2023-12-29 08:45:54
How do you festival in Kentucky?
With hats and horses, handicrafts and culinary heritage. With a lineup of Colonel Sanders lookalikes and a week’s worth of everything quilts. With the world’s largest biscuit, biggest skillet, tallest stack of country ham and most unusual concoction — that being a delicacy called “goetta” made of pork, beef and pinhead oats. With bourbon, barbecue and bluegrass, country and gospel music.
Kentucky boasts all sorts of festivals and events, from summer concert series to Pride festivals to holiday celebrations. Be sure to check social media or the event website before you travel, as details and dates are subject to change. On the right is a snapshot of some of the Bluegrass State’s biggest events:
• AQS Quilt Week, Paducah (APRIL)
• Kentucky Derby Festival, Louisville (APRIL)
• Kentucky Derby, Louisville (MAY)
• Railbird Music Festival, Lexington (JUNE)
• Great American Brass Band Festival, Danville (JUNE)
• ROMP Bluegrass Roots & Branches Music Festival, Owensboro (JUNE)
• Festival of Learnshops, Berea (JULY)
• Kentucky Bourbon Festival, Bardstown (SEPT)
• Goettafest, Newport (JULY & AUG)
• Louder Than Life, Louisville (SEPT)
• World Chicken Festival, London (SEPT)
April
Hillbilly Days, Pikeville
GypsyMoon Marketplace, Bowling Green
Land Rover Three-Day Event, Lexington
May
BBQ & Barrels, Owensboro
Benton Farm Craft Spring Fling, Walton
Adairville Strawberry Festival, Adairville
Mountain Laurel Festival, Pineville
June
W.C. Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival, Henderson
Poke Sallet Festival, Harlan
Kentucky Highland Renaissance Festival, Eminence
July
Master Musicians Festival, Somerset
Summer Motion, Ashland
Shelbyville Horse Show, Shelbyville
Old Beach Beer Bash on Kentucky Lake, Gilbertsville
August
Hot August Blues Festival Kenlake SRP, Hardin
Small Town American Festival, Mt. Sterling
Dog Days of Summer Fest, Auburn
September
Gaslight Festival, Jeffersontown
Manchester Music Festival, Manchester
Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Celebration, Rosine
October
Lincoln Days, Hodgenville
Daniel Boone Festival, Barbourville
Foothills Festival, Albany
Hickman Pecan Festival, Hickman
November-December
Patti’s Festival of Lights, Grand River
Winter Wonderland of Lights, Ashland
ChristmasTime at the Ark Encounter, Williamstown
Christmas at Panther Creek, Owensboro
Christmas Island, Burnside
Southern Lights, Lexington
Lights Under Louisville, Louisville
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