2026 Beer Fest Celebrates America250, Everly Brothers and John Prine Maquettes, Sippin’ Safai Bourbon, and More
Good morning, y’all—and happy St. Patrick’s Day season!
Yes, in Louisville we like to extend the annual beer drinking celebration of Irish culture into a two-week season. Each year, Louisville starts the celebration with a parade on Bardstown Road, we double down with craft brewery events on St. Patrick’s Day, and then we test the luck of the Irish with a second weekend of Guinness, green beer, and four-leaf clovers.
I’m in!
2026 Frazier Summer Beer Fest flyer.
Festivalgoers enjoy last year’s Frazier Summer Beer Fest, July 26, 2025.
2026 Frazier Summer Beer Fest t-shirt.
This year our team is also taking this evergreen opportunity to celebrate the red, white, and blue—by launching our Frazier Summer Beer Fest, scheduled for August 1, 2026. Today—one day before St. Patrick’s Day—Early Bird tickets are on sale.
The theme this year is America250 in celebration of our United States semiquincentennial. And for the first time, our red, white, and blue tie-dyed beer fest t-shirts are available at the time of ticket purchase. We’ll mail them to you.
This year we’re targeting 250 unique beers for our annual party on Main Street, and as a Kentucky history museum, we are celebrating Kentucky’s outstanding craft breweries first. The toe-tapping tunes will come from Old Lou’s Ragtime Band and the Bourbonauts, both at street level. Live a little, come have a taste!
Also this week, we have a couple of 120: Cool KY Counties stories to share. First, Tish Boyer spotlights the maquette sculptures of the Everly Brothers and John Prine, a gift from Freddie Mayes at Muhlenberg County’s Central City Tourism Commission. Then, Simon Meiners drives to West Kentucky’s Ballard County and learns about its namesake, Bland Ballard.
Heidi Janes is selling green Ale-8 tees for St. Patrick’s Day, Stephen Yates is sippin’ Safai Bourbon, and our spring break and summer camps are filling up fast.
I hope you enjoy!
Andy Treinen
President & CEO
Frazier Kentucky History Museum
This Week in the Museum
Museum Shop: Ale-8 Tee for St. Patrick’s Day!
Heidi Janes models an Ale-8-One t-shirt sold in the Frazier’s Museum Shop and online, March 11, 2026.
For the Irish in all of us, wearing green on March 17 is a must. For Kentuckians, there may be no better green than the Ale-8 Vintage Label Tee—celebrating our favorite homegrown soft drink in classic style. Grab yours in the Frazier’s Museum Shop or online and wear your Kentucky pride this St. Patrick’s Day.
From the Collections: Maquette Sculptures of Everly Brothers and John Prine
Select new objects on display in the Frazier’s 120 exhibit, March 12, 2026. Pictured at the right are maquette sculptures of the Everly Brothers and John Prine.
Maquette sculptures of the Everly Brothers and John Prine in our 120 exhibit, March 12, 2026.
When you enter the Frazier Kentucky History Museum, the first exhibition you see is Cool Kentucky. Opened in 2020, Cool Kentucky explores all the fun, unique, and cool things that make Kentucky, well, Kentucky!
We in the exhibits and collections department couldn’t have imagined how this Cool Kentucky exhibition would grow and continue to become an important part of the stories we tell. But in 2022, we widened our concept and came up with a way to represent all 120 counties in the state.
In 2024, as part of Cool Kentucky, we opened our 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit. It’s a magnificent case flanked by touchscreen monitors where visitors can click a map to learn more about individual counties. But the case itself contains artifacts on loan from select Kentucky counties! And earlier this month we updated the case, swapping out three of the original objects for different ones.
One of these new additions is a set of maquette sculptures of Don and Phil Everly and John Prine. All three of these world-famous musicians have roots in or connections to Central City in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky! Made from resin, these small-scale statues are the designs for larger-than-life sculptures installed at Festival Square in Central City.
Tish Boyer
Registrar & Manager of Collections Engagement
Freddie Mayes on Central City: “Where the Music Never Ends”
Freddie Mayes gifts the Frazier a John Prine statue during the Frazier’s For the Love of John Prine program, February 13, 2025. Credit: Greg Lamb.
Welcome to Central City sign.
From left, statues of Muhlenberg County musicians the Everly Brothers and John Prine on display in Central City, Kentucky, 2024. Credit: Derek Operle.
It was during our John Prine program last year when the Frazier was gifted a trio of treasures from Freddie Mayes, the Executive Director of the Central City Tourism Commission. One was a maquette of John Prine who has deep ties to Western Kentucky and Muhlenberg County where his parents were born. The other maquettes gifted to us were Don and Phil Everly. Thanks to Freddie they are all on display in a case in our 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit. I offered Freddie the chance to invite you to Central City to see the full-size statues for yourself. That invitation was music to his ears because that area is all about the music!—Rachel Platt, VP of Mission
Here are four can’t-miss experiences in Central City that belong on your Kentucky bucket list no matter what time of year you visit.
Start with Muhlenberg Music Museum, where you can celebrate the legendary careers of the Everly Brothers, John Prine, Merle Travis, and Jim Walker. The museum features documentaries of the musicians along with broad displays of their memorabilia.
Then stop by Festival Square to snap a photo with bronze statues of the Everly Brothers and Prine. The attraction pays tribute to the artists’ immense contribution to the community, including the Everly Brothers Homecoming Music Festivals which featured a who’s-who list of star performers.
Next, you’ll want to visit John Prine Memorial Park at Rochester Dam, where John Prine’s ashes were spread. You can enjoy the same scenery that inspired the lyrics of his beloved song “Paradise.”
For a change of pace, you can visit Kentucky Motorsports Hall of Fame & Museum, featuring more than forty auto and motorcycle displays covering everything from pit crews and drivers to salt flat and dirt tracks to Daytona and the Indy 500.
All attractions are available year-round and admission is free. More information can be accessed on the Central City Tourism Facebook page or by calling the tourism office at (270) 754-9603.
Freddie Mayes
Executive Director, Central City Tourism Commission
Guest Contributor
Sippin’ with Stephen: Single Barrel Safai Bourbon with Mike Safai
The Frazier Kentucky History Museum shares stories of the people, places, and producers of the Kentucky Bourbon industry. To learn more, visit our Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Welcome Center or tour our Spirit of Kentucky® exhibition.
This month’s episode of Sippin’ with Stephen features Mike Safai, founder of Safai Bourbon.
Safai Bourbon is a single barrel, super-premium Bourbon crafted with intention and originality. The recipe was created in 2014 by Mike Safai, a lifelong purveyor with deep roots in agriculture, flavor, and craftsmanship. In 2016, production was contracted with New Riff Distilling Company in Kentucky, under the exclusive direction of Mike Safai and his team.
While Mike Safai is also the founder of the well-known Safai Coffee Company, the Bourbon operates independently from the coffee business, with its own team and brand identity.
Each bottle reflects a pursuit of balance, flavor, and story—from the carefully sourced ingredients to the refined aging process—capturing a spirit born from both tradition and intuition.
Today’s episode explores the history and background of this brand as well as reviewing their Single Barel Bourbon. For more information regarding the brand, products, and history, visit their website.
Cheers!
Stephen Yates
Community & Corporate Sales Manager
Don’t Miss Out—Register for Camp Frazier’s Growing this Spring 2026 Spring Break Camp!
Growing this Spring 2026 Spring Break Camp flyer.
Spring Break is fast approaching, and time is of the essence to find childcare for your kiddos while they are out of school. No worries, though—we have just the thing!
The Frazier’s Growing this Spring! 2026 Spring Break Camp will take place April 6–10. During this camp, each day will focus on a different element of springtime that gets us excited about the season: Plants, Weather, Animals, Parks, and Play! Learn about the natural wonders of the Bluegrass State, hear tales of courage and growth by Kentuckians, and more! Make arts and crafts, explore the Frazier’s exhibitions, and even go on field trips outside of the museum. Registration will be pay-by-the-day, and camp will be geared towards kids in grades 1–5. We would love to see you there, so don’t wait and register your camper here today!
In the spirit of planning ahead and looking towards warmer weather, we are also now offering our 2026 Summer Camps at the Frazier! Gear up for some fun in the sun in this year’s Camp Frazier Summer Camp! Featuring eight weeks full of fun and exciting themes from June to July, your camper is sure to have a blast.
Our Camp Frazier 2026 Summer Camps are geared towards rising grades first through sixth. Don’t wait—learn more about these terrific themes and explore what others we have to offer by registering your camper today!
Tori Kennedy
Manager of Youth & Family Programs
Highlights of 120: Ballard County: Bland Ballard
Map of Kentucky with Ballard County featured.
Facing south at the Wickliffe Riverfront in Ballard County, Kentucky, October 23, 2024.
Portrait of Bland Ballard.
In 2026, as we celebrate America250, we’re adding dozens of America250-themed entries to our 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit. These stories generally pertain to figures from the American Revolution and the early days of Kentucky. Learn more about Bland Ballard and other figures in our 120 exhibit.
What do you know about Ballard County, Kentucky?
I’ve only visited once: I spent the morning of October 23, 2024, in Ballard County, located in far West Kentucky, where the Ohio River deposits into the Mississippi. I played albums by country music sensation Kelsey Waldon—who grew up stacking tobacco in Monkey’s Eyebrow, Ballard County. I enjoyed an omelet and coffee at Blue Grass Restaurant in La Center. I hiked at Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site and shot hoops at Wickliffe Park. I stood in the tall grass with the cicadas at the Wickliffe Riverfront and thought about what this riverbank must have looked like to French explorers Sieur Louis Joliet and Pere Jacques Marquette, who stopped here in 1673 to feast with Native Americans on buffalo meat, bear’s grease, and white plums. (Mind you, this was nearly a century before Daniel Boone ever set foot in Kentucky.)
But for whom was Ballard County named? This, I did not know—until I sat down to write this article! It was named for an early Kentucky soldier and statesman named Bland Ballard.
As it turns out, Bland Ballard himself—so far as I can tell—never set foot in this parcel of land that bears his name! However, he did at one time live in Louisville. And, much like I did as a child in Louisville’s Tyler Park, he lived beside Beargrass Creek.
On October 16, 1762, Bland Ballard was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
In 1779, he came to Kentucky with his father. The two went to Harrodsburg, then Boonesboro—the first and second settlements in Kentucky—where Bland raised a crop of corn. He then joined a militia as part of Bowman’s Campaign.
That year, Ballard was among those who drew town lots at the site of present-day Louisville. But the lot he drew, as was shown later, sat on the land claimed by John Campbell—the Patriot for whom my street in Butchertown is named. Apparently, Campbell’s claim was upheld and Ballard’s claim was declared null and void.
In 1783, Ballard moved his family to Linn’s Station on Beargrass Creek in Louisville. That year, Native American warriors attacked Linn’s Station. He and his family survived.
In 1787, Ballard and his family moved to Tyler Station on Tick Creek in what is now Shelby County, Kentucky. On March 31, 1788, a force of Delaware warriors attacked Tyler Station. Ballard’s father, stepmother, two brothers, and half-sister were killed, and his sister was tomahawked but survived. Seven of the Delaware attackers were killed.
Historian Lyman Draper later quoted Ballard as claiming to have gone on to kill thirty to forty Native Americans to avenge the killings of his family members.
In 1792, Ballard helped mark the road that now runs from Shelbyville to Louisville. In 1793, Ballard joined General “Mad” Anthony Wayne in his campaign. He participated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. He went on to represent Shelby County in the General Assembly in 1800, 1803, and 1805. During the War of 1812, Ballard fought at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 and the Battle of the River Raisin in 1813.
In 1842, the Kentucky State Legislature created Ballard County from portions of McCracken and Hickman Counties. That same year, the city of Blandville [Ballard County] was founded. Both the county and the city are named in honor of Bland Ballard, who was then a celebrated veteran and statesman.
Bland Ballard died in 1853.
Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist
