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List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area facts for kids

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Louisville Clock
The Louisville Clock, featuring various elements of Louisville and Kentucky culture as well as a mechanical horse race

This is a list of visitor attractions and annual events in the Louisville metropolitan area.

Annual festivals and other events

Louisville fireworks
Thunder Over Louisville fireworks during the Kentucky Derby Festival

Spring

  • Abbey Road on the River, a salute to The Beatles with many bands, held Memorial Day weekend. 2016 is set to be its final year in Louisville.
  • Cherokee Triangle Art Fair, held the weekend before the Kentucky Derby
  • ConGlomeration, a multigenre convention held in April
  • Festival of Faiths, a five-day national interfaith gathering featuring music, poetry, film, art and dialogue with internationally renowned spiritual leaders, thinkers and practitioners, held at Actors Theatre of Louisville in May
  • Highland Renaissance Festival (Eminence), festivities that reproduce aspects of Scottish life during the Renaissance period, along with highland games, held from late May through early July
  • Hillbilly Outfield: Kentucky Derby party (Middletown), held in early May to coincide with the Kentucky Derby
  • Humana Festival of New American Plays, held in the Spring
  • Kentucky Derby Festival, Kentucky's largest single annual event; includes Thunder Over Louisville, Great Steamboat Race, Great Balloon Race, Pegasus Parade and the Marathon/miniMarathon, and is held for two weeks from late April through early May, leading up to the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby thoroughbred races
  • Kentucky Reggae Festival, held Memorial Day weekend
  • Machine Gun Shoot, the first of two events for machine gun enthusiasts held at Knob Creek Gun Range in Bullitt County; usually on the second weekend of April
  • Starlight Strawberry Festival (Starlight, Indiana), held during Memorial Day weekend
  • WHAS Crusade for Children, fundraiser held over the first weekend in June

Summer

Forecastle Louisville
View of the Forecastle Festival on the Belvedere
  • Jane Austen Festival, a three-day event and the largest Jane Austen event in North America, held third weekend of July at Locust Grove
  • Derby City Comic Con, held in late June
  • Fandom Fest Comic Expo, held in mid-Summer
  • Forecastle Festival, a three-day nationally renowned music, art and environmental activism festival, held in July
  • Fright Night Film Fest, held in August
  • Jeffersontown Gaslight Festival (Jeffersontown), held in September
  • Kentucky Art Car Weekend, held in August
  • Kentucky Bourbon Festival (Bardstown), held in September
  • Kentucky Shakespeare Festival (commonly called "Shakespeare in Central Park"), with the main productions being a series of plays presented free to the public at Central Park during the Summer
  • Kentucky State Fair, Kentucky's official state fair, which runs for 11 days at the Kentucky Exposition Center; includes amusements, exhibits, competitions, concerts and the World's Championship Horse Show, held in August
  • Kentuckiana Pride Festival, series of events in June (around start of Summer) in support of LGBT pride and rights
  • Lebowski Fest, held in July
  • Louisville Zombie Attack, where thousands of locals dressed and made up as zombies walk down Bardstown Road to a set location. Annual event traditionally held on August 29 at 8:29 p.m., but the 2016 event was instead held on August 27 at the same time.
  • Oktoberfest, held in September (late Summer)
  • St. Joseph Orphans Picnic, held the second Saturday in August
  • Steamboat Days (Jeffersonville, Indiana), three-day festival held in early September
  • Street Rod Nationals, held in mid-Summer
  • WorldFest, a four-day international festival, held Labor Day weekend

Fall

  • Asylum Haunted Scream Park, the subject of the documentary Monsters Wanted, this is five haunted attractions in one location; held from mid-September through Halloween
  • Cropped Out, a multi-venue music festival, held in early Fall
  • Danger Run, from the end of September through the end of October
  • Farmington Harvest Festival, held the second Sunday in October at Farmington Historic Plantation
  • Garvin Gate Blues Festival, held in Old Louisville in October
  • IdeaFestival, a three-day conference that seeks to engage attendees with novel ideas and innovative thinking, held in early Fall
  • Light Up Louisville & 40 Nights of Lights, begins the day after Thanksgiving
  • Machine Gun Shoot, Knob Creek Range's second machine gun-centric event of the year, typically held on the second weekend of October
  • National FFA Organization Convention & Expo, previously held in Indianapolis, Indiana, was moved to Louisville again in 2013 after a 14-year absence, held in late October/early November
  • North American International Livestock Exposition, held in November
  • Spirit Ball, a Victorian-inspired masquerade ball held annually the Saturday before Halloween at the Conrad-Caldwell House on St. James Court
  • St. James Court Art Show, one of the top-ranked shows of its kind in the country; held in Old Louisville the first weekend of October
  • The World's Largest Halloween Party, Louisville Zoo, held 14 nights in October

Winter

  • Carl Casper's Custom Auto Show, held in February at the Kentucky Exposition Center
  • Kosair Shrine Circus, held in February
  • Louisville Boat, RV & Sportshow, held in January
  • National Farm Machinery Show, held in February

Distinctive locales

Conrad Historic Home, Old Louisville KY
The Conrad-Caldwell House at St James Court and Magnolia Avenue in Old Louisville

Louisville Metro

  • East Market District (NuLu), featuring many art galleries and restaurants, prominently featured in the monthly First Friday Hop
  • The Highlands area, which features:
  • Frankfort Avenue, including the Clifton and Crescent Hill neighborhoods—another area with distinctive shops and restaurants
  • Louisville Urban Bourbon Trail
  • Old Louisville, the third largest historic preservation district in the U.S., which features:
  • The West Main District of downtown, including "Museum Row" and featuring some of the oldest structures in the city

Southern Indiana

Historic properties

Belleoflouisville
The Belle of Louisville still serves as the symbol of Louisville. She celebrated her 100th birthday in 2014.

National Register of Historic Places listings

3

Museums, galleries and interpretive centers

LouisvilleSluggerMusem

Art

Regional history

Bourbon

Spalding Hall
Spalding Hall in Bardstown, which houses both the Bardstown Historical Museum and the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History
  • Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, located on Louisville's Whiskey Row, featuring bourbon history and tastings, and interprets Louisville's wharf history in the 1790s
  • Heaven Hill Distilleries Bourbon Heritage Center (Bardstown)
  • Jim Beam American Stillhouse (Clermont)
  • Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History (Bardstown)

Cities

Counties

More regional historical collections can be found at the Louisville Free Public Library and the University of Louisville.

U.S. and world history

FIHM
Front facade of the Frazier History Museum

Other subjects

Parks and other outdoor attractions

Thunder Run Kentucky Kingdom
Thunder Run, a wooden roller coaster at Kentucky Kingdom
Louisville waterfrontpark
The Louisville Waterfront Park exhibits rolling hills, spacious lawns and walking paths on Louisville's waterfront in the downtown area

Louisville is home to many spacious city parks, several designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, as well as forested areas, trails and other outdoor attractions; distinctive examples include:

Shows and performing arts

Louisville Kentucky Centre
The Kentucky Center in Downtown Louisville
LouisvillePalaceFullSign
The Louisville Palace

Venues

Performers

  • Kentucky Shakespeare Festival
  • Little Colonel Players (Pewee Valley)
  • Louisville Chorus
  • Louisville Orchestra
  • Louisville Thoroughbreds
  • Mind's Eye Theatre Company
  • Pandora Productions
  • Squallis Puppeteers
  • StageOne Family Theatre
  • Theatre [502]
  • Voices of Kentuckiana
  • Wayward Actors Company

Sports-related attractions and venues

Miscellaneous

  • Rooster Run (Nelson County), a general store well known for baseball caps featuring its logo and a 13.5-foot (4.1 m)-tall fiberglass rooster statue standing in front of the store. According to The Kentucky Encyclopedia, it is "one of the best-known general stores in the country and one of Kentucky's best-known unincorporated businesses".


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List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.