This week, nine convention and visitor bureaus announced that they have joined together to create the West Kentucky Brewery Hop.
There are 13 breweries stretching throughout Beaver Dam, Henderson, Paducah, Murray, Benton, Bowling Green, Hopkinsville, Glasgow and Owensboro.
It wasn’t too long ago — in fact within the last couple of years — that Owensboro had no breweries. Our Towns, a book by Deborah and James Fallows, closely studied several small cities around the country that are thriving, and it identified 10 community assets all of its top small cities had. Local breweries were on that list.
Watching these small business owners go after their dreams has been inspiring, as is seeing all of the ways they collaborate with one another. They don’t compete against each other. Instead, they work together and support one another. They are creating a fabric in our community that is fundamental in creating a place where our young people want to live. And they have also created another reason to make Owensboro a destination.
Visit Owensboro, whose team is comprised of the young talent that we want to keep in our community, understands this.
They were instrumental in working with their colleagues throughout western Kentucky to create the Brewery Hop, one of the largest collaborations between convention and visitor bureaus. And they will be on the front lines to market it.
This Brewery Hop and the number of entertainment venues in Owensboro also complements the work of Green River Distilling Co. and the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in making us a destination city to visitors, conventions and conferences.
Good things are happening.
Do you feel the energy?