Saturday October 25, 2025
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Photo: The Kentucky Center

Please be advised that we were notified by officials at The Kentucky Center that WAITRESS, originally scheduled to play The Kentucky Center June 26-July 1, must be cancelled due to recent fire damage within the venue. As the owner of the building, the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet, working in partnership with officials at The Kentucky Center, decided to close the building for next week’s performance based on initial assessments.

Safety of patrons, staff, and performers is of utmost importance. All purchased tickets will be automatically refunded within the next several weeks.

“It’s regrettable that the presentation of WAITRESS must be cancelled, but safety is a priority”, said Leslie Broecker, President of PNC Broadway in Louisville. “We appreciate all of the hard work that The Kentucky Center staff and contractors have done thus far, but because the venue must have more time to ensure the safety of our patrons, the engagement must be cancelled and we will unfortunately be unable to reschedule or relocate this production.”

“The producers of WAITRESS are appreciative of the efforts put forth by The Kentucky Center and Broadway Across America, but are extremely disappointed not to be able to bring the show to the fantastic audiences in Louisville.”

For more information from each authorized ticket source, please contact:
PNC Broadway in Louisville subscribers: 502-561-1003
The Kentucky Center single ticket buyers: 502-584-7777
Ticketmaster: 800-982-2787

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.

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

One of the largest off-road industry shows in the country, the Unlimited Off-Road American Show & Expo roars into the Kentucky Exposition Center June 1-3 in South Wing C and Lots B, V and W.

The Unlimited Off-Road American Show & Expo (UOR) showcases a huge collection of off-road companies, parts, equipment, gear and experts. Events focus on off-road racing, rock crawling, trail riding, sand sports, motorcycles, UTVs and ATVs, adventure camping and more. Visitors discover the latest products and innovations, get first-hand experience on demo rides, and meet professionals who live the off-road lifestyle.

Crowd daily favorites include: 

  • BFGoodrich Jeep Drives: Take a BFGoodrich Jeep on a specially designed off-road course 
  • Five-Acre Obstacle Course: bring 4×4 vehicle and tackle jumps, climbs, a mud pit and more 
  • Show & Shine Contest: show off vehicle and compete for cash prizes 
  • Racer Lounge: meet the racers 
  • Garage and Live Build: watch skilled technicians at work 
  • Over 200+ exhibitors: see new products, save with special deals

Show hours are: 

  • Friday, June 1, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. 
  • Saturday, June 2, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 
  • Sunday, June 3, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. (Sunday events feature a swap meet and trail riding)

Purchase tickets online at uorshow.com/ky. Prices are:

  • Adults:
    • in advance: $15 for a one-day pass  $20 for a three-day pass
    • at the door: $20 for a one-day pass$35 for a three-day pass
  • Children ten and under are free.
  • Additional packages and discounts are available online.
  • Parking at the Kentucky Exposition Center is $8 per vehicle and $20 per bus.

For more information and a complete schedule, visit uorshow.com/ky.

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

Mayor Greg Fischer and Ocala (Florida) Mayor Kent Guinn today made their annual wager on the Kentucky Derby, placing a bottle of Woodford Reserve bourbon and Ocala brandy on the line.

This is the fifth year of the friendly wager between the mayors of the two cities, both of which are steeped in thoroughbred tradition and consider themselves spirited rivals for the status of Horse Capital of the World.

Mayor Fischer this year picked Mendelssohn to win the 144th Kentucky Derby and make the time-honored walk to the infield Winner’s Circle. Mendelssohn was bred in Kentucky and is trained by Irish-based trainer Aidan O’Brien at Ballyldoyle Stables.

“It would be trainer Aidan O’Brien’s first Derby win, and he’s overdue because he’s one of the greats. And my grandmother was Irish, so it’s a sentimental favorite for me as well,” Mayor Fischer said.

Mayor Guinn chose Magnum Moon because he was trained in Florida under Todd Pletcher, who won last year’s Derby. Mayor Guinn said he vowed a year ago to bet on a Pletcher horse and predicted Magnum Moon would emerge victorious.

Last year, Mayor Fischer’s choice, J Boys Echo, trained by Louisvillian Dale Romans, finished 15th, and Mayor Guinn’s pick, Classic Empire, finished fourth.

“The road to the Kentucky Derby begins in Ocala, FL, Horse Capital of the World. This year is no different with 17 of the 19 horses having ties to our city,” Mayor Guinn said. “This annual bet with Mayor Fischer has become a tradition I look forward to, and it’s a fun way for us to unite the equine industry. We hope this will finally be the year that one of our horses is victorious!”

Mayor Fischer bet a bottle of Louisville Brown-Forman Corp.’s Woodford Reserve, the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby. Mayor Guinn again bet Marion Black 106 —the Spirit of Florida Tangerine Brandy, distilled by Fishhawk Spirits of Ocala.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming Mayor Guinn and his return to Louisville for the Derby,” Mayor Fischer said. “Ocala likes to think of themselves as the horse capital of the country. Of course, everybody knows that’s not true. But we’re compassionate here in Louisville, so we’re playing along with it.”

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