It is hard to believe that we are less than a week away from welcoming the AASLH conference to Kentucky! More than three years ago we hosted the AASLH team for a visit to see if the Kentuckiana region would be a good site for the conference. Since then, we have worked hard to create experiences that encourage networking, collaboration, and opportunities to discover the power of our own possibilities while highlighting the fantastic history, beautiful landscapes, and vibrant communities that make up the greater Louisville region.
As the AASLH team out of Nashville is putting the final touches on the program, the local host committee is ready and proud to display the wonderful hospitality of Kentucky. Here are a few suggestions to help make your stay in Kentucky a memorable one.
Visit the hospitality table. There were so many options and ideas that we could not fit them all into the four days of the conference. Along with visitor guides and maps, you will find who is offering discount or free admission to conference attendees, highlights of the unique restaurant scene in Louisville, and up-to-date information on road work and travel advisories. Free Louisville pure tap® water bottles will also be available compliments of the Louisville Water Company.
Look for our volunteers. All 105 of them!They will be in bright green shirts so you won’t be able to miss them. Our Volunteer Committee has tried to anticipate and place them in the locations where they can best assist and get you to all the conference and non-conference activities. They truly make this conference possible!
Register for a tour. One of our goals was to create opportunities to experience the region’s history that you could not find on your own, and the host team responded. While most of them are near capacity, there are a few openings left. From art to women’s history, we offer something for everyone, including a 5K Fun Run for the first time ever at an AASLH conference.
Spend the evening with us. On Wednesday night, we start “where Louisville begins” at historic Locust Grove. After an evening of live music, food and drinks featuring foods of Kentucky and access to 55 acres of historic buildings and gardens, participants may choose to return to downtown Louisville in historic fashion. Since we are so close to capacity for this evening, I was advised not to disclose that the transportation may be aboard a 100-year-old Mississippi River-style steamboat (making it the oldest operating in the world), conducting a rare shore-landing to pick up passengers near Locust Grove.
Thursday night we rope off Main Street for a block party featuring organizations along Louisville’s Museum Row. Providing Kentucky hospitality, fare and music, party-goers will have opportunities for behind-the-scene tours at each of the locations. Need some pre-party plans? The Kentucky Science Center will be offering a discounted showing of “The Kentucky Show” in the IMAX Theatre at 5:45 p.m. You can pre-order tickets using the discount code: AASLH.
I hope you are as excited to be visiting us as we are about hosting you! I want to give a special shout-out to all those on the host committee and sponsors who have been passionately involved in making this an AASLH conference to remember. We look forward to seeing you in Possibility City!
Scott Alvey is the Deputy Director of the Kentucky Historical Society and the Host Chair for the 2015 Annual Meeting.
