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One of the largest school archery tournaments in the country will kick off March 31 at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville.
More than 6,200 archers from schools around Kentucky will compete for state championships at the 2017 National Archery in the Schools (NASP) tournament March 31-April 1. Tournament participants include archers in the fourth through 12th grade.
NASP, which originated in Kentucky, had its first tournament in 2002. Kentucky now hosts the largest state NASP tournament in the United States, only exceeded in size by the organization’s national tournament. The organization’s national tournament is set for May 11-13 in Louisville.
The Kentucky state tournament, held in the North Wing of the Kentucky Exposition Center, includes hourly flights of teams beginning at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern) each morning. Daily admission is $5 per person for spectators, with $8 charged for parking. The center is located at 937 Phillips Lane.
Spectators and archers also can take advantage of their down time to meet their range day requirements for Kentucky’s hunter education certification. The certification can be met by using an air rifle. Employees of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resource will set up an air rifle range in the Expo Center to help people meet these requirements.
Range day participants must complete the online course at www.fw.ky.gov (search under the keywords “hunter education”) and bring a copy of their course completion voucher to the Expo Center. Participants must preregister for range day at www.register-ed.com/programs/kentucky/121.
Range work will take 30-45 minutes. Range hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 31, and 9 a.m. until noon April 1.
Race Expo Temporarily Moves to Kentucky Exposition Center
The Kentucky Derby Festival is re-routing a small portion of the 2017 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon/miniMarathon presented by Walmart and Humana due to the renovation of the Kentucky International Convention Center (KICC). The races are set for Saturday, April 29. The courses for both the miniMarathon and Marathon will be diverted one block to Second Street. This will affect the half marathon between mile 12 and 13; and the full marathon at mile 25. Marathon runners will also notice small changes between mile 13 and 14, to make up some additional distance. Overall, the changes affect less than one mile of the entire race.
“All downtown traffic is being rerouted to avoid the construction and the Kentucky Derby Festival is no exception,” said Matt Gibson, Senior Vice President of Events for the Kentucky Derby Festival. “Fortunately these are minor changes and will have minimal impact on the runners’ experience.”
The Festival is working with Louisville Metro Police to ensure the route is safe for the runners and still accessible to traffic. As they do along the entire race route, LMPD will assist with vehicle cross traffic at intersections, to ensure residents and businesses can still reach their destination when breaks in the race permit.
Along with changes to the course, the Race Expo will also temporarily move to the West Wing of the Kentucky Exposition Center (KEC) on April 27 and 28, 2017. The Expo is traditionally held at KICC, but will relocate to KEC for both 2017 and 2018, until the renovations are complete. Complimentary shuttles will be provided to transport runners from Downtown to the Kentucky Exposition Center. Parking fees will also be waived for runners picking up their race packets at the Expo. Runners will receive all the details in their confirmation packets and can also find it online at DerbyFestivalMarathon.com.
“We’re partnering with the Kentucky Exposition Center and the Convention & Visitors Bureau to make sure this move is seamless for the runners and our vendors,” said Shanna Ward, Race Director.
Operations, parking and other amenities at the start, finish and along the course remain unchanged. Both races will still start at 7:30 a.m. on Main Street in downtown Louisville and finish at Preston and Witherspoon Streets. The runners will also run through the main gate at Churchill Downs for their lap through the infield.
The Marathon and miniMarathon marks the largest annual day of road racing in Kentucky. Registration is still available online at www.derbyfestivalmarathon.com. Current registration is $85 for the mini and $95 for the Marathon.
The University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law is marking the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s visit to the school with a free, public celebration today.
The noon – 1:30 p.m. event in Room 275 at the law school will feature a speaker panel including Stephen Porter, a 1968 law school graduate who invited King to speak at UofL in 1967. Porter, a local attorney, will share his memories of the event and discuss King’s legacy. Other panelists will be professors Ricky Jones, Pan-African studies, and Cedric Powell, law.
“He loved to speak at colleges,” said Porter in a 2014 UofL video about King’s visit. “As a matter of fact, the ‘I Have A Dream’ speech, he gave that dozens of times before he gave it in Washington and he gave it mostly to college groups.”
According to researchers in the law school, King came to Louisville many times during the 1960s but March 30, 1967, was the only time he visited UofL.
In 2014 the university unveiled never-before-seen photos of King’s law school stopover. The photo negatives were found among some old files and records. Those photos were reprinted and are now part of a permanent exhibit in the foyer of the school’s Allen Court Room.
“This was not a very big room, so there were people outside, people literally hanging from the windows,” said Porter, recounting the overwhelming student interest in the event.
Another university MLK-focused 50th anniversary celebration will be hosted April 4 by the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research. That event marks the anniversary of the civil rights leader’s notable anti-war speech. The 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. event will feature a reading of the speech; an open house will follow from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
The Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation Academic Challenge Presented by Sullivan University is set for this Saturday, March 25. Hosted at a new location, the Hyatt Regency Hotel Downtown, this year’s quick-recall tournament, produced by Jefferson County Public Schools is scheduled for 9 AM to 3PM.
“We add more teams to the competition every year,” said Jeff English, President of the KDF Foundation. “The Academic Challenge lets us showcase the academic achievements of both the local students and the public schools.”
The Academic Challenge Presented by Sullivan University represents an opportunity for elementary students from all over the county to test their intellect by answering questions pertaining to math, science, social studies, language arts and humanities. This year’s competition will feature 14 teams from local elementary schools and more than 200 students.
“Sullivan University is pleased to sponsor the Academic Challenge,” said Glenn Sullivan, President of Sullivan University. “We often look for ways to support events that encourage and celebrate academic achievement. We wish all the participants well in the tournament and in their future endeavors.”
The top four schools will be awarded trophies, with the champion and runner-up also receiving monetary awards. It’s free for spectators. For more information contact Doug Wilham at douglas.wilham@jefferson.kyschools.us or (502) 485-3702.
The University of Louisville grounds keeping staff will show off its environmentally friendly lawn equipment March 28 at a free Green Lawn Maintenance Vendor Fair on Belknap Campus.
The event, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., will be held at the UofL Grounds Shop, 1820 Arthur St.
“We will be demonstrating how advanced ‘clean’ has become,” said Greg Schetler, supervisor of UofL’s Grounds Shop.
UofL’s fleet of lawnmowers runs on propane rather than gasoline, a change made in 2011 to use less fuel and help reduce the university’s carbon footprint.
The event is sponsored by the Partnership for a Green City, a collaboration among UofL, Louisville Metro Government, Jefferson County Public Schools and Jefferson Community & Technical College.
For more information, contact Brent Fryrear, 502-852-8854 or visit louisville.edu/sustainability.
Twitter/@realDonaldTrump
President Donald Trump visited Louisville this evening for a rally in Freedom Hall. The arena was filled to capacity with supporters holding “Women For Trump,” “Promises Made, Promises Kept,” and “Buy American, Hire American” signs as well as the omnipresent “Make America Great Again” caps while a long line of people stood outside hoping to be let in.
Not everyone in attendance was a supporter, however, as there was a scattering of several protesters outside of the event.
During the event, President Trump hit on all of his usual talking points including terrorism, imigration, tax reform, crime and drugs, trade agreements, and the Second Amendment.
He covered the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in depth, while making multiple references to US Congressmen Andy Barr and James Comer (both from Kentucky) for their help and a reference to the efforts of US Senator Rand Paul in making sure the replacement is not just “Obamacare lite”. He pointed out that as many one third of the counties in the entire US are limited to only one health insurance provider because of the regulations that the ACA put into place, causing health insurance companies to pull out of many markets.
He went on to outline that the real issue is not just the cost of health insurance, but the cost of health care and medicines. Trump tied in tax reform with this repeal and replacement, stating that the administration cannot accomplish tax reform until they know how the new health law will be structured. The President was very optimistic with the replacement plan that is coming forth and is confident that a plan that will make everyone happy will be on his desk at the end of the day.
Near and dear to many Kentucky workers, Trump also specifically mentioned the automobile manufacturing and coal industries. He recently signed a bill that eliminated a piece of regulation that many supporters of the repeal believe was put into place to shrink the coal industry by requiring coal mines to spend millions on compliance costs. More than 600 coal mines have closed since the 2009 regulation went into effect. Since the rule has been revoked, many coal mines have slightly increased their labor force, but POTUS Trump promised that this is just the beginning.
No Trump event would be complete without Trump’s trademark jabs at the “fake news” and former political rival Hilary Clinton. The President even made light of the Louisville Cardinals men’s basketball team’s second-round elimination from the 2017 NCAA basketball tournament. He did continue on to say, “They are a great team, great coach.”
For the second year in a row, Maurice Williams of Louisville is taking home the title of Derby Burger Champion, in the 6th Annual “Derby Burger Challenge” sponsored by Kentucky Beef Council and coordinated by the Kentucky Derby Festival. Williams’ recipe for his SmoFried Café Burger was selected as the overall winner after a cook-off this morning at the Kroger in Middletown. It features ground beef covered in coffee and cocoa powder, provolone cheese and pickled onions, all served on a toasted pretzel bun.
“I wanted to put together something conceptual and simple. Fortunately the burger just seemed to work the first time I made it,” said Williams. “I didn’t expect to win the competition a second time. I knew that it was attainable, but I also knew how great some of the other recipes would be. I am beyond thankful.”
The Festival received dozens of submissions for the annual competition. More than 12,000 beef lovers voted online to help pick the top 4 finalists. At the final cook-off, a panel of judges determined the overall winner based on points accumulated from four factors – Taste, Appearance, Creativity and Ease of Preparation. John Overfield finished runner up with his Winner By a Nose Burger. Other finalists included Tanya Hicks of Salem, Indiana, with the Pineapple Mango Pico Burger; and Scott Wisdom of Prospect, with the Mint Julep Bacon Burger.
Williams’ winning Derby Burger recipe will be available to try at Kroger’s Fest-a-Ville this year during its nine-day run, as well as sampled at BeerFest Presented by American Founders Bank, and recognized in Louisville-area Kroger stores. From May 8 to June 30, it will also be a featured menu item at Louisville’s Napa River Grill.
Williams also receives VIP tickets to Thunder Over Louisville, Waterfront Jam and BeerFest at Kroger’s Fest-a-Ville, as well as a $100 gift certificate to Kroger and a grilling package from Kentucky Beef Council.
From now through April 14, all purchasers of fresh ground beef at any of the Kentuckiana Kroger stores (excluding Lexington locations) will receive a code at checkout (on the bottom of the receipt). The message encourages you to register online at www.KDF.org/Beef for a chance to win VIP tickets to a Waterfront Jam Concert at Kroger’s Fest-a-Ville or BeerFest Presented by American Founders Bank.
