Wednesday November 5, 2025
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Louder Than Life will be making it’s annual appearance at Champions Park this weekend and weather will be just about perfect. The two-day festival features music, food and drinks. Headlining performances will feature Ozzy Osbourne with Zakk Wylde, Rob Zombie, Incubus, Stone Sour, Halestorm, and many more. For the foodie, food will be showcasing many local and regional favorites ranging from fried chicken, barbecue, grilled cheese, hot dogs, tacos and gelato. For the bourbon lover, many Kentucky bourbon distilleries will be featured, including Angel’s Envy, Jim Beam, and Buffalo Trace.
Gates open at 11:00 AM on both days. Tickets are still available and prices range from $69.50 for Sunday only, $90 for Saturday only, $120 minimum for the entire weekend, to $280 for a VIP package. If you are planning to attend, be sure to check the information page for what items are allowed to be taken in with you, pay close attention to the bag size restrictions.
If you have not attended the show before, check out last year’s Louder Than Life Festival.
Credit: KY State Parks
The 27th Annual Civil War Days at Columbus-Belmont State Park is Oct. 13-15.
The weekend will include battle re-enactments, history and museum tours, soldier camps, entertainment, food and more. Admission is free.
This three-day event begins with an Education Day on Friday. There will be cannon and rifle demonstrations, life of a soldier, and dance instruction. Students, scouts, and groups are encouraged to participate, but everyone is invited to attend and take a closer look at history by taking a step back in time.
The opening ceremony is Friday evening with food and entertainment. Cannons will fire from the bluffs to end the ceremony and then there will be a Ghost Walk through the Confederate earthworks with lanterns lighting the way.
Events are scheduled throughout Saturday including music and the Ladies Tea at 11 a.m.
The Civil War Ball on Saturday night will feature music and dance instruction so you don’t have to be experienced to participate. The band for the evening is The 52nd Regimental String Band.
If you want to shop, you can find everything you need on “Sutler Row” where there will be tents set up with period clothing and accessories. There will be a Beautiful Belle and Handsome Gent contest before the dance and a Best Beard and Scraggly Beard contest during intermission.
Sunday begins with a morning service as well as a memorial service in Columbus Cemetery.
The battles are at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. They will feature guns firing, cannons blasting, horses running, and tents burning.
The Civil War Days event is co-sponsored by Columbus-Belmont State Park, Civil War Days Committee, and the Hickman County Judge Executive’s office/Hickman County Fiscal Court. The park is located on the Mississippi River in western Kentucky at the junction of highways 58, 80, and 123.
For more information, contact the park office at 270-677-2327 or email cindy.lynch@ky.gov or visit www.parks.ky.gov
Credit: KY State Parks
Step back in time as Big Bone Lick State Historic Site returns to days long past during the 35th annual Salt Festival the weekend of Oct. 13-15.
The festival features demonstrations of pioneer living, frontier skills, traditions, and lifeways. Browse the crafters corner to see the many handcrafted items for sale and find lots of good eats at the food court. Enjoy folk and bluegrass music, listen to a storyteller, view prehistoric Ice Age artifacts, and observe a blacksmith working red-hot iron. 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.
While visiting the 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 to the center at regular intervals. Don’t miss seeing the bison herd, the park’s living link to Kentucky’s early history.
On Friday, Oct. 13, the park will host school groups. The cost is $2 per person. Schools interested in bringing classes to the festival should call the park at 859-384-3522.
Regular festival admission is $5 per person; children 5 and under are free.
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.
Photo: Perryville Battlefield
The commemoration of the 155th anniversary of the Battle of Perryville will be Oct. 7-8 at Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site.
The 1862 battle was the largest Civil War conflict in Kentucky, leaving more than 7,000 casualties.
The park in Boyle County will host two battle re-enactments at 2 p.m. both days, battlefield tours, military camps, lectures and an interactive program where visitors can relive the past as a Civil War soldier. A walking tour called “Ghost of the Battle” is also scheduled for Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. (additional fee)
Guests can also visit the park’s museum and there will be vendors and food wagons.
The general admission price is $10 per adult. Tickets for veterans are $8 and the fee for children is $7. The Ghost of the Battle tour is $15 per person. Gates open at 9 a.m. both days.
For more information, including the entire schedule for the weekend, visit www.perryvillebattlefield.org or call the park at 859-332-8631.
The Kentucky Fuel Corporation properties in eastern Kentucky are no longer open to public hunting.
Kentucky Fuel’s hunting access agreement with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is no longer active, returning the property to private status.
The change occurred after publication of the 2017-18 Kentucky Hunting and Trapping Guide. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has updated its online version of the guide to reflect this change. The guide is available at the department’s website, fw.ky.gov.
Hunters are asked to respect Kentucky Fuel Corporation private property and not trespass on it.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife still has 20 areas open for public hunting in the southeast region of the state, including more than 100,000 acres for elk hunting. Maps and detailed information on each area are available online at fw.ky.gov.
Credit: KY State Parks
Kentucky State Parks across the Commonwealth will host Halloween events throughout October.
Many of the park system’s campgrounds will have special activities for campers, including decorations, costumes, hayrides and games for the kids. Resort parks, recreation parks and historic sites will also have special Halloween events during October.
A list of events is available at: http://parks.ky.gov/halloween/
Parents of young children should check in advance as some parks have age recommendations for events.
Many state resort parks have inexpensive rates for lodge rooms and cottages during the fall. In addition to excellent restaurants, Kentucky State Parks have trails, playgrounds and plenty of wildlife viewing areas and fall colors that make for excellent family outings.
For more information about state park events, or to make lodging or camping reservations, visit www.parks.ky.gov
Credit: KY State Parks
The Garden Club of Kentucky will dedicate two more Monarch butterfly waystations at the William Whitley House State Historic Site and Carter Caves State Resort Park in September.
The William Whitley House ceremony is Sept. 22 at 5 p.m. and the Carter Caves event is Sept. 27 at 2 p.m.
Members of the Garden Club of Kentucky have worked with state parks and other groups to design and install Monarch waystations.
Monarch butterflies need specific resources for their migration to and from Mexico. Those include nectar producing flowers, shelter and milkweed, the only plant that Monarch caterpillars will eat. These Kentucky waystations serve millions of migrating Monarch butterflies.
Other Kentucky State Parks with Monarch waystations include: Kentucky Dam Village, Waveland, Blue Licks Battlefield, Perryville Battlefield, Old Fort Harrod, Fort Boonesborough, Cumberland Falls, Lake Barkley, Jenny Wiley, Pennyrile Forest, General Butler and Barren River Lake.
For more information about the Monarch waystation program or butterfly gardening, visit www.monarchwatch.org
For more information about Kentucky State Parks, visit www.parks.ky.gov
