My Lovely Lady

Rachel Norton Blog Post

Hello again friends, 

Sorry I haven’t posted in while, unfortunately suffered an asthma attack early this week and ended up in the ER. But with the proper rest and medicine I am starting to feel much better!

The story I have for you this week is about a lovely lady, named Helen. At the time that I met her, she had absolutely no AC and we were in the midst of the hot, humid month of August, so familiar to Kentucky. I was there to help her get cooling and air sealing financed through the How$mart program. In one of our first interactions, she asked me were I was from and noticed I didn’t have a

The Great American Brass Band Festival

Randolph Hollingsworth (she/her) Blog Post

The Great American Brass Band Festival is a free four-day festival in Danville, Kentucky, that showcase brass bands from all over the world. The festival started in 1990 when Dr. George Foreman and Vince DiMartino decided to do something to replace the old Constitutional Square festival that had been cancelled by the Danville City Council that year. Niki Kinkade is the festival's executive director today.

This year's theme is "Brass Greats of American Jazz" - June 4-7, 2015. The special focus this year is on some of the great brass performers in America's most significant contribution to world

Kentucky in the News: Kynect Enrollment

Kentucky Geographic Alliance Blog Post

On April 22nd, Governor Steve Beshear announced that nearly 1 in 10 Kentuckians (413,410) had enrolled in Kynect (Kentucky's state-based health benefit exchange).  Enrollment took place during the health exchange’s first open period, which ended on March 31.  Seventy-five percent of the enrollees were previously uninsured.   In response to the statistics released regarding Kynect, Beshear stated “From the beginning, I knew that Kynect would change the course of Kentucky’s history by helping hundreds of thousands of Kentucky families, and I’ve never wavered in my support.”

See the map of Kynect

Kentucky in the News: Energy Resources

Kentucky Geographic Alliance Blog Post

Coal is a major resource in Kentucky and has been used for over 250 years.  Coal mining production (see map above) has decreased in parts of both the eastern and western coal fields of Kentucky over the past year. Of the counties that decreased, Harlan County saw the largest change in tonnage produced, a decrease of 2,443,634 tons, while Elliot County saw the largest percentage increase of 1,837% from 2012 (Kentucky Coal Facts).  This geographic issue highlights economic, historic, political, environmental, and cultural variability over space and time.

See the map of Kentucky Coal Production in

Bourbon - And A New Oral History Project

Randolph Hollingsworth (she/her) Blog Post

Bourbon barrels in the rickFor whiskey to be called bourbon it must be made with a minimum of 51 percent corn, aged in charred new oak barrels and stored at no more than 125 proof. Strict federal guidlines maintain this standard, but the distillers all have their own private recipes and traditions about storing their product.

The making of bourbon began in the 1700s with the Kentucky frontier. Farmers shipped their processed corn as whiskey in oak barrels - stamped with its port of origin, Bourbon County (one of Kentucky's original counties while still a part of Revolutionary Era Virginia) - down the Ohio and Mississippi

Churchill Weavers Fabric Archive at the Kentucky Historical Society

Randolph Hollingsworth (she/her) Blog Post

The Churchill Weavers collection of an estimated 40,000 textiles at the Kentucky Historical Society is one of the most significant fabric archives in the Appalachian region. For 85 years, Churchill Weavers produced distinctive hand-woven clothing and home textiles in Berea, Kentucky. The company offered through online and retail stores a variety of items: scarves, ponchos, handbags, neckties and handkerchiefs, tablecloths, swingwraps, fandangles, flings, ruanas, chenilles, and boucles. From its beginnings in Berea in 1922, the Churchill Weavers were nationally recognized and sold in large

International Bluegrass Music Museum

Randolph Hollingsworth (she/her) Blog Post

Congratulations to the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, recipient of this year's Governor's Award in the Arts Community Arts Award. The Community Arts Award is awarded to "a Kentucky individual or organization that has made a positive impact on the community through the arts."

Operating since 1991, the museum has made significant inroads in the last few years under the leadership of Gabrielle Gray, executive director.

Gabrielle Gray

In a recent interview by Emily B. Moses of the Kentucky Arts Council, Gray explains the museum's new roles in community, state and international outreach efforts