations and information about educational programs and a children’s area. If you like, you can check out the trails and all the beauty the forest has to offer.
The 14th Annual Forest Fest is made possible through the financial support of Council members Welch, Fowler and Yates whose districts represent the Jefferson Memorial Forest.
Joining them as co-sponsors this year: Councilpersons Rick Blackwell (District 12), Marianne Butler (District 15), James Peden (District 23), Madonna Flood (District 24), Jessica Green (District 1), Barbara Shanklin (District 2), Bill Hollander (District 9), Pat Mulvihill (District 10), Glen Stuckel (District 17), Vitalis Lanshima (District 21), Robin Engel (District 22), Barbara Sexton Smith (District 4), Cheri Bryant Hamilton (District 5), Brandon Coan (District 8), and Stuart Benson (District 20).
Also sponsoring the event are: Aetna, WFPK Radio Louisville, and 502 Yoga.
The concert is free, but parking is $10 per car. Bring a blanket or a folding chair as well as picnic food, but no alcoholic beverages are allowed to be brought in but they can be purchased on site.
“So if you love good music and want to get out of the house on a Saturday, come join us” says Welch.
To find out more about the 14th Annual Forest Fest, contact the Jefferson Memorial Forest at 368-6856.
The Louisville Metro Office of Housing & Community Development and Louisville Affordable Housing Trust Fund, in partnership with consultants Mullin & Lonergan Associates Incorporated, are leading an effort to develop a Housing Needs Assessment for Louisville.
The Housing Needs Assessment will look at the current housing stock and the community’s future needs, including both short and long-term projections for the next 20 years in five year increments. Once completed, the Assessment will serve as a guide for Louisville policy makers and housing partners, both private and non-profit. The Assessment is anticipated to be completed in fall 2018.
The Housing Needs Assessment will:
- Examine demographic and housing market trends
- Determine the supply and demand for housing types at various income levels across market areas
- Identify areas of opportunity across Louisville’s neighborhoods, particularly in linking housing to job centers
- Provide implementation strategies to enhance the quality of housing and neighborhoods; and
- Provide a methodology that will allow Louisville Metro to update data on an annual basis using U.S. Census and other readily available sources.
Three public meetings will be held to discuss the Housing Needs Assessment:
- May 23 from 2-4 p.m. at the Edison Center (701 W. Ormsby)
- May 23 from 6-8 p.m. at the South Central Regional Library (7300 Jefferson Boulevard)
- May 24 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. at the Middletown Firehouse (108 Urton Lane)
All Louisville residents are also asked to complete a housing survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LouisvilleResidentSurvey, whether they can attend a public meeting or not. The survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete and will be available until May 31.
For more information on the Housing Needs Assessment, please visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/housing-community-development.
The American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration (AAPRA), in partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), is pleased to announce Louisville Parks and Recreation as a finalist for the 2018 National Gold Medal Awards for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management. Musco Lighting, LLC has been a proud sponsor of the Gold Medal Awards program for over 10 years.
Founded in 1965, the Gold Medal Awards program honors communities in the U.S. that demonstrate excellence in parks and recreation through long-range planning, resource management, volunteerism, environmental stewardship, program development, professional development and agency recognition. Applications are separated into seven classes, with five classes based on population, one class for armed forces recreation and one class for state park systems awarded on odd numbered years.
Louisville is a finalist in the Class 1 category, which includes cities of populations larger than 400,000 and most of the largest parks and recreation departments in the United States.
Agencies are judged on their ability to address the needs of those they serve through the collective energies of community members, staff and elected officials. Louisville joins three other finalists in their class that will compete for grand honors this year.
“It’s an honor for Louisville to be named a finalist for the Gold Medal Award,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “I’d like to thank NRPA for recognizing what the citizens of our city have known for a long time: We are blessed with a world-class parks and recreation system. Our citizens and visitors have enjoyed our parks since the 1890s, when Frederick Law Olmsted’s vision began to take shape, and this is a great recognition of our commitment to keep building on that vision.”
“This is a great day for our department and its employees,” Parks and Recreation Director Seve Ghose said. “Our dedicated staff works incredibly hard every day to give all citizens of Louisville a parks and recreation system they can be proud of. We’re thrilled to be nominated for the Gold Medal.”
A panel of five park and recreation professionals reviews and judges all application materials. Judges are chosen for their considerable experience and knowledge in parks and recreation on both the local and national levels.
This year’s finalists will compete for Grand Plaque Award honors this summer, and the six Grand Plaque recipients will be announced live during the NRPA General Session at the 2018 NRPA Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, Sept. 25–27, 2018.
For more information on the Gold Medal Awards, visit www.nrpa.org/goldmedal or www.aapra.org.
An employee of Domino’s Pizza at 10000 Brownsboro Rd. and an employee of Old Chicago Pizza and Tap Room at 9013 Taylorsville Rd. have been diagnosed with acute hepatitis A.
Customers who ate at this Domino’s from April 15, 2018 to April 28, 2018 and customers who ate at this Old Chicago from April 21, 2018 to May 5, 2018 may have been exposed to the hepatitis A virus. While the risk of contracting hepatitis A from eating at either of these restaurants 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 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. Domino’s scored 100 and 98-A on its last two health inspections. Old Chicago scored 96-A and 95-A on its last two health inspections.
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. Since the outbreak began there have been 327 cases diagnosed in Louisville and nearly 27,000 vaccinated.
“While we have had a very small number of food workers diagnosed with hepatitis A in our community, there still has been NO foodborne transmission,” said Dr. Lori Caloia, medical director. “Also, our restaurant industry has really stepped up to the plate to get their workers immunized. About 5,000 local food service employees have been vaccinated against hepatitis A.”
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. Old Chicago Pizza and Tap Room customers with questions may also call the restaurant’s tollfree hotline at 1-844-944-0444.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), are seeking public input regarding the proposed construction of a multi-use path in McNeely Lake Park, a public-use recreational resource protected under Section 4(f) of the Transportation Act of 1966.
The general project description is to construct a shared use path (part of the Louisville Loop) along McNeely Lake from Cooper Chapel Rd to Cedar Creek Rd, to connect with the access road in the vicinity of the soccer facilities in the south area of McNeely Lake Park.
The purpose of the project is to enhance the park experience by providing connectivity to and within the park. This extension of the Louisville Loop will provide a connection between Cooper Chapel Road and Cedar Creek Road. This connection will allow access to existing recreational activity areas, as well as, to previously inaccessible areas. The need for this project is identified through the evolving land use changes surrounding the park. The land is changing from lower density agricultural lands to higher density residential areas in southern Jefferson County. There is demand for better connectivity to the developed recreational facilities within McNeely Lake Park. This project is identified in the Louisville Loop Master Plan and the McNeely Lake Park Master Plan.
The Louisville Loop is a shared use path that once completed will encircle the city of Louisville. It is estimated to be a 100-mile system that will link existing and new parks with the surrounding neighborhoods and communities. The path is intended to be both recreational and functional. It provides alternative transportation routes for pedestrians, bicycles, equestrian, and transit. It will provide linkages not only within the park, but also, to the surrounding neighborhoods and schools, such as Wilt Elementary School. This project will also provide an ecological stepping stone between Jefferson Memorial Forest and The Parklands of Floyds Fork. The goals of this project and the Louisville Loop are to improve their users health and fitness, celebrate the natural and cultural history of Louisville, enrich lives with public art, and serve as a catalyst for economic development.
The preferred alternative constructs approximately 1.65 miles of shared use path, extending from the trailhead area to the northern entrance of McNeely Lake Park off Cooper Chapel Rd. This alignment travels just north of the existing overhead electric lines and just east of the proposed bridge across the McNeely Lake Dam Spillway. The path would extend on top of the dam, and generally follow the existing utility easement and lake edge until reaching the boat ramp parking area. The alignment includes a second pedestrian bridge to extend across a short cove of McNeely Lake, as well as, reconstructing/reconfiguring the boat ramp parking lot and boat ramp. This alternative terminates at Cooper Chapel Road. This alignment was chosen because it further enhances user experience, better meets sight distance requirements, and minimizes the limits of disturbance. In order to better match the surrounding land uses, the alignment will be constructed with an asphalt surface through the wooded section of the trail (from the start of the project at Cedar Creek Road to the apartment complex property), and then concrete surface through the managed portions of the trail (the apartment complex property to Cooper Chapel Rd). It effectively meets the purpose of the project by providing connectivity between Cooper Chapel Road and Cedar Creek Road. It provides connection to existing recreational activity areas, as well as, to previously inaccessible areas. The project further enhances the recreational facilities within the park. Reconstructing the boat ramp parking lot allows for the installation of pedestrian facilities that are not existing today. It allows this area to be brought up to ADA standards, and provides full access for bicyclists and pedestrians with the trail. This alternative also reduces the conflict points by eliminating the necessity to cross the driving entrances to the parking lot.
Your comments will be used in determining any potential effects the proposed path could have on McNeely Lake Park or affect the activities, features, or attributes that make the park a Section 4(f)-eligible property.
Please address any comments regarding potential 4(f) impacts anticipated from this project to:
Lindsay Ashby
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
District 5 Environmental Coordinator
8310 Westport Road
Louisville, KY 40242
(502) 210-5400
lindsay.ashby@ky.gov
