Frazier Named Best Museum in Kentucky, Mural Painted on Ninth Street, Speakeasy goes Gatsby, and More
Happy Monday morning, y’all!
Well, knock me over with a finch feather: We just learned that we have been voted the Best Museum in the state of Kentucky. Did we expect it? Not really—but here we are, blushing more than Colonel Sanders after he mastered the eleven herbs and spices.
Best in Kentucky Awards host Heather French Henry presents Frazier President Andy Treinen the Best Museum in Kentucky award at the Kentucky State Fair, August 14, 2025.
The honor was voted upon by readers of Kentucky Living magazine who live across the Commonwealth in each of Kentucky’s 120 counties. That is significant to our staff, our board, our members, and you, our supporters, who are responsible for this honor. Thanks to all of you!
Thanks also to Miss America 2000 Heather French Henry, Joe Arnold, and the whole team at Kentucky Living. I can assure you that this is not something we take lightly. There are so many incredible museums in Kentucky and we are proud to be among them—so this is truly special!
Mural painted on the side of the Frazier History Museum, August 15, 2025.
And look at this: one day after accepting the award for Best Museum in Kentucky, we held a news conference celebrating our new mural, which was created in partnership with Doe-Anderson and painted by OSRS Mural Co. It’s awesome!
The concept is to inspire curiosity about what is behind these walls, which are all stories that inspire, engage, and educate audiences about Kentucky. We are fortunate to have everyone reading this as supporters, and we can’t wait for you all to see it in person.
In today’s Frazier Weekly issue, our good friend from Louisville Tourism, Stacey Yates, tees up a Gatsby-themed Michter’s Speakeasy on September 4. Susan Reed rolls out our new Sunday tours and Tish previews our new “Sunshine Joe” Mallard quilt. Plus, we’ve got disco ball stickers, details of the GoblinCon UFO & Paranormal Expo, and so much more.
Enjoy!
Andy Treinen
President & CEO
Frazier History Museum
This Week in the Museum
Step Back in Time: Michter’s Speakeasy Goes Gatsby
Our Michter’s Speakeasy at the Frazier returns September 4—and we guarantee it’ll be hotsy-totsy! The annual after-hours party pays tribute to the food, the fashion, and the music of the 1920s. Secure your tickets today, guys and dames! We’ve asked Stacey Yates to talk about the special theme of this year’s Speakeasy.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist
Front cover of the Great Gatsby at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, 2025. Credit: Tim Furlong Jr.
Interior of the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, 2025. Credit: Tim Furlong Jr.
Louisville is leaning into its literary side this year, celebrating the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby—and there’s no better place to toast the Roaring Twenties than the Frazier History Museum’s Michter’s Speakeasy.
On Thursday, September 4, the Frazier will open its doors for an evening inspired by the era that defined Gatsby’s world. Guests will enjoy live music from the 1920s, Gatsby-themed cocktails, exclusive Michter’s tastings, dance lessons, period hair and makeup styling, and a vintage-style photo op to capture the night.
The Gatsby connection runs deep here. F. Scott Fitzgerald spent time in Louisville in 1918 while stationed at Camp Zachary Taylor during World War I. His experiences in the city—and encounters with Louisville’s well-heeled society—are said to have shaped characters and settings in his most famous novel. Louisville’s historic Seelbach Hotel, where Fitzgerald was a frequent guest, is widely believed to have inspired the novel’s lavish wedding scene. These ties have fueled a yearlong celebration by Louisville Tourism, from Gatsby-themed tours to giveaways of the book itself. You can pick up a special limited edition of the classic American novel at the Louisville Visitor Center.
2025 Michter’s Speakeasy at the Frazier graphic.
Now, the Frazier’s speakeasy offers another way to step into that glittering world. Come dressed in your best 1920s or cocktail attire, raise a glass, and experience Louisville’s living connection to one of America’s greatest stories.
Louisville Tourism’s “Gatsby 100” campaign is celebrating the novel’s centennial throughout 2025 with special events, literary experiences, and nods to Fitzgerald’s Louisville ties—inviting visitors to explore the city through the lens of one of America’s most iconic stories. For a full itinerary of Gatsby-inspired experiences, see our Guide to Gatsby’s Louisville.
Stacey Yates
Chief Marketing Officer, Louisville Tourism
Guest Contributor
Frazier to Offer Exhibition Tours Every Sunday at Noon and 2 P.M.
Frazier Engagement Specialists Susan Reed and Jason Berkowitz pose with the Colonel Sanders mannequin in the Frazier’s Cool Kentucky exhibition, August 14, 2025.
To paraphrase Justin Timberlake: we’re bringing Sundays back! Sunday tours, that is.
Jason Berkowitz and I are now leading two tours on Sundays: Cool Kentucky at 12 p.m. and The Commonwealth: Divided we Fall at 2 p.m.
Besides our titles as Engagement Specialists, Jason and I are the faces of the Stories in Mind program, bringing stories of Kentucky history into our community with the elderly. You may not have known we do that!
We love to share the story behind the story.
If you want to know who Charles Dickens came to Louisville to meet, how a clock served as hope for so many, and why a canary cage is part of our collection, please plan to join us! We have those answers and so much more.
With the addition of Sunday tours, the Frazier is now offering tours every day of the week. Our guest experiences reflect our commitment to storytelling, lifelong learning, and igniting the human spirit.
You can catch other tours Monday–Saturday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.
Come for the tour and stay for our recently revamped and wildly popular KentuckyShow!, which screen three times daily (twice on Sundays) in the Frazier’s Brown-Forman Theatre.
Learning about Kentucky history has never been so entertaining—and, well . . . cool.
Susan Reed
Engagement Specialist
From the Collections: Hey You Quilt by “Sunshine Joe” Mallard
Hey You quilt by “Sunshine Joe” Mallard, 2025.
Whenever quilt artist Joe Mallard pays a visit to the Frazier, it’s like a ray of sunshine enters the building! It’s why his nickname is “Sunshine Joe.” Joe has loaned us another quilt, called Hey You, and we can’t wait to tell you about it. You may remember him from Frazier Weekly and our stories about his Obama Tie Quilt, which was accepted at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Click here to see that story. In the meantime, we’ve asked collections manager Tish Boyer to discuss Hey You.—Rachel Platt, VP of Mission
If you know me and have spent any small amount of time with me, you probably know I love a good stich craft. I love it all: knitting, cross stitch, embroidery, sewing—all of it, feeling it is an underappreciated art form for many people. But I especially love to view quilts! I could write several pages on quilts alone and all the things one can see in a quilt. And though I cannot sew and therefore do not quilt, I am fascinated with them and will sit to look at one long after friends who are with me have walked away.
So today I want to share a new piece on loan to us by Sunshine Joe Mallard. If you are not familiar with Sunshine Joe’s work, boy, am I excited to share it with you! Sunshine Joe’s works are full of the most interesting stitches, embroidery, and other bits and bobs. His quilts always feature neckties and phrases stitched throughout. And just like his name suggests, Sunshine Joe’s quilts are always full of bright colors: reds, yellows, blues, oranges, and greens. You can sit for quite some time viewing one of his quilts and still not see everything in it.
We were so honored to have one of his quilts on display in our Cool Kentucky exhibition for the last year. And I am even more pleased to say that we have switched that quilt out for a new one. Titled Hey You and now on view in our museum, come down and see it in person. And on view at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, see Sunshine Joe’s upcoming exhibition Threading His Grandmother’s Needles: Hand-Stitched Stories by Sunshine Joe Mallard. The exhibition is on view September 12–December 12.
Tish Boyer
Registrar & Manager of Collections Engagement
Museum Shop: Disco Ball Sticker
Disco ball sticker sold in the Frazier’s Museum Shop.
We’re shining bright as the Best Museum in Kentucky—and nothing says “celebrate” quite like our giant, made-in-Kentucky disco ball. Grab our fan-favorite sticker that proudly proclaims: “The Frazier has balls.” We stock them in the Frazier’s Museum Shop and online. (PS: Even history museums can have a sense of humor!)
Celebrating the Seventieth Anniversary of the Hopkinsville Goblins Case
Detail of page one of the August 22, 1955, issue of the Kentucky New Era.
GoblinCon graphic.
The city of Hopkinsville is no stranger to strangeness. Located in Christian County, Kentucky, it is the birthplace of the clairvoyant Edgar Cayce, and recently was the epicenter for viewing a total solar eclipse. To fans of the paranormal, it is best known for being the site of the Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter, an alleged alien invasion that took place seventy years ago.
On the night of August 21, 1955, Elmer “Lucky” Sutton reported to Hopkinsville police that he and eleven other people had witnessed an unidentified flying object in the sky over their farmhouse in nearby Kelly, Kentucky. He said they then spent a terrifying night defending themselves against several small, glowing gray creatures with pointed ears and bulbous eyes.
The account of the experience reached the press, receiving widespread coverage in local and national papers. The story became embellished with each telling, with the initial article increasing the number of invading creatures to a dozen or more, and later articles describing them for the first time as “little green men.” Over time, the creatures came to be called the “Kelly Green Men” or the “Hopkinsville Goblins.”
The city of Hopkinsville will celebrate Alien Invasion Day on Saturday, August 23. The Hopkinsville Visitor Center promises food, drinks, and out-of-this-world fun for adults and families. Besides being the anniversary of the close encounter at the Sutton farmhouse, the event serves as a kick-off for this year’s GoblinCon UFO & Paranormal Expo.
Scheduled for October 17 and 18, GoblinCon is a two-day convention featuring vendor booths, educational workshops, special guest speakers, and panels on such topics as extraterrestrials, bigfoot, and ghosts. Of special interest this year is a series of lectures by author Geraldine Sutton Stith, the daughter of Lucky Sutton, who was inspired by her father’s experience to become a UFO researcher.
Tickets and VIP passes for GoblinCon are available now, so mark your calendars for October 17 and 18 if you’re planning a paranormal pilgrimage.
For more information, visit goblinconky.com.
Sarah Jemerson
Education & Engagement Lead
On the Trail with Abby: Barrel House Distillery in Lexington
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 History Museum, the Official Starting Point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®.
Exterior of Barrel House Distilling in Lexington, Kentucky.
If you want a Kentucky Bourbon Trail® stop that feels like you’ve stumbled into a secret hideout for Bourbon lovers, you’ll find it tucked away in Lexington’s historic Distillery District at Barrel House Distillery. Housed in part of the old James E. Pepper Distillery complex, this small but mighty operation leans into traditions of Kentucky distillers past by producing fine spirits made with traditional methods.
Jeff Wiseman and Pete Wright, the minds behind Barrel House Distilling Company, began in 2006, making Barrel House the first distillery Lexington had seen in fifty years. However, they aren’t stopping there. Their new expansion into Harrison County sets them up again to make history as the first distilling company in the county since the 1970s.
Their lineup isn’t just Bourbon—you’ll find everything from RockCastle Kentucky Straight Bourbon to Oak Rum, Pure Blue Vodka, and even a moonshine called Devil John, named after a legendary Kentucky lawman who wasn’t always so lawful.
Visiting is a laid-back experience. The tasting room is cozy and unpretentious, with friendly staff who are quick to share stories about the building’s past and the distillery’s creative process. Be sure to ask them about Devil John! You can sip your way through a flight, pick up a bottle, or just enjoy the atmosphere before wandering the surrounding Distillery District for live music, more spirits, or a bite at the adjacent Elkhorn Tavern.
Barrel House is small in size—though it’s expanding—and it’s got the heart of a true Kentucky original. It’s a reminder that Bourbon history doesn’t feel like history at all. It’s alive and well, all over the Commonwealth.
Abby Flanders
Administrative Chief of Engagement
History All Around Us
Nanz & Kraft Florists’ 175th Anniversary: A Louisville Legacy
From left, Henry A. Kraft and Henry Nanz Sr.
Nanz & Neuner Florist ad.
One-hundred and seventy-five years ago, a German horticulturist named Henry Nanz put his roots down in Louisville, Kentucky—little could he know that the seeds he planted in that first, humble greenhouse downtown would continue to grow, thrive, and serve this community for nearly two centuries afterward.
This year, we’re thrilled to announce a truly special milestone—Nanz & Kraft Florists is turning 175! Since 1850, we’ve been honored to be a part of Louisville’s story, growing alongside this wonderful city and sharing in its most cherished moments.
For generations, Nanz & Kraft has been more than just a florist. We’ve become a friendly face in Louisville’s neighborhoods, delivering comfort, joy, and beauty—whether by horsedrawn cart in days gone by or today’s same-day deliveries. Our arrangements have brightened birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, weddings, and countless everyday moments for families all across our hometown.
Our story is Louisville’s story. Through the trials of history—from the Great Depression, Great Flood of ’37, and devastating store fire in ’76, to times of peace and prosperity—Nanz & Kraft has stood strong with the community, always striving to make special occasions a little more beautiful. It’s a commitment we’re proud to carry on, guided by family values, creativity, and community spirit through six generations.
We’re so grateful for your support over the years and for the friendships we’ve built along the way. Giving back to Louisville—through partnerships with schools, charities, and local events—has been one of our greatest joys.
Nanz & Kraft 175th Birthday Bash flyer.
Now, as we celebrate 175 years of memories, we can’t think of a better way to mark the occasion than by sharing it with you. Please join us for our 175th Birthday Bash, Saturday, August 23, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at 141 Breckenridge Lane! Kentucky-proud products and regional vendors will be featured, and event proceeds will help our friends at two local nonprofits—Hope Scarves and the Arrow Fund. Please help us celebrate together with flowers, fun, and plenty of smiles. We can’t wait to see you there!
Lydia Kraft
Product Development, Nanz & Kraft Florists
Guest Contributor
