A Paducah Summer List for ADULTS
Today I'm on HerKentucky with a brand new section called HerPaducah! We've already talked about the fact that Paducah is having a MOMENT and we decided it was time to highlight all the fabulous things happening in our town. So, look forward to posts highlighting new businesses, delicious foods, and exciting art and music events. To kick it off, I have a summer list for ADULTS. I've talked about fun things for families to do but sometimes a summer evening just needs an adult beverage or grown up fun!
Summer is a perfect time of year to go exploring so we're going to kick things off with a summer list for ADULTS. We've made a list with lots for little ones. Inspired by You Are My Fave's "How to summer" categories, this list is for the big kid inside us all. Click here to download a copy!
GO
- To the Paducah Farmers' Market and stock up on homegrown food, handmade crafts, and pickled everything.
- On a tour and stop for a tasting at the Purple Toad Winery.
- Hear music at the river, MAC, the Coke Plant ... you've got options.
To see the rest of the list including things to MAKE, DO, and EAT visit the new herPaducah!
Celebrating #PaducahProud for my blogiversary
When I launched bluegrass redhead two years ago, I knew writing about my small town life in Paducah, Kentucky, would be a huge part of the blog. We gave up so much six years ago to leave our life in Washington, D.C., and move back to my hometown. Since that time, my passion for Paducah has never wavered.
I knew Paducah was something special, but it was always hard to explain to other people. Maybe I only loved Paducah because she was my home?
Since moving home, however, I have watched Paducah change and grow and I am now confident proclaiming.
Y'all, Paducah is having a MOMENT.
Photo Credit: autumn_boh via Compfight cc
When I launched bluegrass redhead two years ago, I knew writing about my small town life in Paducah, Kentucky, would be a huge part of the blog. We gave up so much six years ago to leave our life in Washington, D.C., and move back to my hometown. Since that time, my passion for Paducah has never wavered.
I knew Paducah was something special, but it was always hard to explain to other people. Maybe I only loved Paducah because she was my home?
Since moving home, however, I have watched Paducah change and grow and I am now confident proclaiming.
Y'all, Paducah is having a MOMENT.
The next generation of Paducahans are staking their claim and transforming our town and it is a sight to behold. Andy Carloss moved home and opened Midtown Market. Sara Falder transformed floral with Flower + Furbish. Erin Hendley opened f.a.c.e. Makeup Aristry. Paducah's music scene built with the hard work of Solid Rock'it Boosters and J.D. Wilkes and The Wheelhouse Rousters began to flourish.
And Paducah's arts community - began with the incredible foresight of city leaders decades ago - became a truly powerful force inside our community.
Then, Ed and Meagan Musselman announced The Coke Plant, a historical architectural gem that sat empty MY ENTIRE LIFE, was being refurbished, reinvented, and reinvigorated. It became the home of Dry Ground Brewing Company, where I have learned I actually LIKE beer, and Piper's Tea and Coffee, where Peter and Amber Barnett treat coffee and tea as an art form.
Italian Grill on Broadway. MAKE. The soon-to-open Freight House. Ephemera. SHARE Paducah.
It's all happening... and I couldn't be prouder AND I thought what a great way to celebrate the two-year anniversary of bluegrass redhead by celebrating the place that inspires me more than any other - Paducah.
So, if you live ANYWHERE near Paducah, then you need to make a visit. I'll show you around. It'll be awesome. If you don't (and by that I mean you live overseas), then I've got a fun giveaway to give everyone a little taste of why we're all feeling so #PaducahProud.
I've partnered up with Bricolage Art Collective for the giveaway. Bricolage is a GREAT place to see all the amazing art coming out of Paducah right now. It's owned by Sara Falder and Landee Bryant-Greene. I'm going to go ahead and proclaim Landee, a founding mother of the current Paducah moment. As the Executive Director of Maiden Alley Cinema, Landee has been doing the back-breaking groundwork involved in creating the moment we're currently having.
It might seem like it's coming out of nowhere, but truthfully it's because of the hard work of people like Landee and many, many others.
Now, on to the awesome stuff. Everything you see here you can get at Bricolage.
Photo by Imagine Create Play.
A couple of weeks ago I posted a photo of my necklace by Heather of The Copper Thread and y'all plain ole freaked out. Heather is doing some AMAZING things with copper and enamel AND giving away one necklace to a lucky bluegrass redhead reader.
Photo by Glenn Hall.
Piper's Tea and Coffee is giving away the winner's choice of one pot of tea. Can we even talk about these adorable pots? I would want to win one even if it wasn't filled with delicious tea. Peter and Amber take what they do very seriously (despite being ridiculously fun people). Let's say you stop in and they just happened to have mixed up fresh strawberry lemonade on a whim. It will still be the most delicious lemonade you've ever tasted and then you will steal it from your 4-year-old and make him cry and NOT. CARE.
Not that I would know...
Photo by Imagine Create Play.
Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins.
Jessica Lee Wilkes has been instrumental in the Paducah music scene for years as a member of J.D. Wilkes and the Dirt Daubers. Now, she's released her solo debut Lone Wolf and y'all...
Here. Listen to this. Sit still while doing it... I DARE YOU.
See. Jessica is giving away a copy of Lone Wolf.
Photo by Imagine Create Play.
Char Downs opened Pinecone Studio in the Lower Town Arts District in 2005 and has been creating imaginative, gorgeous art ever since. Char is giving away one piece of art to a lucky reader.
Enter by using the Rafflecopter widget below!
#SeedlingSummer - the Paducah Way
As you know from my summer list, we take summer seriously around these parts. Simply put -summer days are in short supply and I want to make the most of them.
Recently, The Other Sarah from Salt & Nectar joined the awesome team at Seedling, where they also take the fun of the summer season pretty seriously. TOS sent the boys a sampling of Seedling's all-in-one activity kits and asked me to share what summer looks like in our neck of the woods.
As you know from my summer list, we take summer seriously around these parts. Simply put -summer days are in short supply and I want to make the most of them.
Recently, The Other Sarah from Salt & Nectar joined the awesome team at Seedling, where they also take the fun of the summer season pretty seriously. TOS sent the boys a sampling of Seedling's all-in-one activity kits and asked me to share what summer looks like in our neck of the woods.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that our summer is BUSY. I purposefully keep our school year low key so I can ramp it up in the summer. I'm happy to schlepp all over town when I have all day long to do it (and it doesn't interfere with dinner time).
Paducah is a great place to be a kid all year around, but summer is particularly wonderful. Of course, we're in the South so summer wouldn't be complete without Vacation Bible School. We've already had a full week of Vacation Bible School at Immanuel Baptist Church and weekend Harry Potter themed VBS at Grace Episcopal Church.
Even though the boys are very close in age, each has their own summer adventures lined up. Amos had a blast Monsterific Preschool Playshop at the Market House Theater last week and will be attending another LEGO© themed play shop in July. Market House is an unbelievable resource to parents in Paducah. In fact, my cousin from Nashville traveled up every year to participate in the Musical Performance Camps. Griffin is finally old enough to participate this year and I can't wait!
Paducah is also lucky enough to have West Kentucky Community and Technical College, which hosts a variety of week-long summer camps AND The Challenger Learning Center, which is one of 40 space science education centers in the U.S.
Add in Wednesdays on the Waterfront at the River Discovery Center and the Kids Summer Reading Program at McCracken County Library and our days seem pretty full.
However, there are A LOT of hours to fill in the summer and - though it might not seem like it - I do like to leave many of them free for fun at the pool or fun summer crafts. That's where awesome companies like Seedling come in.
This week Griffin is attending a week-long full-day Extreme LEGO© Camp at WKCTC by Paducah's resident Science guy Jason Lindsey, which leaves a sad little brother at home by himself. Yesterday I told Amos to go play in his room to which he responded, "But there's no Griffin!"
Not surprisingly, the Seeding Create Your Own Dragon kit turned that frown upside down.
Truthfully, even in the summer, I still hand over a Leap Pad or iPad for convenience sake when little ones get bored. However, having an all-in-one kit made a big difference. I didn't have to search Pinterest for a fun idea and then round up all the supplies. I pulled the kit off the shelf and BAM! we were on our way!
No matter where you live, Seedling wants to help y'all build, imagine, play — and enjoy summer “camp” your way!
Seedling helps bring kids' ideas to life with kid-tested, parent-approved activity kits that encourage children to follow their own creative initiative. Enjoy 25% off at seedling.com when you choose your own adventure using the code KYSEEDLING25. (Offer valid one per customer; discount does not apply to past purchases, packaging, applicable taxes, or shipping and handling. Expires June 30, 2015 at 11:59 pm PST.)
Summer List: Paducah Edition!
We all know I love a summer list. For the past two years, I've put up a big list of summer activities I hope to check off before fall starts beating down our door and it has made our summers so fun! In my experience, a good summer list can make you a little more conscious of they days as they fly by and keep you from looking up at the end of August only to proclaim, "Where did the summer go!?!"
Today I've made a summer list for Paducah! I've put all the activities that I think make a summer in Paducah so much fun so if you live in the area, check it out! Even if you don't, hopefully it can inspire you to make a summer list of your own.
We all know I love a summer list. For the past two years, I've put up a big list of summer activities I hope to check off before fall starts beating down our door and it has made our summers so fun! In my experience, a good summer list can make you a little more conscious of they days as they fly by and keep you from looking up at the end of August only to proclaim, "Where did the summer go!?!"
Today I've made a summer list for Paducah! I've put all the activities that I think make a summer in Paducah so much fun so if you live in the area, check it out! Even if you don't, hopefully it can inspire you to make a summer list of your own.
Robert Coleman Spray Park
A Day At The Farm
Griffin's pre-k class has been "studying" farms. Since I LOVE a field trip, I arranged for us to visit my dear friend Ellie's family dairy farm LeCows Dairy. Ellie is a third-generation farmer (and raising a fourth generation!) with such an infectious passion for farming and farm life. We learned so much from her about what it takes to get the food we enjoy to our tables.
It was the most amazingly beautiful day and we saw baby cows, spunky goats, self-confident chickens, dogs, ducks, geese. You name it we saw it.
We had so much fun I was entertaining grand visions of my own family moving to a farm...at which point Amos took a swim in the chicken trough and I was reminded of why I live in a subdivision.
We still had a fabulous time and have plans to return for a picnic soon!
Griffin's pre-k class has been "studying" farms. Since I LOVE a field trip, I arranged for us to visit my dear friend Ellie's family dairy farm LeCows Dairy. Ellie is a third-generation farmer (and raising a fourth generation!) with such an infectious passion for farming and farm life. We learned so much from her about what it takes to get the food we enjoy to our tables.
It was the most amazingly beautiful day and we saw baby cows, spunky goats, self-confident chickens, dogs, ducks, geese. You name it we saw it.
We had so much fun I was entertaining grand visions of my own family moving to a farm...at which point Amos took a swim in the chicken trough and I was reminded of why I live in a subdivision.
We still had a fabulous time and have plans to return for a picnic soon!
The simplicity of a small town
It happens every time I go out of town for a conference or large event.
I tell people I’m from Paducah, Ky. I tell people we left our lives in D.C. to move back to my small hometown. I tell people I live without a Target and food trucks and sky scrapers.
Then, the questions start to come.
They ask how I like it, what we do for fun, do we ever miss the big city. There seems to be some expectation that I will confess our small town existence is only temporary or complain about how bored we are from lack of museums or fancy restaurants.
When instead I state plainly that I wouldn’t move back to the big city - any big city - for love nor money, there is always shock followed by something that sometimes shocks me.
Interest. Curiosity. Even envy.
It happens every time I go out of town for a conference or large event.
I tell people I’m from Paducah, Ky. I tell people we left our lives in D.C. to move back to my small hometown. I tell people I live without a Target and food trucks and sky scrapers.
Then, the questions start to come.
They ask how I like it, what we do for fun, do we ever miss the big city. There seems to be some expectation that I will confess our small town existence is only temporary or complain about how bored we are from lack of museums or fancy restaurants.
When instead I state plainly that I wouldn’t move back to the big city - any big city - for love nor money, there is always shock followed by something that sometimes shocks me.
Interest. Curiosity. Even envy.
Often in hushed tones, I hear how the person has thought about leaving it all behind for a small town. I hear how they’ve often wish they lived closer to home. I hear that there might even be plans currently in place that they’re not quite ready to share.
Big cities are great. They are exciting and diverse and offer endless career opportunities. Let me tell you what else they are and is - hands-down - the most often heard complaint I hear from people interested in my small town life.
Big cities are expensive. Insanely expensive.
From housing to food to transportation, everything is more expensive. I remember the first month Nicholas and I lived in Paducah. We would come home every day with questions for our new favorite game - GUESS how much this cost!?!? From haircuts to meals, we would sit and regale each other with one purchase after another and how little we spent on it.
The money that constantly flowed from our bank account in D.C. had become our normal. We had forgotten there was another way.
Now, if you are independently wealthy, then high cost of living isn’t too much of a concern for you. However, if you are staking a claim in the ever-shrinking acreage of middle class America, then a $3,000 a month rent versus an $800 a month rent is nothing short of life changing. Not to mention, cheaper milk, cheaper clothing... cheaper everything.
Money you have to earn means you have to take the time to earn it and, no matter what economic class you are in, all of us have only a finite amount of time every day. And since so many of the people I talk to our parents, the increasingly difficult task of earning money takes them away from another labor-intensive and time-sucking job - parenting.
When there is a little person (or people) who needs feeding and cuddling and plain old raising, time suddenly becomes very valuable. And it’s not just that cities require more time at work, everything in a city takes more time. I’m always a little bit surprised every time I return to a city and am reminded of just how complicated everything is. Complications that require time.
Traffic. Avoiding traffic. Mass transit. Reservations. Parking. Parking reservations.
It all just makes me so tired. I would estimate I spend approximately 1.5% of my energy capacity on all of those issues combined. Maybe less. It takes me approximately seven minutes to get everywhere in Paducah. There is generally one way to get there and plenty of parking (free parking - there is no paid parking anywhere in Paducah) once I arrive.
Now, I completely understand that small town life is not for everyone. I would never claim it is. Small towns are filled with human being and just like everywhere else where we reside there is drama and prejudices and problems we seem destined to create.
However, I strive for simplicity in my life. Often, I feel guilty that I fail so completely on a micro-level. I fill my days with responsibilities. I take on too much. I abandon everyday routines that contribute to calm and choose play and people and projects that often end in chaos.
But when I return to the big city, I remember that I’ve chosen simplicity where it really matters - on the macro-level. Four years ago, I turned my back on the city with all its complications and complexities and chose the simplicity of small town life.
It’s a decision I have never regretted.
What do you love or hate about where you live? Are small towns the answer to a stressful life or do big cities and all they offer win out?
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