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Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory is branching out in a special way to celebrate its 20th anniversary. In partnership with Brightside, the popular local attraction will sponsor the planting of twenty trees in a vacant lot in the Smoketown neighborhood. After the trees are planted this fall, the project will blossom into an entirely new park with walkways, benches, and more next spring.

sluggerOn Wednesday, November 2, from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., volunteers with the museum and Brightside will plant the trees at 813 S. Jackson Street. The lot is owned by the Louisville Metro Housing Authority and is across the street from the main entrance of Meyzeek Middle School.

“Because of our wood bat business, we have a great history with and appreciation for trees. We also know how much Louisville needs to revitalize its canopy. As we thought about ways to thank the community for its support over our twenty years, planting twenty trees and creating a new urban park seemed like the perfect way to combine a passion of ours with a local need,” said Anne Jewell, Vice President and Executive Director of Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. “We’re thrilled that Brightside found a location in the Smoketown neighborhood that will benefit students and families. Brightside did a great job getting creative with our funding and recycling materials to build-out an entire park around these trees.”

Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory has welcomed more than 4.5 million visitors since it opened in 1996. The attraction is owned by Hillerich & Bradsby Co., which operated a production plant in Smoketown at Jacob and Finzer Streets from 1901 to 1974. The two-acre property that housed the production plant was donated to the Community Foundation of Louisville in 2015 for development to enhance the 150-year-old neighborhood.

“Brightside is so thankful to work with Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory on this project,” Brightside Director Gina O’Brien said. “Their act of community service will result in new trees for a deserving neighborhood and a new park for students of Meyzeek and children of the neighborhood to use.”

For more information on Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, please visit https://www.sluggermuseum.com/

For more information on Brightside and their mission to make Louisville clean and green, please visit www.brightsideinc.org

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