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The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources encourages youngsters – and the young at heart – to put on their costumes and join the Salato Wildlife Education Center staff in Frankfort for the best trick-or-treat experience in town on Saturday, Oct. 27.
Salato’s annual Halloween Walk with the Animals event features child-friendly activities including a hay bale maze, “Creatures of the Night” exhibit, face painting and – of course – plenty of candy. Kids will receive a “passport” which they can get stamped at more than a dozen candy stations scattered throughout the grounds. Salato staff and volunteers will be on hand to answer questions and the center’s indoor and outdoor exhibits will be open for viewing. The event will also feature food and beverage vendors.
The center will open at noon (Eastern) for the event, which runs until 4 p.m. Event admission is $5 per person (ages 2 and up). Annual membership holders and infants too young to participate receive free admission.
The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation sponsors Halloween Walk with the Animals. Proceeds from the event benefit the Salato center.
Walk with the Animals not only allows families to enjoy the traditions of Halloween, but it provides a great opportunity for visitors to see and learn more about Kentucky’s native wildlife. “Halloween Walk with the Animals is a fun community event that we look forward to hosting each year,” said Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation Director Rachel Crume. “This event provides a unique venue, as well as a fun and safe environment in which families can enjoy the holiday.”
The Salato Center is operated by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. The center is off U.S. 60, approximately 1½ miles west of the U.S. 127 intersection. Look for the bronze deer statue at the entrance of the main Kentucky Fish and Wildlife campus.
Normal hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Salato is closed on Sunday, Monday and state holidays. The center will close for the winter after Nov. 21, then reopen in the spring of 2019.
Except for select events, admission is $5 for adults and $3 for youth 5 to 18. Children younger than 5 are admitted free. The center also offers annual memberships for individuals and families.
Join the Kentucky Derby Museum for the 3rd annual Horses, Haunts and Hooch, presented by Northwestern Mutual, on Thursday, October 25th from 6:30 to 10pm.
Get into the Halloween spirit with a beer garden on the Oaks Garden Terrace, tours of the Kentucky Derby Museum’s cemetery and “darker side” of historic Churchill Downs Racetrack to hear creepy stories of legends and lore.
Sip on craft beers from six regional breweries including Against the Grain, BBC, Great Flood Brewing, Holsopple Brewing, Rhinegeist and West Sixth in our Halloween-themed beer garden.
Enjoy multiple food stations including a slider bar, mac and cheese bites and more as well as delicious, specialty bites with fall flair from Red Top Hotdogs, NoBaked Cookie Dough, Hi-Five Doughnuts!
All food, beverages and tours are complimentary and are included in the event ticket price. Come dressed in your best Halloween ensemble and participate in our Costume Contest and join in some spirited games. Everyone will take home a mini beer stein, perfect for sampling!
Tickets are $35 per person in advance/$40 per person at the door. Kentucky Derby Museum members are $30. (Must be 21 or over to attend.)
To learn more and purchase tickets visit DerbyMuseum.org.
CycLOUvia, the popular event showcasing alternative transportation, is returning to Bardstown Road for the seventh time on Sunday, October 21. The CycLOUvia on Bardstown Road is named in honor of former District 8 Councilman Tom Owen, a lifelong advocate for bicycles and pedestrians in our community.
Bardstown Road from Douglass Boulevard to Broadway will be closed to vehicular traffic from 2-6 p.m. Police will facilitate motor crossings at Grinstead Drive and Eastern Parkway. Many businesses along the corridor will be open and engaging pedestrians with special events.
“CycLOUvia has become a favorite event for all ages to enjoy a car-free, dense, urban corridor,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “Bring your bikes, skateboards and walking shoes while enjoying everything our small businesses have to offer.”
The return to the Highlands marks the fifteenth CycLOUvia event and seventh on Bardstown Road. Previous events have been held on Frankfort Avenue, West Broadway and in Three Points (Germantown, Schnitzelburg and Shelby Park).
Commercial establishments with frontage along the Bardstown Road corridor are encouraged to open their businesses during event hours and to engage participants, creating an atmosphere that is uniquely Louisville.
During CycLOUvia, streets become paved parks where people of all ages, abilities, and socio-economic backgrounds can come to improve their mental, physical, and emotional health.
Since 2012, CycLOUvia events have attracted tens of thousands of people to neighborhoods across the city. CycLOUvia promotes healthy lifestyles, alternative transportation, safety and economic development.
For more information, please visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/advanced-planning/cyclouvia
Coca-Cola Consolidated and Louisville Parks and Recreation will host a public celebration of the newly refreshed Portland Park. The event will be this Saturday, October 21, starting at 11:00 AM. The Portland Park is located at 640 N 27th St.
Brief remarks will be made by Mayor Greg Fischer. The event is free and open to the public, and will offer food trucks, live music, face painting, crafts and more. Information about open jobs and joining the Coke Consolidated team will also be available.
“Louisville Parks and Recreation is pleased to see our partnership continue to grow with Coca Cola Consolidated, the Joey Logano Foundation and the KY Speedway,” said Ben Johnson, Assistant Director for Louisville Parks and Recreation. “This Family Fun Festival is a new event for us and we are excited for it to take place in the same park where we partnered to put in a brand new playground this summer.”
“Coca-Cola Consolidated is honored to partner with Louisville Parks and Recreation and the Joe Logano Foundation through our Big Hearts, mini cans program,” said Audie Wilson, Director of Retail Sales for Coca-Cola Consolidated. “Our mini cans might be small, but our heart for the Louisville community is enormous.”
Photo: Louisville Metro Council
Councilman David Yates (D-25) and Councilman Rick Blackwell (D-12) are once again hosting their annual Southwest YMCA Fall Family Festival on Friday, October 19th.
It’s a free event for the whole family and the entire community.
“The Fall Family Festival gives parents and children a safe place to celebrate Halloween a little early and just enjoy the season,” says Yates. “We have a very strong partnership with the YMCA. The festival provides an opportunity for everyone in the community to learn more about the great programs offered at the Y.”
“Events like Family Fall Festival bring our neighborhoods together in Southwest Louisville,” says Blackwell. “This is a perfect opportunity for neighbors and families to gather together and enjoy fun activities for all ages.”
Photo: Louisville Metro Council
The Southwest YMCA Fall Family Festival will be held from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at the Y located at 2800 Fordhaven Road. It will include the following activities: Pick your own Pumpkin, Inflatable Fun, Group Fitness Demonstrations, Face Painting, Games and other activities.
Both Councilmen will be provide free hot dogs and bottled water.
The event will get underway rain or shine. In the event of bad weather, all festivities will move indoors.
For more information you can contact President Yates’ office at 574-1125 or Councilman Blackwell’s office at 574-1112. Or contact to the Southwest YMCA at 502-933-9622.
Photo: Louisville Metro Council
Dare to Care is working with Metro Louisville to relocate its production kitchen operations to the site of the former Parkland Grocery, 1200 South 28th Street. At its current location, Dare to Care produces about 1,200 suppers each workday that are delivered to 34 afterschool sites in the community. The relocation would allow an expansion of this meal production and open the potential for other meal services, including additional Kids Café meals and congregate meal services for senior adults.
The site, owned by Metro Government, has now been vacant for several years but at one time was the location of the Parkland neighborhood’s closest grocery store.
“I want to make sure that everyone in the Parkland area has an opportunity to learn more about this plan,” says Councilwoman Jessica Green (D-1). “This is an opportunity to take an abandoned building and turn it into an asset to the neighborhood.”
In addition to its meal production services, Dare to Care would like to move its administrative and fundraising offices from its main distribution facility on Fern Valley Road to the Parkland Grocery. Other plans for the building include operating a Culinary Skills Job Training program in collaboration with Catholic Charities of Louisville, creating office space for the Metro Police Public Integrity Unit so that it can move from the former Parkland Library into the Parkland Grocery freeing the library for possible future reopening as a Louisville Free Public Library. Shell space for a future retail food market is also in the plan.
To discuss Dare to Care’s plans and get residents’ input, Councilwoman Green is hosting a neighborhood meeting on Thursday, October 18, at 6 pm, at the Baptist Fellowship Center, 1351 Catalpa Street. Brian Riendeau, Dare to Care Executive Director, will be at the meeting to detail the plan, listen to comments, and answer questions. Supper will be provided by Dare to Care.
“I encourage everyone to come out and ask questions about this plan and if you have some additional ideas let us know,” says Green.
Dare to Care Food Bank is a local nonprofit agency with a mission to lead the community to feed the hungry and conquer the cycle of need. In the past twelve months, Dare to Care distributed food for over 20 million meals to eight Kentucky and five Indiana counties. Dare to Care, through its Community Kitchen, serves 34 Kids Cafes in neighborhood afterschool locations and operates Backpack Buddy weekend nutrition programs in 38 Kentuckiana elementary schools. Learn more at www.daretocare.org.
Step back in time as Big Bone Lick State Historic Site returns to days long past during the 36th annual Salt Festival the weekend of Oct. 19-21.
The festival features live demonstrations of pioneer lifeways and frontier skills. Enjoy folk and bluegrass music, listen to a storyteller, view prehistoric Ice Age artifacts, and observe a blacksmith working red-hot iron.
Guests can also see how salt was extracted from the waters of Big Bone, watch a flintknapper make a stone point, and discover how bison hair was spun into yarn. Browse the crafters corner to see the many local, handcrafted items for sale, and take advantage of the good eats at the food court.
This year’s festival entertainment will feature exclusive presentations by Kentucky Humanities performers including Daniel Boone: The First Kentuckian, and Dr. Ephraim McDowell: Frontier Surgeon. Also returning to the festival field is All Nations Drum; an Intertribal Native American group showcasing traditional song and dance.
While visiting the Boone County park, be sure to drop by the park’s museum and visitor’s center to see some of the “big bones.” A shuttle van will transport event-goers to and from the festival field, museum, and campground at regular intervals. Don’t miss seeing the bison herd, the park’s living link to Kentucky’s early history.
On Friday, Oct. 19, the park will host school groups. Schools interested in bringing classes to the festival should call the park at 859-384-3522 as advance registration is required to receive the discounted school admission rate. The deadline to register is Oct. 10. Regular festival admission is $5 per person; children 5 and under are free. Admission is cash only.
For information about the park, visit http://parks.ky.gov/parks/historicsites/big-bone-lick/. Big Bone Lick State Historic Site is recognized as the birthplace of American vertebrate paleontology for its significant role in the development of scientific thought regarding extinction and the relationship between geology and paleontology the world over. The park is located 22 miles southwest of Covington on KY 338, off US 42/127 and I-71 & I-75. From I-75 north or south, take exit 175 to KY 338. From I-71 north or south, take exit 62 to 127N/42E to KY 338.
