Early Bird Beer Fest, Louisville’s Irish Dress Maker Madame Glover, Birthplace of Dollar General, and More
To misquote Frank Sinatra: “When I was twenty-one, I drank some very good beer.”
And guess what? Founded in 2004, the Frazier History Museum turns twenty-one this year.
So celebrate with us July 26 at our fifth annual Frazier Summer Beer Fest!
Festivalgoers enjoy last year’s Frazier Summer Beer Fest, July 27, 2024.
Festivalgoers enjoy last year’s Frazier Summer Beer Fest, July 27, 2024.
Today, we announce Early Bird pricing for this year’s beer fest: $80 (VIP) and $40 (GA). It’s a block party in front of the museum on Main and Ninth Street—featuring more than 200 specialty beers, food, retail, live music, and activations. VIP tickets get you access to the museum’s indoors—including three floors of exhibitions, air conditioning, and indoor bathrooms—plus additional beers.
VIP tickets sell out fast, so secure yours today! Early Bird pricing ends Monday, April 7.
In today’s Frazier Weekly, Tish marks St. Patrick’s Day by spotlighting Madame Glover, an Irish immigrant dress maker who rose to fame in late 1800s Louisville. Two wedding dresses Glover designed will appear in Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage, opening April 6. (Technically, the exhibition opens April 5 at our Night at the Frazier gala—and gala tickets are still available! I’ll save a dance for anyone who comes up to me at the gala and says: I’m a Frazier Weekly subscriber.)
Plus, Stephen sips Pursuit United expressions with Kenny Coleman, Mick interviews explorer Tori Murden McClure, and Rachel and Andy recap their road trip to Scottsville, Allen County—the birthplace of Dollar General. Last, Megan surveys the state of college basketball in the Commonwealth.
I do apologize if we’ve been clogging your social feeds, radio stations, and TV screens with ads and promotional content. But the gala and the beer fest are the two big fundraisers for the Frazier History Museum, where the world meets Kentucky. So we thank you dearly for buying tickets to support us!
Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist
Frazier History Museum
This Week in the Museum
From the Collections: Irish Immigrant Dress Maker Madame Glover
Day dress made by Madame Glover c. 1890. Part of the Frazier History Museum’s collections.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone! To celebrate the day, we want to look at one Irish immigrant who had a huge impact on Louisville: famous dress designer and maker Madame Glover.
Madame Glover was born Annie Casey in 1861 and immigrated with her family from Ireland to Louisville when Annie was a small child. Coming from a working-class background, Annie started working as a seamstress when she was a teenager. In 1883, she accepted a position as a dressmaker for Sharpe & Middleton, where she specialized in bridal clothes and wardrobes. It is in this avenue that Annie Casey would thrive.
During the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth, brides from the upper and middle classes often put together a “trousseau.” This comprised a complete wardrobe for the first year of marriage: everything from the wedding dress to the undergarments, day clothes, evening clothes, and visiting clothes—all the latest fashion and design.
Annie Casey married Walter E. Glover in 1886 and established her own shop, Madame Glover’s, located at South Fourth Street before it moved to the old Tyler Building on Jefferson Street. Walter and Annie Glover made a marvelous team. Walter, who had a great eye for business, took care of the business details while Annie, with her keen eye for design, managed the fashion side. It wasn’t long before Madame Glove became the most sought-after dressmaker in Louisville and surrounding cities.
Learn more about Madame Glover in this Frazier+ video.
Even today, among the museums in Louisville, we all get excited to talk about which Madame Glover piece or pieces we have in our collections. Here at the Frazier, we are fortunate to have a few pieces. Our friends over at the Filson Historical Society also have several Madame Glover pieces, one of which will be featured in their upcoming exhibition Bustles to Blue Jeans: Highlights from the Filson’s Fashion Archive, opening April 25.
In our upcoming exhibition Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage, we will have two wedding dresses made by Madame Glover. One is on loan from our Board Chairman, Mac Brown. This dress was the wedding dress for his grandmother and was made at the end of Madame Glover’s career. Once in tatters, it has been carefully conserved and will be on view for the first time in our exhibition.
Our exhibitionDavis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage opens to the public April 6. So come on down to the Frazier and have a look at this amazing Irish story!
Tish Boyer
Registrar & Manager of Collections Engagement
Museum Shop: Green Ale-8 Shirt
Ale-8-One t-shirt sold in the Frazier’s Museum Shop.
Celebrate your Irish spirit with a Kentucky twist! Sport your classic Ale-8 shirt and sip the iconic beverage as you honor both traditions in style. Both are available in the Shop, and the shirt is also available online!
Sippin’ with Stephen: Pursuit United Double Oaked Bourbon with Kenny Coleman
As the official starting point of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail®, the Frazier 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.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist
This month’s guest on Sippin’ with Stephen is Kenny Coleman, COO of Pursuit Spirits as well as co-creator of Bourbon Pursuit, the number one whiskey podcast and the proclaimed “Official Podcast of Bourbon.” This episode goes over the path that Kenny and his partner, Ryan Cecil, took in founding, developing, and perfecting Pursuit Spirits—namely the process of blending whiskey. Kenny goes over their journey and we taste Pursuit’s Double Oaked Bourbon. For more information regarding Pursuit, visit their website.
I sincerely hope you enjoy this fascinating story. Cheers!
Stephen Yates
Community & Corporate Sales Manager
Frazier’s Mick Sullivan Interviews Explorer Tori Murden McClure for The Past and the Curious Podcast
Explorer Tori Murden McClure poses with her husband Mac in front of her boat the American Pearl after announcing she was donating the boat to the Frazier, December 3, 2024.
Held on May 1, this year’s Thurby celebration will feature some cool Kentuckians, as part of a partnership between Churchill Downs and the Frazier History Museum. One of those Kentuckians is our friend Tori Murden McClure. On December 3, she officially donated the American Pearl, the boat she used on her historic solo row across the Atlantic, to the Frazier History Museum.
That day, Tori and I recorded an interview for my podcast The Past and The Curious, a history podcast for kids and families. The episode features a retelling of her story, followed by the enlightening interview where she talks about dolphins, sore muscles, and the Oscar Mayer Wiener song.
The episode is aimed at younger listeners and educators, but full-blown adults will enjoy it too! You can find the episode in all the podcast places and online.
Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience
Frazier’s Rachel and Andy Take Road Trip to Scottsville, Birthplace of Dollar General
Exterior of J. L Turner & Son building in Scottsville, Allen County, Kentucky, undated.
Cal Turner Sr. weeds the sidewalk outside the Dollar General store in Scottsville, Allen County, undated.
One of the perks of my job is working with Frazier President Andy Treinen, a former co-anchor at WHAS-TV. Just recently we got to take a road trip together to Scottsville, Allen County, Kentucky, as part of a project that is about to come to life at the Frazier History Museum. As journalists, we both love a good story, and we sure love this one.
Did you know Scottsville, the town about thirty minutes outside of Bowling Green, is the birthplace of Dollar General?
Neither did we—until a family member visiting the Frazier History Museum left us a Post-it note saying we needed to tell that story. And now we are.
That family member was Katherine Sikora, the granddaughter of Cal Turner Sr., who along with his father built J. L. Turner and Son Wholesale in Scottsville. They did it with an initial investment of $5,000 each. That venture quickly gave way to retailing, and by 1955 the first Dollar General store opened in Springfield, Kentucky. By 1957, annual sales of the Dollar General’s twenty-nine stores were $5 million.
Our trip was to help capture this history by collecting artifacts, gathering pictures, and interviewing residents who had a long history with the founding family. Katherine assembled a theater full of folks. One man we talked with began working at their store in 1979 and is still employed by Dollar General. The words we kept hearing were humble, hard-working, friendly, caring, and generous.
As Katherine reflected on that time in Scottsville: “It truly was Mayberry.”
The good work of that founding family continues through several foundations, including the Laura Goad Turner Charitable Foundation named after Katherine’s grandmother.
It’s amazing what you discover on a road trip. We can’t wait for you to see and hear it at the Frazier later this year once we get everything in place.
Rachel Platt
VP of Mission
Bridging the Divide
Kentucky Women Remembered Exhibit Features Kim Michele Richardson
From left, artist Yanya Yang, Gov. Andy Beshear, and author Kim Michele Richardson pose with Yang’s portrait of Richardson at the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort, Kentucky, March 10, 2025.
From left, author Kim Michele Richardson and the Frazier’s Rachel Platt pose at the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort, Kentucky, March 10, 2025.
The Kentucky Commission on Women has inducted four new women into the Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit, and what a beautiful ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda last week as part of Women’s History Month.
I was lucky enough to be invited by best-selling author Kim Michele Richardson who is one of the recent inductees.
Also inducted were the late Alberta Jones, one of the first African American women to pass the Kentucky Bar; poet Ada Limón, named the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the US by the Librarian of Congress; along with internationally recognized sculptor and designer Amanda Matthews.
I have followed Kim’s career for years. She is a native Kentuckian and Louisville resident and, as the award says, “her storytelling captures the essence of her passion for the people of Kentucky.”
Each of the four women had a portrait unveiled at the ceremony by a talented female Kentucky artist. Kim’s portrait was painted by Yanya Yang and it captured her beautifully.
The portraits will become part of the Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit that hangs in the West Wing of the State Capitol. Until last year, there had been no additions since 2014. So glad it is back because the women who are featured are inspirational and part of the fabric of Kentucky.
And make sure to hold the date of May 18 on your calendar. We will soon announce a program with Kim Michele Richardson featuring her books on Kentucky’s Packhorse Librarians. Kim is a champion of their history and our program at the Frazier will reflect it. We will also have special guests at the program who have ties to those pioneers who believed in the power of books, literacy, and helping their neighbors.
Rachel Platt
VP of Mission
History All Around Us
Remembering Former U of L Player, Businessman, and Philanthropist Junior Bridgeman
Junior Bridgeman, undated.
You have no doubt read many of the tributes to Junior Bridgeman, who passed away unexpectedly last week. Anyone it seems who encountered him was touched by his kindness, his humility, and of course his humanity.
For many, he first made his way into our lives and hearts as one of Coach Denny Crum’s first recruits, number ten with the Louisville Cardinals.
He would go on to play in the NBA, and during the off-seasons of his playing career, he worked and learned the business model of Wendy’s fast food restaurant franchise. Many folks recount Junior working the drive-thru window to learn all facets of the business. He was that kind of guy.
Bridgeman would expand his business ventures and ranked among the wealthiest retired former athletes with a net worth of over $1.4 billion.
He gave tirelessly and quietly to supporting our community. We will probably never know the extent of his fingerprints, but we understand his impact.
He recently donated to our museum, and we thank him for that.
More importantly, we thank him for the life he lived, his kindness and humility, and being the best of humanity.
Rachel Platt
VP of Mission
Kentucky Wildcats guard Georgia Amoore defends the ball against Louisville Cardinals guard Ja'Leah Williams during their game on at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, November 15, 2024. Credit: Clare Grant, Courier Journal.
If you are a basketball fan in Kentucky, this season did not disappoint. For the first time since 2019, the men’s and women’s teams from both the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky have earned the right to play in March Madness. Not to mention, the Murray State Lady Racers who won the most games in program history and defeated Belmont to become the MVC tournament champions and earn an 11 seed.
Moving into one of my favorite times of the year, I would use these five words to summarize the 2024–25 regular season.
NEW
So many new things defined this basketball season in the Commonwealth. Of the four teams mentioned, only one held onto their head coach, with the U of L women’s team led by coaching veteran and Kentucky native Jeff Walz in his seventeenth season with the Cardinals. The other 75% of the teams hired new coaches, including Kenny Brooks and former UK player Mark Pope heading the UK women’s and men’s teams, and Pat Kelsey moving up from mid major College of Charleston, to take the helm of U of L men’s basketball. The transfer portal also led to a flurry of new players on all four teams with new faces and styles of play to learn throughout the year.
RESILIENCE
All four teams have faced adversity this year, often in the form of tough losses, illness, and injuries. The U of L men’s team took a hard blow from Tennessee early in the year and dealt with one injury after the other, including Kasean Pryor’s season-ending knee injury, James Scott knocking out multiple teeth during a dive to the floor, and, most recently, sharpshooter Reyne Smith out with a lower leg issue. U of L women were without some players during the ACC tournament, including leading scorer Jayda Curry who was out with a shoulder injury. The Cards lost to the eventual champion Duke Blue Devils after an overtime win against Clemson. UK women had a tough January loss to unranked Texas A&M and UK men have been without several standout players at various times, including Jaxson Robinson whose college career came to an end after wrist surgery. But each team has found a way to be resilient—they keep working, have other players step up, and find a way to win games. Three of the four have wrapped up the season ranked in the top 25 and all four have earned bids in the national tournament.
RECORD SETTING
All four teams are racking up awards and records. The UK women defeated traditional powerhouse Tennessee by 24 points, the largest margin of victory for them ever against the Vols. Clara Strack was recently voted SEC defensive player of the year and Georgia Amoore was named Newcomer of the Year. With their final win against Missouri, the UK men’s team tied an NCAA record by beating eight teams ranked in the top 15 in a single season. And Otega Oweh not only hits breathtaking game-winning shots but has also been named to the All-SEC second team. The U of L women’s team handed Duke their first home loss of the season and Jayda Curry was named to the All-ACC first team and Tajianna Roberts to the All-ACC second team and All-Freshman teams. The U of L men’s team became the only team in university history to have four players score 30 plus points in a game. Coach Pat Kelsey was named ACC Coach of the Year and point guard Chucky Hepburn can not only light up the scoreboard but was named ACC defensive player of the year.
FUN
I was born and raised a U of L fan, so after the tough years we’ve had recently this season following the ReviVILLE of the men’s team was just flat out fun. The crowds were back, and louder than ever, at the KFC Yum! Center and the team gave them a lot to cheer about. The same can be said about each of the local teams getting us all through a cold and dreary winter with tons of good basketball.
POSSIBILITY
Who knows what will happen over the next few weeks as we move towards the championship game in early April. If we’re lucky, a small school we’ve not heard of will make a crazy run, players will hit last-second shots to win games they will tell their grandchildren about, and perhaps one of our local teams will dig deep, play their best basketball, and make it to a final four. They have each put in the work to make it to the big dance, so from here the possibilities are endless.
Megan Schanie
Sr. Manager of Educational Programs
