Michter’s Speakeasy Returns, Flashback Exhibition Opens, Beer Fest Brewers & Food Vendors, and More
Good day all,
I hope your summer is singing with joy among wildflowers, bodies of water, and those whom you love!
Halfway through the month of July, and only twelve days before our annual Summer Beer Fest at Frazier, I’m pleased to announce another long-held tradition here at the Frazier: the Michter’s Speakeasy is back!!!
2024 Michter’s Speakeasy at the Frazier graphic. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Nitty Gritty owner Terri Burt highlights Thribelean Shaw, a competitor in the Best-Dressed Contest, at last year’s Michter’s Speakeasy at the Frazier, June 22, 2023. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Don’t miss your opportunity to step into an era of opulence and clandestine revelry as we kick off Bourbon Heritage Month with a Prohibition-Era party at the Frazier History Museum on September 5, 2024.
With help from Michter’s Fort Nelson Distillery, the Frazier is planning a night steeped in nostalgia. Fueled by fine spirits, premier cocktails, and gourmet hors d’oeuvres, partygoers will spend the night dancing to the music of the Derby City Dandies at a soiree that promises to deliver the jazz-age revelry of the Roaring Twenties.
The event supports the Frazier’s exhibitions and educational programs, including free or reduced admission for Title 1 students, Frazier Weekly, camps, and Stories in Mind, which brings Kentucky history to long-term care communities. Get tickets and more information here.
In today’s Frazier Weekly, “Curator’s Corner” offers an in-depth look at our newest exhibition Flashback, which is now open. Sippin’ with Stephen features Lexington Brewing and Distilling, Simon Meiners previews next week’s Summer Beer Fest at Frazier, and Megan Schanie recaps a recent visit from the Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs.
Those students are the future of Kentucky—and let me tell you, folks, the future looks good!
Andy Treinen
President & CEO
Frazier History Museum
This Week in the Museum
From the Collections: WAVE 3’s Ikegami ITC-350 TV Camera, 1980s
With our new exhibition Flashback: Louisville Media Through the Years now open, don’t miss our program about Courier Journal photographers. Join us Sunday, July 21, for a screening of the documentary Fleeting Reality followed by a discussion with many of the Pulitzer Prize–winning CJ photographers whose work it features. Each of the photographs tells its own story: some funny, some tragic, but always interesting. Admission includes access to the Frazier and its exhibitions, including Flashback. We hope you’ll join us.—Simon Meiners, Communications & Research Specialist
Ikegami ITC-350 television camera made in the 1980s and used by WAVE 3 TV in Louisville. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
This week from the collection we are going to highlight a piece on loan to us from the local news television station WAVE 3. As you may remember from last week’s newsletter, we are happy to announce a new temporary exhibition, Flashback: Louisville Media Through the Years, opens today! So we thought it would be interesting to highlight a news camera from the 1980s. This is an Ikegami ITC-350 series video camera—and it’s well used. As you can see from the picture, it’s branded as WAVE 3, the NBC affiliate TV station in Louisville that first went to air in 1948.
Come down to the museum this week to see this piece of history up close!
Tish Boyer
Registrar & Manager of Collections Engagement
Sippin’ Suds: Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Tart Cherry Wheats with Lexington Brewing & Distilling
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 is the annual Sippin’ Suds episode of Sippin’ with Stephen! We preview the museum’s Summer Beer Fest at Frazier, which this year takes place Saturday, July 27.
My guest is Lexington Brewing and Distilling national brand manager Dave Bob Gaspar. Not only does Lexington Brewing make Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, but it also produces Town Branch Bourbon, Pearse Irish Whiskey, and HA’PENNY Gin. Additionally, Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co. is once again a Corporate Sponsor for Summer Beer Fest at Frazier and an ongoing supporter of the Frazier Museum. In today’s episode, Dave Bob and I sample their new seasonal beer, the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Tart Cherry Wheat. This fantastic new product will be available Beer Fest. Purchase tickets or learn more at fraziermuseum.org/beer-fest.
Cheers!
Stephen Yates
Community & Corporate Sales Manager
Select Breweries, Food, More Announced for Next Week’s Summer Beer Fest
2024 Summer Beer Fest at Frazier graphic. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
We’re twelve days away from 2024 Summer Beer Fest at Frazier! With that, I’ve got some brief updates.
First, in the interest of manifesting a cool-weather day, we’ve selected a summery blue tidal wave color for this year’s t-shirts!
Senior director engagement Casey Harden models a 2024 Summer Beer Fest at Frazier t-shirt at a news conference, July 9, 2024. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Next, we’re finalizing our list of breweries. This year, we will have more than 200 specialty beers—many of which will be available exclusively to festivalgoers who purchased VIP Admission. On tap will be a wide variety of craft and specialty beers: over 80 local, regional, and out-of-state breweries will be represented. In addition to the selection of standard craft and specialty beers, festivalgoers will have access to a selection of gluten-free/gluten-reduced beers, low-calorie IPAs, hard ciders, and spiked seltzers.
Breweries and beverage vendors represented include: Apocalypse Brew Works, Awry Brewing, Blue Stallion Brewing Co., Country Boy Brewing, Elixir Kombucha (non-alcoholic), Lexington Brewing & Distilling, Old 502 Winery (wines), TEN20 Craft Brewery, Trellis Brewing Co., and West Sixth Brewery.
Plus, the food vendors include Bearno’s, Lou Diggity’s No Doubt, the Misfit Lou, and Sunergos Coffee. In the VIP area, RK Bluegrass will sell food.
Finally, Watson’s has come on board as a partner! They will furnish the GA and VIP tents with Watson’s furniture for festivalgoers to lounge on.
Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist
Museum Shop: Zac-Crafted Barrel Stave Bottle Openers
Building manager Zac Hughes crafts a barrel stave bottle opener, July 12, 2024. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Barrel stave bottle openers sold in the Frazier’s Museum Shop. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Join us at July 27’s Summer Beer Fest at Frazier for more than just great beer! Our talented building manager, Zac Hughes, has ingeniously repurposed Bourbon barrels into unique bottle openers. These handcrafted openers are perfect for your favorite brew. Visit the Museum Shop to get your own one-of-a-kind bottle opener, skillfully made by Zac.
Civil War Doctor Mary Edwards Walker of Louisville Honored on US Quarter
I am not a numismatist, but I appreciate the role coins can play in honoring figures from the past. They’re like little monuments in our pockets.
With the 2022 launch of the American Women Quarters Program, each year, the mint honors six new women who have fascinating stories for curious minds to investigate.
Design for the 2024 US Quarter that features Dr. Mary Edwards Walker of Louisville. Credit: US Mint.
The most recent addition to the collection, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (1832–1919), is someone we feature in our Commonwealth exhibition. Born in New York, Mary trained to be a doctor. She spent most of her life bucking societal trends by wearing pants, jackets, and even suits and a top hat later in life. During the Civil War, she fought to be commissioned as an official military surgeon—but despite a crucial need, she was denied. After finally joining troops in the field as a civilian contractor, she was captured and imprisoned for months. During this time, she contracted an eye infection that would plague her for the rest of her life.
After being freed in a prisoner exchange, she was sent to Louisville. Here she worked as an assistant surgeon in charge of prisoners at the Louisville Women’s Prison Hospital, which was on the north side of Ninth and Broadway. During this time, she petitioned both the Army and President Lincoln directly for a commission. It never came.
Just after the war, she was recognized with the Medal of Honor. However, in 1916, Congress changed the qualifications for a Medal of Honor and hers was rescinded, along with many others. She refused to return it and wore it every day for the rest of her life. Her award was reinstated in 1977. She remains the only woman in American history to be recognized with a Medal of Honor.
If you’d like to hear more about Dr. Walker, listen to this recent episode of my history podcast for kids and families, The Past and The Curious.
Mick Sullivan
Curator of Guest Experience
Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs Visits the Frazier Museum
I’ll be completely honest: when this summer began, I’d never heard of the Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs.
Governor’s School for the Arts? Sure thing. Governor’s Scholars? Certainly. Yet, even with its over ten-year history and my long background in education, I wasn’t familiar with this program for Kentucky students interested in honing their entrepreneurial skills and interests.
GSE students look at the “Made in Kentucky” map in the Frazier’s Cool Kentucky exhibition, June 26, 2024. Credit: GSE Summer Startup.
GSE students fish in the Frazier’s Lewis and Clark Experience, June 26, 2024. Credit: GSE Summer Startup.
GSE students pose on the Frazier’s rooftop, June 26, 2024. Credit: GSE Summer Startup.
I’m certainly glad to know about it now. Here at the Frazier, we are always interested in things that are cool about Kentucky and programs that bring people together from around the state—and the Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs most certainly fits the bill. Kentucky was at the head of the pack as one of the very first states in the nation to create a GSE program. Since their first class of forty-nine students in 2013, they have grown to include over 1,000 graduates, many of whom have started their own businesses and filed their own patents.
With a mission to “Identify, inspire, and empower Kentucky’s future innovators,” Governor’s School for Entrepreneurs offers a Summer Startup Program, a Collegiate Pitch opportunity to compete for funding, and an ongoing system of networking and support known as the Ecosystem.
This summer, we were pleased to host Summer Startup students from both the Thomas More University and University of Kentucky campuses. The groups explored our exhibitions—showing a special interest in the Cool Kentucky exhibition and the 120: Cool KY Counties exhibit—learned about historical figures from the Commonwealth with an entrepreneurial spirit such as Garrett Morgan and Annie Casey Glover, enjoyed a GSE-provided lunch from locally owned and operated Bearno’s Pizza, and participated in a panel discussion with business owners and entrepreneurs from the area.
We’re happy to have been a part of their summer programming. We’re excited to see what these young entrepreneurs will bring to the state in the years to come!
Megan Schanie
Sr. Manager of Educational Programs
20th Anniversary Photo: Corvette C6 Delivery, 2022
Workers from the National Corvette Museum and the Frazier Museum push the 2007 Corvette C6 up a ramp in the Frazier’s loading dock, December 14, 2022. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
On December 14, 2022, a team from the National Corvette Museum delivered a Corvette C6 to the Frazier Museum! It was placed on display in the Frazier’s Cool Kentucky exhibition. The next day, the 2015 Corvette C6 that has been on display in Cool Kentucky since 2020 was returned to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.
Simon Meiners
Communications & Research Specialist
History All Around Us
Limited Engagement Exhibit at National Corvette Museum to Remember 2014 Sinkhole
2007 Chevrolet Corvette C6 on display in the Frazier’s Cool Kentucky exhibition, January 9, 2024. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Workers recover one of the Corvettes damaged in the sinkhole, February–April 2014. Credit: National Corvette Museum.
Damaged Corvettes on display in Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined, 2024. Credit: National Corvette Museum.
When you come inside the Frazier History Museum, you can’t help but be dazzled by our red Corvette in Cool Kentucky. It’s on loan to us courtesy of the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Warren County. Since 1981, Bowling Green is the only place that assembles Corvettes.
And no one can forget the infamous sinkhole that opened up in 2014 at the National Corvette Museum, gobbling up eight historically significant Corvettes. The three-story-deep sinkhole has since been filled, but curiosity about that day lives on. And now, the National Corvette Museum has opened Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined through mid-September.
Here’s what it includes:
Recovered Sinkhole Corvettes. One-of-a-kind Corvettes recovered from the sinkhole and brought out of long-term storage, including the ZR-1 Spyder, the 1962 Corvette, and the 1.5 millionth Corvette, displayed alongside the 2009 ZR-1 Blue Devil and one millionth Corvette.
Personal Interviews. Hear firsthand accounts from museum staff about the discovery of the sinkhole, the recovery process, and the progress to today.
Museum Chronology. Reflect on the museum’s transformative journey over the past decade, including the repair of the sinkhole, two generations of Corvette, two dozen new exhibits, capital improvements to the Stingray Grill, McMichael Education Gallery, and much more.
Original Sinkhole and Boulder. Museum admission includes access to the Skydome, featuring a viewing platform to see the forty-foot sinkhole. Visitors can also see the original boulder that impacted the Mallett Hammer Corvette, located outside the Stingray Grill.
New Ways to Experience the Story. An example of continued progress, Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined will feature special braille labels for all five Corvettes, created in partnership with American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky.
Make sure to visit the National Corvette Museum before September 15 when the exhibit ends and those infamous Corvettes return to long-term storage. Click here to learn more or plan a visit.
Rachel Platt
VP of Mission
Celebrating our State and National Parks
This year, Kentucky is commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of the Kentucky State Parks system. Governor Andy Beshear talked about the unforgettable experience families get by visiting those parks, whether hiking, boating, or just taking in their natural beauty.
Think about some of your fondest memories, and chances are they may lead back to family gatherings at such wonderful places.
Many of our state parks are highlighted in our Cool Kentucky exhibition at the Frazier History Museum. If you were wondering, Kentucky is home to forty-four state parks.
Rachel Platt and her family pose at Glacier National Park in Montana, 2024. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Avalanche Lake at Glacier National Park in Montana, 2024. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
This summer, our family continued its tradition of visiting National Parks, and Glacier National Park in Montana was our top choice.
You can’t help but be sentimental about our country after taking in such breathtaking beauty around each turn. Going-to-the-Sun Road was worth the trip alone. Our hike to Avalanche Lake and Red Rock Falls were also favorites, to experience land completely untouched by man—not unscathed, however, as climate change continues to take its toll on the glaciers themselves, and even wildlife.
We ran into a park ranger on one of our hikes who talked to us about plants and wildlife. It turns out he’s an associate professor of biology at Marian University in Indianapolis. For nearly thirty years, he’s spent his summers at Glacier as a researcher and a naturalist. In the vastness of the wilderness, it felt like a small world to make that connection.
One thing the conversation taught us: don’t take our parks or this beauty for granted. We need to visit and savor our parks, but we also need to protect them. Not just the land, but the animals, birds, plants, and everything else about them.
That goes for our state parks in Kentucky, and our national parks.
Rachel Platt
VP of Mission
