From Hart County Harlem Globetrotters to President Lincoln’s Lawyer, 120: Cool KY Counties Features Stories and Music from Each County
LOUISVILLE, KY—Thursday, March 14, 2024—The Frazier Museum is opening a permanent exhibit on the 120 counties of Kentucky! The exhibit will open Friday, March 15, with a 2:30 p.m. news conference.
The Frazier has also announced it will offer free membership to five counties and tens of thousands of Kentuckians!
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
120: Cool KY Counties is a new exhibit housed in the Cool Kentucky exhibition on the first floor of the museum. It consists of two touch screen maps of Kentucky: when you touch a county, you’re shown content—an interesting text story, a video, and a song by a local artist—from that county. The content will continue to be expanded.
“The 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit is collecting hundreds of stories from across the Commonwealth—including histories, legends, and oral traditions curated at the local level,” senior director of engagement Casey Harden said.
Stories featured in the exhibit span a range of subjects, including the birthplace of Dollar General (Allen County), the first iron ore furnace west of the Alleghanies (Bath County), the only US city built inside a meteorite crate (Bell County), the 2023 Softball Pitcher of the Year (Carter County), the world’s largest apple pie (Casey County), a famed NASCAR mechanic (Edmonson County), the Great Diamond Hoax of 1872 (Hardin County), a Hungarian mining co-op (Martin County), a Top Chef contestant (McCracken County), the town of Whoopflarea (Owsley County), the lost town of Creelsboro (Russell County), and Kentucky’s first woman State Bacteriologist (Warren County).
The exhibit was made possible by support from the James Graham Brown Foundation and Team Kentucky.
“With generous support from the James Graham Brown Foundation and Team Kentucky, we look forward to celebrating and empowering communities via opportunities for cross-promotion and tourism—especially those who often go overlooked in small, rural counties,” president and CEO Andy Treinen said. “By sharing these “hidden stories,” we want to promote exploration, cultivate respect, and bridge urban and rural divides on the basis of Kentucky’s extraordinary history and heritage.”
The software for 120 was developed by IT services and consulting firm CBTS.
“We were very fortunate to work with CBTS,” Harden said. “They’ve adapted this content in such a way that museum visitors can now access it at their fingertips. Now our visitors can chart their own path and discover something new about Kentucky.”
The exhibit also includes cases in which a handful of real objects from different counties will be displayed on rotation. When the exhibit opens Friday, the case will feature a wool coat (Adair County), a Mammoth Cave Hotel image (Barren County), minerals (Crittenden County), a Lincoln image (Fayette County), a WPA model (Henderson County), a miners image (Letcher County), a dress (Marion County), a tobacco artifact (Nicholas County), and woodcarvings (Wolfe County).
For press-approved flyers and images of the design, rendering, and casework of 120, visit this Dropbox folder. For press inquiries, contact Frazier communications and research specialist Simon Meiners at [email protected] or (502) 753-5668.
FRAZIER TO OFFER FREE MEMBERSHIP TO FIVE COUNTIES
The Frazier is also announcing a new membership campaign. The five counties who get the most Frazier Weekly subscribers (per capita) win free membership for everyone in that county! Frazier Weekly is the Frazier’s free Monday morning newsletter that goes out to 35,000 subscribers. “Moving forward, we’ll be sharing content from the 120 exhibit in Frazier Weekly,” communications and research specialist Simon Meiners said. “So we know the content will appeal to residents in all 120 counties.” The Frazier is encouraging its members, readers, visitors, and partners to spread the word about this campaign. The campaign will end June 1, Kentucky’s birthday. The winners will be announced in Frazier Weekly.
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT OPENING
The Frazier is hosting a 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit opening Friday, March 15, 1–5 p.m. There will be notable Kentuckians, musicians, tourism folks, history buffs, and other invited guests from all 120 counties!
Activities and engagements include: access to 120 and all the Frazier’s exhibitions; rolley-hole marbles, the traditional game of Monroe County; tastings of products by Meade County brewers, Smith Holler Distillery, Casey Jones Distillery, and Baker-Bird Winery; costumed engagements by Claudia and Harland “Colonel” Sanders, Civil War–era Union soldiers, Sandford-Duncan Inn duelers, and the Stephen Foster singers; Native American flute playing by Mercer County’s Fred Keams; a monologue by Sheila Rush of Old Mulkey Meetinghouse; and access to county tables with soaps, postcards, Kentucky books, band merch, t-shirts, BBQ, Honeybuns, Rebecca Ruth Bourbon balls, Modjeskas, Ruth Hunt candy, local snacks, and more! Other county tables will showcase historic Kentucky artifacts and photographs, Kentucky newspapers, and objects representing Chinese culture in Kentucky.
NEWS CONFERENCE, 2:30 P.M.
At a 2:30 p.m. news conference, speakers will include Andy Treinen, President & CEO, Frazier History Museum; Sec. Lindy Casebier, Secretary of KY Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet; Cleo Battle, President & CEO, Louisville Tourism; Robbie Morgan, Director, Lawrenceburg/Anderson County Tourism; Susan B. Dyer, President, Friends of the Holt Home (Breckinridge County); and Casey Harden, Sr. Director of Engagement, Frazier History Museum.
Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist, Frazier History Museum, will introduce and honor the Kentucky musicians in attendance whose songs are featured in the exhibit: Fred Keams (Anderson County), Dale Ann Bradley (Bell County), Larnelle Harris (Boyle County), Scout Larken (Carlisle County), Kiana Del (Carroll County), Tim Butler (Casey County), Aunt Molly Jackson (Clay County), Cade Crider (Crittenden County), Nine Pound Hammer (Daviess County), Leah Blevins (Elliott County), Senora May (Estill County), RYVOLI (Fayette County), Asly Toro (Jefferson County), Hong Shao (Jessamine County), Phoebe White (Laurel County), Slut Pill (Letcher County), Athena Cage (Logan County), RISK (Lyon County), Layla Spring (Marion County), Army of Life (Meade County), Lorinda Jones (Monroe County), Yared Sound (Nelson County), Joan Shelley (Oldham County), Tiny Tiny (Pulaski County), Kelley Ray King (Robertson County), Gravel Switch (Russell County), Jen Tackett (Scott County), Our Transient Lives (Simpson County), Chase McDaniel (Taylor County), Sue Massek (Washington County), and the Kentucky Gentlemen (Woodford County).
Afterwards, fourteen-year-old yodeler Phoebe White will lead a very special rendition of “Blue Moon of Kentucky” for guests and the media!
Admission is open to the public and costs $14.
ABOUT THE SPONSORS
The Frazier thanks the James Graham Brown Foundation and Team Kentucky for their generous support of 120: Cool KY Counties.
ABOUT THE FRAZIER
The Frazier History Museum is where the world meets Kentucky. Opened in 2004 and located on West Main Street in Downtown Louisville, the Frazier presents and preserves Kentucky history through artifacts, exhibitions, educational programs, Bourbon tastings, and guided tours offered daily. Subjects of exhibitions include Kentucky history, Kentucky pop culture, Bourbon whiskey, Old Forester decanters, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, the Stewart Historic Miniatures Collection, the Founder’s Gallery, and KentuckyShow!. With the opening of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Welcome Center in 2018, the Frazier became the official starting point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®.
The Frazier Museum serves tens of thousands of students, educators, and families each year, offering camps, field trips, youth and family programs, and projects such as The Great Louisville Hunt and The Journey: Unsung Stories of the Underground Railroad. Our Stories in Mind team brings the Frazier into long-term care facilities for senior citizens. Our annual fundraisers include Michter’s Speakeasy at the Frazier, Summer Beer Fest at Frazier, the Owsley Brown Frazier Classic Sporting Clay Tournament, and Lights on Main.
Learn more at fraziermuseum.org.