Owensboro is bursting with entertainment, festivals

12 OUR REGION

DAVIESS

Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022

Owensboro is bursting with entertainment, festivals

BY KEITH LAWRENCE

MESSENGER-INQUIRER

Mark Calitri, president of the Owensboro-Daviess County Convention & Visitors Bureau, says the key to Owensboro tourism is events that bring people to town.

From 1989 to 2014, Owensboro branded itself as “Kentucky’s Festival City.”

It hasn’t used that brand for eight years, but there are still a lot of festivals here — and more coming.

The biggest are ROMP, the annual bluegrass festival that brings 20,000 or more fans from around the world to Yellow Creek Park; the International Bar-B-Q Festival, which fi lls downtown in non-COVID years; Reid’s Orchard’s Apple Festival, which has attracted more than 20,000 people on an October weekend; Friday After 5, which draws more than 50,000 people on Friday nights during the summer; and the Owensboro Air Show, which draws 60,000 people over a three-day weekend every other year.

More major events are being announced almost every week.

The RiverPark created “Downtown Live” this year as a companion to Friday After 5.

“Downtown Summer Jam” was held on McConnell Plaza on Aug. 20.

It’s a special edition of the city’s free outdoor concert series “L!VE on the Banks,” which runs every Saturday night through the summer.

This year, it’s part of the Owensboro HydroFair schedule, which runs Aug. 19-21.

The Owensboro Multicultural Festival was held at 1328 Griffi th Ave. on Aug. 20.

Reid’s Orchard hosted its fi rst Peach Bliss on Aug. 6 at the farm.

Trunnell’s Farm Market & Experience in Utica will debut its “Sunfl ower Music Festival” in September.

The festival, scheduled for Sept. 23-25, will be part of Trunnell’s annual Sunfl ower Experience and will include a lineup of local bands and musicians.

The Cottage Farm Stand & Baking Co. had its fi rst Strawberry Festival in June.

Its second Sunfl ower & Pickle Festival will return Oct. 1-2.

“Hops on the Ohio,” Owensboro’s biggest beer festival, was on July 9 at the RiverPark Center.

PorchFest brought 40 musical acts to 13 front porches on Griffi th Avenue in June.

Reid’s Orchard will end the Apple Festival on its farm this year.

But next year, the Daviess County Lions Club will take over and move it to its fairgrounds in Philpot.

Calitri said the Home2 Suites by Hilton is scheduled to open across Second Street from the Owensboro Convention Center in late spring 2024 with its 121 rooms that will need to be fi lled throughout the year.

He’s hoping to create more events like OMG!con, the anime, cosplay and gaming convention that typically brings around 4,000 people to town each summer.

He’s talking about things like a Lego convention, a G.I. Joe toy expo and an arcade convention.

Calitri said he is working with the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum for new events.

There’s the Great American Bluegrass Jam in January, “a time when we need increased occupancy”; Cars & Guitars, a twice-yearly event with the Hall of Fame and Green River Distilling; and something Calitri is tentatively calling “O Brother Fest.”

The CVB is also hoping to get the Hemmings Motor News Great Race, which brought 115 vintage vehicles into downtown on a 2,300-mile road rally from San Antonio to Greenville, South Carolina, last year, to return in 2023 or 2024.

Calitri said there are plans to expand Owensboro’s “12 Days of Christmas” celebration this year.

And the city recently landed GeoWoodstock XX, the world’s largest geocaching festival, which wil be held Memorial Day weekend in 2023.

Punch Brothers performs during the 19th annual ROMP Fest at Yellow Creek Park.

Photo by Greg Eans, Messenger-Inquirer | geans@messengerinquirer.com