Other Stuff to Do During Your Stay? HORSES BOURBON

Other stuff to do during your stay? The Bluegrass Region is packed with things to do! For general information, you can check out the Lexington Visitors Bureau page at VisitLex or the Kentucky Official Visitor’s Guide. HORSES Keeneland will begin fall racing on Friday October 4th! Keeneland first opened for races in October 1936 and is home to live races in April and October, as well as Thoroughbred sales in January, September and November. Gates will open at 11 am with the first post at 1:05 pm. Even if you can’t stay for the races, you can drop by the Track Kitchen for breakfast with the trainers and jockeys. For more information, visit their webpage at https://www.keeneland.com/visiting-keeneland. The Kentucky Horse Park is just down the road from the conference hotel and offers a wonderful opportunity to learn more about horses in Kentucky and around the world. They offer a Parade of Breeds, the Hall of Champions, 4 museums and the final resting place of many notable horses, including Man O’ War. There are a few companies which offer guided horse farm tours and often include a stop at Keeneland and a drive by Calumet. The companies Thoroughbred Heritage Horse Farm Tours, Horse Farm Tours, Inc. and Unique Horse Farm Tours all pick up at the conference hotel! If you have a car and want to get up close to some horses, you should visit Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farm in Georgetown. They are home to rescued and retired horses, including Derby and Breeders’ Cup contenders. BOURBON There are also many large distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon trail within an hour of Lexington and a few craft distilleries that may be new to you. James E Pepper – Lexington - https://jamesepepper.com/ Barrel House Distillery – Lexington - https://www.barrelhousedistillery.com/home Woodford Reserve – Versailles - https://www.woodfordreserve.com/distillery/tours/ Castle and Key – Versailles - https://castleandkey.com/ Four Roses – Lawrenceburg - https://fourrosesbourbon.com/ Wild Turkey – Lawrenceburg - https://wildturkeybourbon.com/visit-us/ Buffalo Trace – Frankfort - https://www.buffalotracedistillery.com/ Jeptha Creed – Shelbyville - https://jepthacreed.com/ Or if you prefer a guided tour of multiple distilleries the following companies have tours available Horse Farms Tours, Inc., Unique Horse Farm Tours, and Bottled in Bond Tours. UNIQUELY KENTUCKY Kentucky has lots of unique places to visit while you are here, that are a little outside of Lexington, but very worthwhile if you have transportation. About 40 minutes away is the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. It was home to the third largest Shaker community in the United State between 1805 and 1910. The 3,000 acre historic location has numerous homes, meeting rooms and admission includes the Farm. You can also take a ride on the Kentucky River on the paddlewheel Dixie Belle. For more information visit https://shakervillageky.org/. Louisville is just over an hour west of Lexington and has lots of unique things to do. The Louisville Slugger Museum gives the visitors the opportunity to tour the factory where the Louisville Slugger baseball bats are made. Attached is a museum with memorabilia that looks at the history of the bat and legendary players who wielded them. https://www.sluggermuseum.com/. You can also make a stop at the Kentucky Derby Museum and take a tour of Churchill Downs. https://www.derbymuseum.org/ Mammoth Cave National Park is just a couple of hours down the parkway and is one of the world’s largest known cave systems. Top attractions in the park include the Mammoth Dome, which is almost 200 feet high, and the Ruins of Karnak, named for its massive limestone columns, which give the impression of a ruined temple. Other highlights are the Snowball Dining Room, the imposing Frozen Niagara, and the beautiful Crystal Lake. https://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm About an hour southeast of Lexington is the Red River Gorge Geological Area and Natural Bridge State Resort Park. The Gorge features spectacular sandstone arches and towering cliffs. There are more than 600 miles of trail in the Daniel Boone National Forest, many including the more than 100 natural arches. Sky Bridge is the largest measuring 23 feet high and 75 feet long. For more information about Daniel Boone National Forest visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/dbnf/home. To find out more about the Natural Bridge State Park visit https://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/natural-bridge/. .

Load more