The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide - The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide 2023
Festivals & Events
2022-12-22 09:55:00
Enjoy signature and small-town events that are feasts for the tastebuds — the soul and eyes, too.
More than 90 of Kentucky’s premier visual and craft artists gather in March to exhibit their work at The Kentucky Crafted Market, the Kentucky Arts Council’s showcase event held in Lexington. AQS QuiltWeek celebrates the art and artistry of quilts and quiltmakers each April in the only place it could happen: Quilt City USA in Paducah.
Another one-of-a-kind celebration takes place each April when live music, dancing, crafts, a carnival, parade and more take over the streets during Hillbilly Days in Pikeville.
The Kentucky Derby Festival – Louisville’s monthlong party with hats, horses, bourbon, BalloonFest, fireworks, WineFest and more – leads up to May’s “Run for the Roses.” Barbecue, burgoo and bourbon fill the Owensboro riverfront during the Bar-B-Q Block Party the second weekend in May each year.
The German-spiced breakfast sausage made in Kentucky is pronounced “get-uh,” and it’s celebrated in Covington/ Newport at Glier’s Goettafest in everything from brownies to beer each summer.
In cities across Kentucky, numerous Juneteenth and Pride events are commemorated annually.
One of the world’s grandest jet events, Jets Over Kentucky, takes off in Campbellsville each July with 600 RC jets and eight days of flying. As if July weren’t hot enough already, it heats up even more with Ashland’s Summer Motion, a popular family-friendly festival. Set on the riverfront, live music headlines the event, but there’s also a carnival, food vendors, specialty booths, children’s activities, fireworks and more.
For more than three decades, Hardin’s Kenlake Hot August Blues has sizzled with a weekend filled with great music, performing and visual artists, craftspeople, craft beer and more – right on the shores of beautiful Kentucky Lake.
Georgetown’s Festival of the Horse is a lively three days of parades, craft vendors, music, food, beer and a celebration of horse heritage in September. In Lexington, the Roots and Heritage Festival – a “Top 20 Event in the Southeast” – gets underway in September with colorful pageantry combined with cultural and educational programs.
Automotive mayhem races into Bowling Green each September for the Holley LS Fest East with drag racing, drifting, burn-out contests and more revved-up action. A Colonel Sanders lookalike contest? Could it be anything but London’s World Chicken Festival in September?
Follow the turning leaves to Harlan and its Festival of the Mountain Masters. This November event features authentic Appalachian artists, many from the Pine Mountain Settlement School, showing and selling their handcrafts.
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