Pursuit of Happiness Free Family Day, Early Bird Gala Pricing, Corporate Buyout for Thunder over Louisville, and More
Pursuit of Happiness Free Family Day flyer.
What are the things in life that make you happy? Do you enjoy reading? What about crafting and creating art? Do you have any pets whose presence at the end of a long day makes everything feel just a bit more manageable?
These are the questions the education team at the Frazier Kentucky History Museum has been exploring both in our personal lives and our work. This introspection has culminated in an amazing kickoff exhibition to the museum’s roster of America250-themed programming for 2026: Pursuit of Happiness. This brand-new exhibition located on the third floor of the Frazier takes guests on a journey through the lives and stories of thirteen incredible individuals who lived during the period of the American Revolution. Each of these people pursued what happiness and achieving happiness meant to them in their own ways, and some of their efforts contributed either directly or indirectly to the colonists’ winning the war.
To highlight this fun and engaging exhibition, we are so excited to present to you a Free Family Day!
Does the word “free” make you happy? We hope so—that’s kind of the point on this one!
Pursuit of Happiness Free Family Day will take place this Saturday, March 14, with free admission from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.—and we are so excited to partner with eight different local community organizations to bring you fun and engaging activities for the whole family! Learn about the science behind making the perfect pitch from Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, dress up and take pictures with the family using props and backdrops provided by StageOne Family Theatre, and even play with some shelter puppies provided by Kentucky Humane Society! Plus, you can plant seeds and decorate pots with Waterfront Botanical Gardens and play instruments with the Louisville Academy of Music. So mark your calendars and join us Saturday!
And, don’t forget: this year’s Camp Frazier Spring Break and Summer Camps are now live! We offer day camps for the spring, April 6–10, and weekly rates for the summer camps, June 1–July 31. Register now while spots remain!
In today’s Frazier Weekly issue, Tish highlights some objects from adventurer Tori Murden McClure for Women’s History Month, Melanie announces our Thunder Over Louisville corporate event offering, artist Kina Matahari highlights her pieces in our Aflora exhibition, and much more.
Thank you for reading.
Tori Kennedy
Manager of Youth & Family Programs
Frazier Kentucky History Museum
This Week in the Museum
Early Bird Pricing for Night at the Frazier Ends Wednesday!
2026 Night at the Frazier flyer.
Night at the Frazier is one of the most fun events of the year at the Frazier Kentucky History Museum, and this year we invite you to join us Red, White & Bluegrass style!
Our Early Bird Party Ticket is available for $75 through Wednesday, March 11, and we would love to see you there.
On May 15, the museum will transform into a patriotic Kentucky party in celebration of America250—and this year’s after-hours experience is bigger than ever.
A musician performs at last year’s Night at the Frazier gala, April 5, 2025.
Guests enjoy last year’s Night at the Frazier gala, April 5, 2025.
Your Party Ticket (8 p.m.–midnight) includes:
· Live music from V-Groove
· Open bar + Bourbon tastings & specialty cocktails
· Lounge spaces hosted by Horse Soldier, Dark Arts Whiskey House, and Larrikin Bourbon
· Featured Bourbons, including Kentucky Peerless, Whiskey Thief, and Safai
· Kentucky Karaoke (a.k.a. Kentucky-oke!)
· Grazing from a variety of local food partners
· Dancing and Photobooths
· Access to the Silent Auction & Bourbon Pull
It’s a high-energy, Bourbon-forward, boots-on-the-floor kind of night—all while supporting the museum’s mission of preserving and sharing Kentucky’s stories.
If you’re looking for the full gala experience, a limited number of VIP tickets are also available and include the seated dinner, live auction, and award presentation before the party begins—with continued access to everything above.
Early Bird pricing ends Wednesday, March 11.
We can’t wait to celebrate with you!
Hayley Harlow
Sr. Manager of Fundraising
From the Collections: Transatlantic Rower’s Cooking Pot and Food, 1999
Tori Murden McClure poses with her boat American Pearl at the Frazier, December 3, 2024.
Cooking pot and uneaten food from Tori Murden McClure’s transatlantic voyage in 1999.
Hello Frazier friends. It is Women’s History Month, and that means I get the opportunity to share something from the collection that relates to a really cool woman. Today’s awesome woman is Tori Murden McClure!
If you don’t know Tori, well, have I got a cool woman to introduce to you. Tori Murden McClure is an athlete, adventurer, chaplain, lawyer, and retired university president. But one of the parts of her story that means the most to us at the Frazier Kentucky History Museum is her trip across the Atlantic Ocean. That’s right: in 1999, Tori became the first woman and the first American to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She completed the journey in eighty-one days. We are so privileged here at the museum because her boat American Pearl is a part of our collection. It is currently on view in our Cool Kentucky exhibition and it’s truly one of my favorite pieces.
In 2024, when Tori donated her boat, she also donated other items from her trip to the museum collections. This was a whole range of items from her abandoned ship bag (yikes—can you imagine?) to books on tape (a cassette), a satellite phone, and a very old school laptop. But some of the pieces I like the most are her cooking pot and bags of dehydrated food. Because until I looked at them it hadn’t occurred to me how one might eat out in the middle of the ocean in a rowboat. I mean, yeah, how did she eat? She was rowing between ten and fourteen hours a day. Can you imagine the amount of energy that would be needed to do that?
Well, like everything about this trip, Tori had a plan. She brought protein bars and dehydrated food and a cooking pot to make her meals in. Tori also had a desalination system installed on her boat to turn sea water into drinking water and to use for cooking. Boy, did she think of everything! But then again, she had too: eighty-one days alone on the ocean just rowing, for the challenge and the adventure of something no one else had done. So there you have it: the incredible Tori Murden McClure and her great adventure across the ocean in 1999.
For your viewing pleasure, we’ve pictured the cooking pot and some of the food that didn’t get eaten.
Tish Boyer
Registrar & Manager of Collections Engagement
Museum Shop: Great Women Memory Game
Great Women Memory Game sold in the Frazier’s Museum Shop.
Celebrate Women’s History Month with a game that’s as fun as it is inspiring! The Great Women Memory Game invites players to match cards while discovering the achievements of trailblazing women from history. Test your memory, learn something new, and celebrate the women who changed the world—one match at a time. It’s available online and in the Frazier’s Museum Shop.
Celebrate Women’s History Month by Visiting a Louisville Park
Flyer. Credit: Louisville Parks and Recreation; Louisville Office for Women.
The journalist in me continues to get news releases from the city of Louisville and I wanted to make sure you saw this one because I loved it.
During Women’s History Month, the city is encouraging you to visit local parks and facilities named in honor of trailblazing women.
The initiative is led by Louisville Parks and Recreation in partnership with the Metro Office for Women.
The executive director of Louisville Parks and Recreation Michelle Kings say, “These spaces tell the stories of women who broke barriers, led with courage, and left a lasting imprint on our city.”
There’s even a challenge underway to visit some of the parks and post pictures to social media that could lead to a prize. Click here to read more about that.
The biggest prize of all of course is learning about these women who made a meaningful impact in our community.
Rachel Platt
VP of Mission
Treat your Employees to a Thunder over Louisville Event at the Frazier!
Treat your employees and clients to a unique and unforgettable Thunder Over Louisville party!
Happy Spring Forward Monday!
Speaking of spring, Derby season is around the corner and that means our favorite event: Thunder Over Louisville!!
It’s not too late to treat your employees, appreciate your clients, or just throw a one-of-a kind party for your nearest and dearest by renting out the entire Frazier for a day of planes, pyro, and the best view in Lou!
Rental of the museum includes:
· Exclusive access to three floors of exhibitions
· Use of the Brown-Forman Theatre for private screenings of your favorite movies
· Climate-controlled and indoor restrooms
· Parking for up to 100 vehicles
· Direct access to the expressway
· In/out privileges to visit the waterfront
· Front-row rooftop seats to wave at the pilots in the air show—and to be in the thick of the fireworks!!
Contact us at events@fraziermuseum.org or call (502) 753-1688 to reserve.
Melanie C. Duke
Director of Events
Field Report from the Kentucky Meatshower Sesquicentennial
On February 28, crowds flocked to Owingsville in Bath County, Kentucky, for a festival and spectacle honoring the 150th anniversary of the Kentucky Meatshower.
We had a blast, as you’ll see from this video.
The Kentucky Meatshower has always been near and dear to my heart. In 2019, I published a children’s book on the strange subject with my friend and illustrator Shae Goodlett. Shae’s been in the news recently because he is the artist for this year’s Kentucky Derby Festival Poster.
Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience
On the Trail with Abby: Log Still Distiller in Nelson County
On the Trail with Abby graphic.
Bourbon tourism is booming—and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® is growing faster than ever! Each week, the Frazier’s Abby Flanders takes readers on a digital stop-by-stop tour of this expanding adventure, spotlighting the distilleries, stories, and expressions behind America’s native spirit. Ready to hit the trail in real life? Start your journey at the Frazier Kentucky History Museum, home of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® Welcome Center.
Exterior of Log Still Distillery in Nelson County, Kentucky.
Copper stills are an investment for a distiller and were particularly pricey in the early 19th century. Log stilling was a cheaper alternative where large, hollowed-out logs held fermented mash, which were then heated with steam to separate the alcohol. It’s a creative workaround and a story closely tied to Joseph Washington “J.W.” Dant.
Though the most successful distillers could eventually afford to replace their log stills with copper, the Dant family’s Bourbon ingenuity became part of Kentucky’s broader whiskey tradition. Today, that log stilling legacy continues at Log Still Distillery, where the historic Dant distilling campus has been revived as a Bourbon destination. The campus, complete with a concert venue, was brought back to life by Wally Dant, direct descendant of “J.W.” Onsite, they distill Monk’s Road Bourbons, rye, and gin, as well as Remington Reserve, America’s 47, and more. Near Louisville? Try Monk’s Road Boiler House for a dinner and tasting instead!
Abby Flanders
Administrative Chief of Engagement
Bridging the Divide
Aflora Artist Spotlight: Kina Matahari
Artworks by Kina Matahari on display in the Aflora exhibition at the Frazier Kentucky History Museum, September 13, 2025.
Artworks by Kina Matahari on display in the Aflora exhibition at the Frazier Kentucky History Museum, September 13, 2025.
With the Aflora art exhibition ending on Sunday, March 15, the Frazier Kentucky History Museum invites everyone to come enjoy this vibrant showcase of Latinx art and culture before it’s gone. Even so, we are pleased to announce that our incredible partnership with La Casita Center remains ongoing—so stay tuned for future collaborations! Also keep an eye out for future Aflora exhibitions locally, as the Louisville Water Tower is set to host Aflora later this year. The following article was written by Aflora artist Kina Matahari, who writes about art’s capacity to create agency and build meaningful connections.—Jason Berkowitz, Engagement Specialist
Kina Matahari is not my real name. It is an alter ego, a mask I constructed in Cuba in 2018 as both an artwork and a stance. It began as a refuge for survival—a way to continue creating my art and writing critical texts addressing the complex political environment I experienced in Cuba. The impersonality of a fictional identity allowed me to detach discourse from purely personal interests and instead shape a collective, generational voice of reflection and critique of Cuban political reality. My work was censored within this climate of repression, and the fight for freedom of expression became my central claim.
I am an Art Historian. Perhaps because my training is not rooted in specific artistic techniques but rather in the study of references and historical contexts, my practice is not anchored to any single formal language. Instead, it restlessly seeks diverse media through which an idea can take form. Those ideas are, more often than not, reflections of my lived reality and surroundings. Here lies my understanding of the function and purpose of Art—at least of my art. For me, it is a powerful tool for communication, analysis, and transformation.
I arrived in Louisville, Kentucky, in February 2024 after a long and complex migration process, as migrations inevitably are. Fortunately, I was welcomed by the warm embrace of my family and a generous community that has provided support in countless ways. Today, I call this beautiful city home.
Being part of the Latinx artists’ collective participating in Aflora this year has been a profound gift. In addition to marking the first time I have exhibited my work publicly in the United States—and doing so at such a meaningful institution devoted to preserving Kentucky’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage as the Frazier Kentucky History Museum—Aflora has allowed me to connect with many individuals. Ultimately, those connections are the most valuable outcome of any life experience for me. Our collaboration with the museum—particularly with Rachel Platt and Jason Berkovitz—was defined by genuine warmth and unwavering support. The guidance and connection offered by curator Ada Asenjo is a light I hold among my most cherished professional and personal appreciations. Many of the participating artists I now call friends—kindred spirits always willing to join forces in new projects and opportunities to create and share through art.
The work Ada selected from my production—formally diverse in nature—was a great surprise to me because of its intimate character and its deep connection to my most nostalgic sense of identity. Three pieces from the Silent Scream series were included in the exhibition. On this occasion, I employed the most traditional technique I have ever used, and at the same time the most daring given my limited technical background: acrylic on canvas. In a simple and distilled manner, I use the tinajón—a large clay vessel and a symbol of my hometown—to speak about identity and freedom of expression. While it reflects on my origins, it can also be recontextualized within the reconstruction of who I am and how I can—or cannot—express myself in my new environment. It embodies the pride of a culture that can become stigma, and the struggle for survival—just as the tinajón once held the life-sustaining water of my ancestors. An old legend says that if you drink water from a tinajón, you will remain in Camagüey. I carry my tinajón with me wherever I go.
Kina Matahari
Artist
Guest Contributor
