This is the year of the land of rolling bluegrass, thoroughbreds and lakes. Kentucky is adding new product and significantly upgrading in a year in which it has the chance to elevate itself in markets worldwide.
Thousands of international visitors are expected at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games at Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park Sept. 25 to Oct. 10.
"We have such variety—high adventure and sophisticated cities, and in between, the bourbon," says Liz Chewning, director of marketing at the Kentucky Department of Travel and Tourism. "Our marketing focus is on the games. Everyone is polishing up for the games. It will be the World’s Fair meets Epcot."
Held every four years, the games will be hosted for the first time outside Europe since its inception in 1990, and NBC Sports is expected to give it the biggest coverage of an equestrian sport in U.S. television history.
A horse park centerpiece will be "The Kentucky Experience," 25,000 square feet of interactive exhibits focusing on three pavilions: one for entertainment, one promoting Kentucky products and one depicting its nine tourism regions.
"It won’t be just for horse lovers," Chewning says.
Visitors will learn about the state’s vast diversity, including its lakes and caves, the Corvettes of Bowling Green, the quilts of Paducah, bluegrass, blues, barbecue and Appalachian culture.
Louisville
Located on the Ohio River, Louisville, the Bluegrass State’s largest city and metro area, is seeing hotel rooms sold for an equestrian event held 60 miles away.
"We have two great convention facilities, great amenities and off-site venues, a marvelous waterfront park and Churchill Downs," says Jim Wood, president and CEO of the Louisville CVB, adding that the challenge is to get meeting planners to come see for themselves.
Tagged "Possibility City," it boasts the Kentucky International Convention Center (KICC), with 300,000 square feet of available space, and the 1.2 million-square-foot Kentucky Expo Center near Louisville International Airport.
A third major convention venue, the $240 million KFC Yum! Center, will open in November in downtown Kentucky. The 721,000-square-foot arena will be home to University of Louisville basketball.
A skywalk system connects KICC with downtown buildings, including the Fourth Street Live! entertainment area and three meetings-ready hotels with a total of 2,300 guest rooms: Galt House Hotel & Suites, Marriott Louisville Downtown and Hyatt Regency Louisville. More than 4,300 rooms are within a six-block radius of KICC.
Galt House, which completed a $60 million renovation in 2008, spent $2 million renovating its 16,200-square-foot ballroom early this year. Additionally, the historic Seelbach Hilton completed a $12 million renovation last year.
Impressive museums, all featuring event space, are just blocks from KICC at Museum Row on Main. Options include the Muhammad Ali Center, the renovated Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, the Frazier International History Museum, Glassworks, the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and the Louisville Science Center.
Groups of up to 750 can take to the water on the historic, recently renovated Belle of Louisville or her sister riverboat, the Spirit of Jefferson.
Suffering floodwater damage in August 2009, the newly renovated Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs reopened April 18 in time for the Kentucky Derby in May. The $5.5 million renovation includes new exhibits and interactive displays. Both the museum and Churchill Downs offer function space for group events.
Another top attraction is Louisville’s Urban Bourbon Trail, with nine bars represented, mostly downtown. The city’s closest distillery on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is Jim Beam, which is located 30 minutes south of Louisville and recently unveiled the first phase of a multimillion-dollar visitor center that will be completed early next year.
Lexington
Four of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail’s eight distilleries are within 25 miles of Lexington: Four Roses, Wild Turkey, Woodford Reserve and Buffalo Trace, where aside from tours and tastings, groups can hold events in the historic Elmer T. Lee Clubhouse, constructed with 200-year-old logs from authentic Kentucky log cabins.
"Distilleries are great for off-site events. You are driving along some of the loveliest roads in America with lots of horse farms, some of which have event space. We have so much that is unique—bourbon, horses, history," says Dennis Johnston, vice president, destination sales at the Lexington CVB.
The city’s Lexington Center delivers 130,000 square feet of meeting and convention space augmented by the 23,000-seat Rupp Arena, home of University of Kentucky basketball, and the historic, 1,000-seat Lexington Opera House. Two levels of shopping and Triangle Park, site of open-air events, complete the complex.
Its two headquarters hotels were recently renovated: the Hyatt Regency Lexington and the newly reflagged Hilton Lexington/Downtown.
Known as the "Horse Capital of the World," Lexington is home to the 1,200-acre Kentucky Horse Park, which is a working horse farm with 50 different breeds, an educational theme park and a competition facility. In addition to show ground areas that can be rented, it has a handful of event facilities.
The Legacy Trail, a 12.5-mile recreational pedestrian and bicycle trail, is being built to connect the park with downtown Lexington, and the first two phases of the three-phase project will be finished before the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in September.
In preparation for the games, the park is spending $100 million. Last year, it unveiled a new 6,000-seat indoor arena and rebuilt an expandable outdoor stadium.
Bowling Green
Bowling Green is home to both the Corvette—General Motors has assembled it here since 1981—and Western Kentucky University. Both are responsible for increasing the capacity for meetings and events.
"Bowling Green continues to grow. Groups will find it a vibrant, progressive area with first-class attractions and a bustling yet quaint downtown district," says Marissa Butler, public relations director at the Bowling Green Area CVB.
With 40,000 square feet of existing meeting space, the university’s Carroll Knicely Conference Center will finish a 27,000-square-foot addition this fall.
Meanwhile, the National Corvette Museum recently unveiled a $10 million, 47,000-square-foot expansion, which includes a conference center that can seat 470 for banquets.
The city’s largest meetings property, the Holiday Inn University Plaza and adjacent Sloan Convention Center, together provide 40,000 square feet of meeting space.
Other venues include the Brown Agricultural Exposition Center, a 68,000-square-foot multipurpose facility, and the new 4,600-seat Bowling Green Stadium, home of Minor League Baseball’s Hot Rods.
Among the city’s newest meetings-friendly hotels are a Country Inn & Suites near Bowling Green Regional Airport and a La Quinta Inn & Suites.
Groups can meet downtown at the Historic Railpark & Train Museum in the restored L&N Depot, where spaces range from a vintage dining car to a lobby hosting 200 for receptions.
They can also gather three miles from downtown at the Lost River Cave & Valley, a 68-acre wildlife sanctuary with underground boat tours. The cave, which housed a nightclub in the 1930s, can seat 300 for banquets.
Paducah
The hub of Western Kentucky, Paducah is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio rivers and has 2,000 hotel rooms. The Paducah CVB promotes the destination with the tagline, "Art, Rhythm and Rivers."
"We are unique. We have a small-town feel with a first-class performing arts center and a huge arts area," says Patrick Kerr, executive director of the Paducah Expo Center and the adjacent Julian Carroll Convention Center, which together have 110,000 square feet of rentable space.
This is "Quilt City USA," home to the National Quilt Museum. Each April, it hosts the American Quilter’s Society Annual Quilt Show & Contest, which attracts more than 30,000 people.
Before last year’s show, $5 million was spent upgrading the expo center and convention center, which, according to Kerr, added more space suitable for meetings, such as the convention center atrium.
Before this year’s 26th annual show, the city added an adjacent 38,000-square-foot, $1.7 million inflatable dome pavilion.
The adjacent Executive Inn, closed after last year’s quilt event, was acquired by the city in summer and will be demolished. The city is seeking a new headquarters hotel developer.
The convention center adjoins the 26-block Lower Town Fine Arts District, which has more than 30 galleries, studios and stores in a historic residential area. The attraction is the result of the city’s 10-year-old, nationally
recognized Artist Relocation Program, in which the city has provided incentives to encourage artists nationwide to settle there.
Among Paducah’s off-site venue choices are its performing arts facility, the 1,800-seat Carson Center and the River Discovery Center, formerly the River Heritage Museum.
Covington/Northern Kentucky
Located across the Ohio River from downtown Cincinnati are Covington, Newport, Florence and other Northern Kentucky communities, a region marketed as the "Southern Side of Cincinnati."
"We’re an hour-and-a-half flight and within a five-hour drive of 60 percent of the U.S. population," says Tom Caradonio, president and CEO of the Northern Kentucky CVB. "The convention center is in an area with all the amenities. There’s a tremendous amount of things to do, and we often find that delegates come back with their families."
In the heart of Covington’s business and entertainment district is the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, with more than 110,000 square feet of function space. The Embassy Suites Cincinnati-RiverCenter is across from it, and the Cincinnati Marriott at RiverCenter is connected by skywalk. Around 1,300 rooms are within walking distance.
Another notable venue is the METS Center, a high-tech conference and training facility located near Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, an area featuring more than a dozen meetings-friendly hotels.
Meanwhile, the $64 million Bank of Kentucky Center, a multipurpose, 9,400-seat arena, opened in 2008 on the Northern Kentucky University campus.
Less than a mile east of the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, Newport Aquarium is available for group events, as is the Belle of Cincinnati riverboat. Other off-site venues include the 10,000-square-foot Drees Pavilion in the hills above Covington, GameWorks in the Newport on the Levee entertainment area and Turfway Park raceway in Florence.
Tony Bartlett has been writing about the travel industry for more than 20 years.
