mountains, and music, an area that envelops 54 eastern Kentucky counties, from the valleys to the trails, the parks and streams.

The scenic beauty of the region is indisputable wherever you go.

There's plenty to see here and experience.

Stay tuned as host Renee Shaw and tourism and economic development experts take you on a Technicolor field trip exploring all this part of the state has to offer on this special edition of Kentucky Tonight.

>> Good evening.

Welcome to this special edition of Kentucky Tonight.

I'm Renee Shaw.

We thank you for joining us.

Our topic tonight, Eastern Kentucky Tourism.

In the next hour, we'll take you to Belle Pike and Boyd counties to show you what those communities are doing to boost tourism numbers.

Our Kentucky Tonight reporters will talk to community leaders and others.

And we'll also be talking to four guests right here in our Lexington studio.

Mike Manget, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Tourism.

Jim Dodson, executive director of community relations, tourism and Main Street for the City of Pikeville.

Kitty Do-good, Kentucky Main Street program administrator.

And Seth Wheat, Kentucky State Parks director of interpretation and engagement.

We certainly want to hear from you tonight.

You can send us your questions and comments by X, formerly known as Twitter, at Pub Affairs KET or send an email to KY Tonight at ket.org or use the web form at ket.org KY tonight.

Or you can simply give us a call at one 800 494 7605.

We welcome all of our guests here in our studio.

But first, our Toby Gibbs takes us on a rundown, although not completely exhaustive, of some of the cultural, scenic and main attractions of the region.

>> Eastern Kentucky is home to more than a dozen of Kentucky's 44 state parks and one national park, the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, where Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee meet.

Hikers and bikers can meander through 85 miles of trails.

It's believed 300,000 people crossed the Appalachians there to settle what was then called the West.

See the Niagara of the South at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, where Whitley County meets McCreary County.

And there's the Grand Canyon of the South Breaks Interstate Park, five miles east of Elkhorn City, with hiking, biking, boating, and fishing.

Kingdom Come State Park in Harlan County is known for Raven Rock and log Rock, which looks like a fallen tree.

The Red River Gorge Canyon System in the Daniel Boone National Forest includes sandstone cliffs, rock shelters, and waterfalls.

Nearby natural bridge spans 78ft and stands 65ft high.

There's canoeing and kayaking along Pike County's Hatfield and McCoy trail, named for the famous feud waged from 1863 to 1891, with death numbers estimated at everything from 12 to 20 to 60.

Named for a pioneer woman who escaped after 11 months of captivity by a group of indigenous tribes living in the area, the Jenny Wiley State Park in Prestonsburg has trails, cottages, and campgrounds.

Cruise down country music.

Highway 23 near the birthplace of music legends old and new, on your way to the U.S.

23 Country Music Highway Museum in Paintsville.

Some of country music's brightest stars hail from the hollers, and their sounds and stories are often shaped by their experiences in eastern Kentucky.

Loretta Lynn, often called the queen of country music, hailed from Butcher Holler in Johnson County.

The late Keith Whitley was from Ashland.

He was considered a pioneer of the late 1980s neo traditional country music before his death at the age of 34.

11 time Grammy winner Chris Stapleton is a singer songwriter born in Lexington and raised in Staffordsville, near Paintsville.

Tyler Childers, who combines neotraditional, country, bluegrass, folk and honky tonk, was born in Lawrence County, then moved to Paintsville, and Sturgill Simpson, often referred to as a disciple of outlaw country, grew up in Jackson.

For Kentucky tonight, I'm Toby Gibbs.

>> Thank you, Toby Gibbs for that lead off.

So I want to come to you, Commissioner Manjit, and ask you when you hear all of those things.

And like we said, that's not an exhaustive list.

First of all, what does it mean to be Appalachian and what the region represents in terms of how the rest of Kentucky is viewed in your view?

>> That's an interesting question.

Not hailing from the region.

And what I what I'll tell you is that anyone from the Appalachian region that I've ever met, if they don't live there, they want to go back home.

There's a fierce sense of pride in that region.

You hear it in the music, and a lot of the acts you just talked about there and, you know, they you weren't able to include, as you said, from an exhaustive list, Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, Billy Ray Cyrus and on Down the List.

There's so many there, but I truly think it's a sense of pride, a little bit of an unknown for a lot of folks, too, I think even in Kentucky.

And I would encourage folks to get out and visit the areas as much as possible.

I always say the best tourists are in your backyard.

Yeah, so get out and go visit some of these areas.

But, you know, the Appalachian region, it provides so much for us as a state on the on the national and international front, not just the music, but also the outdoor activities, the the history that was the western frontier.

As we're coming up on America.

250, The Cumberland Gap, as you mentioned in the spot, was the western frontier.

Kentucky is a land of firsts.

And a lot of those happened in the Appalachian region.

>> Yeah.

Seth Wheat talked to us about the beauty of the parks.

You're very familiar with that and adventure tourism.

So as someone who is from the region, talk to us about what it means to be Appalachian, in your view?

>> Well, one popular buzzword in our industry is sense of place.

And I think people from that region have a real sense of place.

It's part of their identity.

They know what it means to be from that area, and there's a distinct tie back to the culture.

And so many of the things that you all showed in that video there.

So it's just something you grow up with and it's not really something you think about a lot of times, because it's just part of who you are and part of the way you're raised and part of how you lead your life every day.

So it's, you know, it's really just born into you and something that you kind of feel every day.

>> Yeah.

Can you do good?

Do you think that the rest of the state appreciates all of what Eastern Kentucky has to offer, or do they bring some sensibilities that are inaccurate and maybe some misconceptions that are inaccurate?

>> I think you're exactly right.

Appalachia is very different than the rest of the state, and in my position, it's been my pleasure to take our Main Street directors from across the state to visit Appalachia.

When we first started having things like the Promise Zone and Arc and some of those things happening, they didn't understand why that that was the region.

And we said, have you ever been there?

No.

I said, well, we're going.

So they've been in coal mines and they've been in all of the beauty that we have to offer there.

And so I think when people go there, they're quite surprised because it's it's not the people you see at the gas station when, when a tornado happens or the flood happens.

That's what that's their perception.

And then they get there and they say this is nothing like and I you know, I now understand why everybody talks about how beautiful it is.

>> Yeah.

Jill, I know you feel the same way.

And we're about to see a video that you're in where we talked to you last week about that.

But you say the same that when people go and they say, well, I definitely will be back.

>> Yeah.

It's not if it's when I'm coming back and what I'm coming back for.

Like Kitty said, there is a misconception and people don't really understand it until they get here.

Just like Seth said, you know, it's a it's a feeling, Mike said.

It's it's pride.

We have a very the pride that our people have in our region is so immense.

And I know we talked last week that you can go all over, all over Kentucky or all over the South, but there's something about when I travel back home and when so many people travel back home, when they've been away and you see the mountains for the first time, you breathe a little easier.

You relax a little more because it's home.

I always say that it's like a warm embrace when you see the mountains, and once we get folks there, we know they're going to come back.

>> We certainly got to share of hugs from the mountain.

Last week, a crew and I went to Pike County to check out how the bourbon industry is trying to grow there.

We did a little adventure riding on some souped up ATVs, and we talked to folks making all of this happen.

Senator Wheeler, it's good to see you, sir.

>> Great to see you, Renee.

Thank you for being here in Pikeville.

>> Yeah.

It's great.

Mr.

chairman, you've been, you know, your chair of the tourism committee, and we are talking about the importance of building up tourism in eastern Kentucky.

So talk to us about what you would like to see and the progress that's already been made.

>> Well, you know, when I first got elected in 2019, we had been through some struggles, obviously, with the decline in the coal industry, which, you know, carried this region for many generations.

So coming up with a new not necessarily replacement, but at least a concurrent industry to diversify our economy was was really something that, you know, was a goal of mine.

I mean, you're sitting in the perfect example of that right now.

I mean, you know, Cannon and Shannon and Kendall Wright took a facility that, you know, had been through some tough times, and they're now investing their their dedication and their resources here at Eastern Kentucky to make sure that it flourishes here in our community and serves as another attraction to get people into this area.

>> Kendall Wright is one half of the Brothers Wright Distilling.

>> So we're sitting in the entryway to the Dueling Barrels Distillery, which is now the Brothers Wright Distilling Company.

My brother and I took over the facility about eight weeks ago.

We are local, local boys.

We built our brands and our companies right here locally, 350 gallon moonshine still.

And then we have a spirit.

We've been in business nearly 30 years and we started going down this, this avenue of about five years ago and just had a passion for bourbon and the bourbon industry.

We also have production capabilities from being able to run all the equipment from the basement as well.

>> The Brothers Wright Distilling Company is known for aging its Kentucky Straight bourbon whiskey and an over 100 year old repurposed underground coal mine.

The former dueling barrels, which the brothers Kendall and Shannon acquired, was the vision of late Alltech founder Pierce Lyons, who, with his wife Deirdre, created a visitor experience reminiscent of their native Ireland.

It was Eastern Kentucky's first combined beer, bourbon and moonshine operation.

>> The Lyons family built such an amazing facility here.

And really, it really opened before Covid, but kind of Covid kind of slowed it down quite a bit.

And and they reached out to us about six months ago and asked us if we'd be interested, and we figured out how to make it happen.

>> So when I when you look at, you know, the old Dueling Barrels brochure, you know, it talks about bourbon country moonshine belt and Appalachian craft beer corridor.

And Pikeville is the intersection of all three of those things.

Is that still what's happening here?

>> It is.

And it's kind of our vision as well.

Although we're mainly a our plans were mainly for bourbon.

But this this facility was set up beautifully to do craft beers and single malt liquors.

And at some point we're going to jump into all those.

We're really kind of focusing in the latter part of 25 here, is to produce some quality bourbon and get it in barrels.

So a few years down the road that we can sit in here and have a sip of it, but we will we will jump into all of those avenues at some point.

We're just right now we're wading into the waters, trying not to get in over our head.

>> The 30,000 square foot facility in downtown Pikeville has a streetside peek at the three Vendome copper pot stills, a 350 gallon moonshine still 19 stainless steel fermenters, two traditional cypress fermenters, and beer brewing equipment capable of producing 40,000 barrels annually, plus a gift shop and event space.

The idea of aging whiskey and underground coal mines was conjured up by a late Bourbon legend.

>> And I tell this story a lot.

I feel like I have to tell this story is I. This was never my idea.

I met Lincoln Henderson in 2009 and Lincoln gave me this idea.

He's telling me about his Brown-Forman days, and this is before him and his son, Wes Henderson started Angel's Envy in 2011.

Lincoln looks at me and says, you know, I always had a vision of coming to Eastern Kentucky and doing a mine themed bourbon and my barrels and an old Eastern Kentucky coal mine.

And how intriguing I thought that was.

And me and my brother, being the serial entrepreneurs that we are in 2020, 2019, we had an opportunity to see if we could make Lincoln's vision come, come to life.

And that's kind of how this whole thing started.

>> What's the five year vision or plan?

>> Well, this was like the ten year vision.

I'm already standing in the middle of it.

>> You're an overachiever.

>> Well, you know, I didn't.

You know, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

You either figure out how to make it happen or you get out of the way.

And we were fortunate enough to try to make this thing happen now.

So I'm afraid to say what a five year vision is, because the next few steps of this is obviously, I've got to build another distillery at the location in belfry, Kentucky, which is where the mine is located at.

I've I've got a 1200 acre property there that's set up for this.

And so I'm I'll have a distillery here in downtown Pikeville and I'll have a distillery in belfry, Kentucky.

And, and we're going to try to get tours and tastings in an old coal mine that was opened in 1913.

>> Even though the Bourbon Trail doesn't make its way yet to eastern Kentucky, there are many hoping the brothers Wright earns Pikeville a star on that map.

Now, if you're looking for a trail of a different sort, here's an idea.

When we talk about adventure tourism, for somebody who's like, exactly what is that?

How would you define it?

>> Well, I think the definition is a little bit different for everyone.

I mean, for me, you know, I do like enjoy getting out on some of the side by sides and ATVs and going out for a day.

>> Sounds like a plan.

Now, this isn't your granddad's all terrain vehicle.

This is the Cadillac version.

>> Okay, so what we got right here is a Cfmoto Eu4 Highlander, and it's the U-10 XL.

And it's a really neat machine because it's cabin closed, power windows, power flip windshield.

You've got heat and AC, so we're about to be in comfort if you get cold or if you get hot, we can fix that and adjust it today.

>> So when people think of ATVs, they do not think of that.

Like that doesn't normally come to people's mind, right?

>> They do not.

We we we also do Can-Am and we do the defenders.

And there's one behind this one that's cabin closed with heat and AC power windows, all the door locks, everything.

So we're about to go up in both of these.

But they think of, you know, an ATV outside and these are enclosed ready for the snow, ready for the harsh weather.

>> These 20 to $40,000 machines, as they're called.

Take us on phase one of the Hillbilly Trail system 20 miles south of Pikeville on US 23.

Jerry Atkins is the director of the trail system.

He says visitors come from all over the U.S.

to dig their wheels in, as do visitors from Canada and Mexico.

>> It's their phase one.

It's called Flatwoods Trailhead.

We have over 100 miles of trail here on nearly 6000 acres of land.

>> Wow.

And how long has this been around?

>> We're just starting our third year now.

>> Yeah.

What's the big vision?

>> Well, the we're going to start phase two on the northern end of the county.

This is the southern tip of the county where we're at now, Pike County, Kentucky.

And land mass is one of the largest, if not if not the largest county in land mass east of the Mississippi River.

But we can go to the other side of the county, start a second phase all the way across the county.

>> The thrill of the ride might get your blood pumping, but the sights you see when you put it in park certainly will soothe your soul.

>> Are you going to be, well, surprised?

We got beautiful views, overlooks.

We've got great trails, rock formations, just a great variety of things that you'll be seeing.

>> If you need to stretch your legs on the way to these picturesque overlooks, jump out into these swings made by volunteers to kick up your heels for a while.

You're certainly going to feel like a kid again.

>> All right, thank you.

Back to your childhood.

All right.

>> That's awesome.

>> It's a lot of fun.

>> So, Jerry, what does this mean in terms of, like, the tourism economy here to have this trail?

>> Well, it's bringing in a great amount of tourism dollars and more.

So it's a lot of county citizens are becoming entrepreneurs.

We've since as I said, trails have been open over two years now and we've got nearly 20 places of lodging.

People have made Airbnbs out of rental units.

One campground was completed solely because of this trail system.

Hillbilly trails got two more campgrounds under construction over on the south trailhead side of the trail system, ATV parts stores, repair shops going in.

Just a lot of entrepreneurs now that had never had been.

So it's helping the citizens of the county also.

>> So our tourism is just it's so important to everything we do in the city of Pikeville and certainly all over Pike County.

>> Jill Dodson is executive director of community relations, tourism and Main Street for the city of Pikeville.

>> It really has been just a tremendous upswing in our tourism dollars that we see.

Not only do people not want to go to the larger cities anymore, they want to come to small communities.

They want to get outside.

They, you know, always during Covid, we were going outside.

We were doing trails, hiking, those sorts of things.

So that's what we do within the city.

We have 13 miles of hiking trails at Ball Park.

We're so close to the Breaks Interstate Park and and the rafting and hiking there.

So to put a dollar figure on it, it has just been a tremendous upswing in the last few years of people coming in.

Whether it's for a convention, for a conference to take in adventure tourism and the outdoors, not only do we have the river with kayaking, we have the hiking.

You can bike, but now we have the the ATV trails that are so close to our area and we see so many people coming in really in the fall time of the year to take advantage of those opportunities.

>> You know, I my long term vision is, you know, maybe we could become the Switzerland of eastern Kentucky, maybe not a large development, but, you know, Switzerland is a place that is scenically beautiful, but also a great manufacturing place with a lot of small manufactories that that, you know, provide one of the highest standards of living in the world.

You know, I don't know that we'll get there overnight, but as long as I'm in office, my my dedication is going to be to, to this area that I grew up in.

>> We love it when people come and say, you know what, I've never been here, but I will definitely be back.

>> And we thank everybody for their hospitality as we spent the day in Pike County.

And I love what Senator Wheeler said.

Switzerland of eastern Kentucky.

So, Jill Dodson, what do you think about the prospects of that?

Sound good.

>> To you?

Absolutely, absolutely.

Those are large expectations, but we can certainly try to make that happen.

>> Yeah.

Of all the things that you saw in that piece, and of course, we didn't tell the whole story of what's available in Pikeville and Pike County.

I mean, what did we miss out on?

What did we not highlight?

>> There's so many different things.

I told you when you left that I would love for you to come back for a couple of days so we could really dig in and see all what we have.

You know, we have a 7000 seat arena right in the heart of downtown, the Appalachian Wireless Arena, where we have conferences and conventions daily in the city.

But we also have large national acts that come in sold out shows.

We've had three in the last two months, and I think it really speaks volumes about the kind of entertainment that people want and how far they will travel, not only the arena, but we also have the Appalachian Center for the Arts, which is a smaller venue but is so wonderful for children and local people to really try their hand at the arts that way, and acting.

We're getting ready to do Annie for Christmas, and it's the largest children's cast that we've ever had.

So those are just some opportunities that are specifically downtown, you know, Kitty and I, Kitty with Main Street and what we do with Main Street, we see such a large group of people come downtown just to shop.

Now that the distillery is back up and running.

So they're coming to see shows, they're coming to our restaurants, they're coming to our local shops, and it's just amazing what what you can do if you come just for a weekend right in the heart of downtown Pikeville, but also throughout Pike County.

>> Can you do good?

Yes, because you are the Main Street coordinator.

So you know, the importance of of of downtowns and downtown revitalization.

When you think about what's happened in Pikeville and the evolution, how do you assess it?

>> It has been a real change in the last decade.

We really went through a revitalization process in those counties that have been highlighted this evening, because their economy changed in the downturn of coal, and so we had to look at some different opportunities.

And in that last decade, I've worked with Seth a lot and with Jill and lots of other people where we have created those outdoor opportunities.

And so it draws them to the beauty of the mountains.

But then they also come and patronize our shops and our restaurants at the end of the day.

So it has really been a game changer when we've all partnered together to say, how can we increase the people that we share this community with?

Because as I said earlier, it really is a sense of pride for the people who live there, and we really like to show it off and to say, please come see us because it's it's very different all up and down through eastern Kentucky.

But the economic development that has taken place in the last decade has really been a game changer in our role, is also preserving the culture, preserving the buildings, doing all of the things that make those towns special.

>> And that can be expensive, right?

To do that.

>> It can be expensive.

If they're in a National Register district, we have an opportunity to use historic rehabilitation tax credits to help those business owners or the building owners.

We've been fortunate that we've been able to get a few grants through the National Main Street Association.

We just did one in Pikeville this last fall and early spring, with one on one business coaching.

So our role is kind of spread out through everything downtown.

But that helps with those opportunities to get businesses either online or make sure they have a small business development plan, those kinds of things.

>> Seth, we can't let the moment go without talking about adventure tourism.

How bad did you want to get on that ATV that you.

Just saw?

>> It's I've been on them before.

I've had the good opportunity to go and view some of those trail systems myself, and it gets you to some places that even having grown up in Pikeville, I had never been to had never seen those views.

But that's really just only one of the things you can do there, Renee.

You know, one of the things that I think I would add to what Jill told you to come back and visit is the river trail that goes through Pikeville.

You know, you can float a canoe or kayak through.

I think it's still one of the largest earth moving projects anywhere in the world.

Through the Pikeville Cut Through project.

That's an amazing experience, and you can get out of the river and be a mile from downtown Pikeville and see all the good things all these people have worked on.

Yeah, it's the development they're doing on both the trail side of things and the town side of things to go back to that trail town program.

And just the whole idea of this holistic look at what we want our community to be about, not just for the tourism, frankly, it's also about the people that live there and makes it a more inviting place to live.

And you can attract and retain some of your talent.

As people grow up and look for opportunities, they're going to have them right there at home.

>> Yeah.

So stories about the famous Hatfield and McCoy family feud attract thousands of visitors to eastern Kentucky every year, but tourism officials say the historical sites tourists are seeking can be hard to find.

Our Mackenzie Spink tells us how Pike County tourism hopes the Kentucky General Assembly can help add fuel to the growing tourism industry in eastern Kentucky.

>> People around the world have heard of the Hatfield-mccoy feud, but officials say out of towners coming to Pike County can easily get lost on their way to the historical sites.

>> Pardon me, but you got a better chance of seeing God than you do making a cell phone call or your GPS to work.

The cell signal just does not get down in there and people are lost.

They spend most of their time running around looking for the sites.

>> The stream of visitors to Pike County is only increasing, according to the marketing director of Pikeville Pike County Tourism, tourist spending in the county has increased by more than $30 million from 2017 to 2023.

>> Our website alone for the tour, which focuses on our region, has had 160,000 views so far this year, 112,000 sessions, almost 100,000 users.

That's a lot of people.

So a lot of people wanting to know about the Hatfields and McCoys and other things that we offer in our region.

>> Officials say the tourism draw of the Hatfield McCoys has a significant impact on the locally owned businesses of Eastern Kentucky.

>> Motorcoach Group for three nights and four days, will drop $36,000.

In my community, we don't shop at Walmart.

We don't eat at Bob Evans or Golden Corral, we eat at Mom and Pops, and we shop at Mom and Pops.

All of my lodging is locally owned.

There's not one piece of my lodging property that is owned and operated out of state or out of my territory.

So when we speak of mom and pops lifting them up the past four years of Covid, what it has done to them, the bulk industry, the families and SUVs, they are the people that keep that mom and pop alive.

>> The Pikeville Pike County Tourism Board is asking for increased signage in the U.S.

119, KY 319 and KY 1056 corridors.

The signs will direct tourists towards sites like the Randolph McCoy House and other areas where the family fighting broke out.

Co-Chair of the committee and Pikeville native Senator Philip Wheeler says he'll support this request during session.

>> Our committee member, Senator Boswell, who's watching from the sunny state of Florida, he says with no pay up.

He said, you know, a business without signs is no business.

So very good advice from a very good businessman.

So to the extent we can help out, we'll definitely try to do that.

This upcoming session.

>> The Pike County tourism representatives also mentioned that with the increase of tourism in the area, the need for lodging is also growing for KET.

I'm Makenzie Spink.

>> Thank you.

Mackenzie Commissioner, I want to go to you.

What what you heard about that signage is an issue, right?

Talk to us.

But we don't think about those things.

But.

And what Bob Scott said about we won't repeat it, but we all remember how colorfully he phrased it about service there.

>> Well, it's critical actually.

I mean, we assume everybody now on your phones, you have GPS, and that's just not the case.

And wayfinding signage, especially on the local level, is really vital.

One thing that we did when the administration and the legislature passed $75 million in Arpa funding, was that we allowed that local wayfinding signage as an eligible expense in many communities took advantage of that.

>> And that's the Covid 19 relief funding, just so people may.

>> Remember.

But it's critical.

You know, someone once said to me, if you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.

Well, this signage lets you actually direct where you want them to go.

Yeah, yeah.

>> Anyone else care to comment on what was shared in that particular story?

>> Well, I think for one, you know, signage is incredibly important, especially in the rural area, that a lot of those sites that Tony spoke about, where they're located for me, you know, when you're from Eastern Kentucky, you you just kind of go by landmarks and it's easy for us to get there.

But we have to stop and think how important it is for our out of town guests.

And when we see the people that are coming in for the trail system, they come into the office, they come into Tony's office.

It's incredible to me the number of people we have from Ohio, from from the north, from Canada, from all over, that they still want to go on the trail.

And it's hard to explain to them where it is unless you have the proper signage.

>> Yeah, landmarks may not work for them.

>> They may not.

>> I would also add, it's also a great opportunity for the community to do some.

As Seth said earlier, some placemaking and branding.

Look here in Lexington.

The visit, the big signs that are the local wayfinding signage.

It really elevates that brand of the community, and it's an important piece of not just the tourism industry, but also overall community pride, economic development and everything else.

>> Yeah, so 24 counties in eastern Kentucky have joined with Kentucky's junior senator, Rand Paul, to create the Leaf and Blossom Trail, a tourism initiative designed to connect and promote Eastern Kentucky communities in a more unified way.

Our Mackenzie Spink.

She's been busy.

She's back to tell us more about how the trail works.

>> Tourism is the future of Eastern Kentucky.

According to Senator Rand Paul.

>> It's so crowded down in Tennessee in places that I think we can siphon off a lot of that business.

I think we're talking about millions of dollars of business.

>> The Leaf and Blossom Trail will have eight main paths, with smaller trails branching off, focused on different themes like food or outdoor adventure.

Senator Paul says a unified advertising push will highlight the areas of eastern Kentucky that tourists might not have had on their itinerary before.

>> Some places, like Red River Gorge, I think are pretty vibrant already.

People know about it.

They've got the great climbing here.

People come from all over.

But there are some other aspects that are beautiful places to do a leaf tour, stay to bed and breakfast.

Visit a distillery in eastern Kentucky that exists that need more advertising.

>> The Leaf and Blossom Trail will also be a resource for discovering the unique local festivals that happen in the mountains.

>> And then people say, oh, I'm coming to the mountains in May.

That's when the Bigfoot Festival is, or whatever month it is.

And you know, there's a bike ride down in Corbin, there's all these different festivals that are going on that'd be neat to coordinate and be present in national magazines.

>> Senator Paul says there's already a template to follow, one set by one of Kentucky's signature industries.

>> The Bourbon Trail works as sort of a subscription, so if you want to be on the Bourbon Trail, you pay to be part of the Bourbon Trail Association.

And then they do unified advertising.

We think that might be a model we're going to try to see right now.

What we've done is we've set this up as a private foundation.

We're going to ask, of course, successful people to give to it to get it started.

But then we want to see if each of the counties will give.

And then ultimately restaurants, inns.

>> In October, Senator Paul met with potential partners for the trail, and he says the ball is already rolling.

>> It started, it's launched, and now we'll try to set goals.

I'd like to, within six months, have an executive director for all of Eastern Kentucky.

And really we have all these different county tourism.

I'd like to see that coordinated into one sort of bigger enterprise for all of Eastern Kentucky.

>> Organizers say they plan to release a mobile friendly website that will make it easy to navigate the leaf and blossom trail for KET.

I'm Mackenzie Spink.

>> Thank you again, Mackenzie.

Kitty do good.

What do you think about this idea?

Is this a new idea?

>> Well, yes and no.

It was pretty interesting.

We had had a main Street conference prior to this being announced, and we just talked about how we really should be marketing the area in like route one, 55 and 23 and all of the ones in eastern Kentucky, because there is just as beautiful as they are in the northeast.

And it's a real opportunity for us.

And so I guess it was a couple of weeks after our conference that this came on TV and we were all like, we just talked about that.

So we do think it's a really good idea, and people don't have to drive all the way to, you know, New Hampshire and Maine and all the places they can just come see us.

>> Or Pigeon Forge.

>> Or Pigeon Forge, you know, I just think our communities are so much more authentic because they're geared toward tourism.

But it's like we've all said, it's the sense of place and the pride that we all have.

And we don't want to change that.

We don't want it commercialized.

We just want you to come and enjoy it.

>> Yeah, Jill.

>> Everybody says to me, we could be the next Gatlinburg, or we could be the next Pigeon Forge.

And we're all like, no, no, that's not what we want.

We want to keep our authenticity, like Kitty said.

Because going back to what I've said previously, there's something different about the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

And Kitty's exactly right.

You don't need to go to Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine to see the beautiful color.

You can drive right down 23 Street in Ashland and come all the way south and see some of the most beautiful foliage you'll ever see.

That's when we see such an influx of visitors to our area.

Starting in the 1st of October.

All throughout, you know, you can go to the Rec Center State Park and watch the the very brave rafters come down the rapids, which is one of my favorite things to do.

But when you see those mountains and you see the color that it provides.

And now with the new 460 being open, it's just a game changer for us.

And, you know, we we invite everybody to come see our fall foliage.

And it's not something that we're surprised by, but we do think it's a great idea to open it up and and remind everybody what we have here locally.

>> Yeah.

Commissioner.

>> Yeah.

The fall foliage in eastern Kentucky is on par with anywhere.

Honestly, I've joked around for many years I want to run a billboard in Times Square with a picture of of our of the fall foliage and say, just like Vermont, but we have bourbon, right?

Try to get him to come down.

Everybody laughs and maybe we can cope with that.

But for us, you know, in for decades we've been promoting that.

This year we had a an interactive tracker on our on Kentucky tourism.

Com that showed when it was peak season throughout the state.

Right.

So that people because there are a lot of travelers it's probably one of the this time of year, it is probably the most requested information that we receive online or even yes, people still call our office on an 800 number asking when is it going to be peak season?

So it's it's very important to us.

>> Yeah.

Seth, do you have anything to add on that?

>> Well, I think the idea of collaborating to promote our areas is smart, and it's been happening for several years now through a few different avenues.

And anytime you can combine resources and not be so competitive and worry just about getting your piece of the pie.

But understand a rising tide is going to float all boats, especially with these things we're talking about.

I think it's a good start for sure.

>> Yeah, southeastern Kentucky's Bell County is home to both a state and national park, which bring a wealth of opportunities to explore the region's scenic views.

We go now to Laura Rogers at Pine Mountain State Resort Park, where she sat down with county officials to discuss tourism efforts.

>> Tourism has exploded here in comparison to what it was years ago.

>> But tourism wasn't top of mind when Bell County judge executive Albie Brock came into office nearly two decades ago.

>> When I first got elected, we did a study to see what we could do to grow our community.

We involved hundreds of members of the community.

You know, it ranked really high on potential.

>> Much of that potential centers around outdoor recreation and adventure, of which there is plentiful opportunity.

And the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

>> We've just got so much of it.

We've got more public hunting than any place in Kentucky by a lot.

We're the only county in the state that has both a national park and a state park.

We've got two golf courses.

We've got places to fly, fish places to go, off roading, kayaking, whatever you like to do outdoors, chances are you'll find something here.

>> That list will soon grow with the arrival of a new tourism destination expected to open in 2027.

>> We've got the largest tourism project taking place in Bell County right now in Boone's Ridge.

It's a 50 plus million dollar project that is estimated by USDA estimates, not, you know, stuff a developer, you know has brought up to bring in over a million people a year.

>> With those expectations, we set out to learn more about Boone's Ridge in the works in Bell County for more than a decade.

>> To the best of my knowledge, it's the largest, most aggressive tourism venue being developed in eastern Kentucky.

>> The nonprofit Appalachian Wildlife Foundation is the owner and developer of Boone's Ridge, which sits on 12,000 acres outside Pineville.

>> Our mission is the environmental, education and economic revitalization of Kentucky's Appalachian region.

>> With an estimated year to 18 months left of construction, Boone's Ridge is already home to a resident elk herd relocated from other parts of the state.

>> What we've done is we've restored the elk population to this area.

We used helicopters to relocate, trap and transport elk over a three year period.

>> A couple hundred elk have now multiplied to more than 600 roaming freely.

>> In addition to that, though, we have an incredible black bear, deer, bobcat, and wild turkeys, of course, are part of the birding experience.

But abundant wildlife on site.

>> And the goal is for everyone to be able to enjoy that.

>> Wildlife accessibility is something that we're focused on.

We've created an accessible nature trail.

It's a paved and improved nature trail that will allow people with mobility impairments to actually get out and enjoy the wildlife and the wild views.

>> There are stunning views from this eastern Kentucky mountaintop, an area once heavily dependent on coal that Frank Allen says will greatly benefit from the tourism dollars Boone's Ridge aims to attract.

>> This is an area where the economy has been based on the extraction and export of the natural resources, and what we're doing is showing the value in preserving and showcasing the natural resources.

>> The foundation has raised $74 million for the project, with a goal of another 20 million, and they expect a big return on investment.

>> We're hoping that long after I'm gone, this will be an attraction similar on a much smaller scale to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.

>> This one will also be family friendly, with a big playground and petting zoo, along with retail, restaurants and an aerial gondola.

>> Once that project gets off the ground and gets going, it's a game changer.

>> From this land.

>> Another game changer has been John Grace's efforts to organize musical performances in Bell County, like the Laurel Cove Music Festival and Pikeville and Levitt AMP Middlesboro Music Series.

What has that brought to the community to offer these these live music opportunities and concerts?

>> It's been great.

I remember when I took over the position in 2016, you know, obviously I knew being from here that our outdoor recreation, our frontier, our history are kind of two pillars.

But we were looking for just something else.

And events and event based tourism has been something that has really worked well for us.

We have an event like Laurel Cove Music Festival, which takes place here at the state park.

We've been really lucky and humbled that the past two years, it sold out in under five minutes before we even announced a band, which I never we would have never dreamed that that would have happened.

But we knew that with the setting, the venue at Laurel Cove Amphitheater, it's such a esthetically and acoustically it's just it's beautiful, like it's a great place to have a concert.

>> They've worked to build on that success.

With shows at Bell Theater in downtown Pineville, with the added benefit of bringing more foot traffic downtown to support small businesses like coffee shops, restaurants and retail, which you'll also find in Bell County's largest city.

Tell us more about the communities of Pineville and also Middlesboro.

>> Pikeville is a small community as well as Middlesboro, and we have local retail shops.

We have several little cute boutiques that have merchandise that is something unique to our area that you can only find here.

So it's a great place to shop local.

We have nice little restaurants in Middlesboro that have outdoor seating, indoor seating, lots of different choices of meals that you can find and just enjoy being on the main streets.

>> And I'm sure you have a lot of out of town guests that come in to visit the state park here.

And then they're also exploring the surrounding communities as well.

I know you all appreciate that support.

>> Yes, Pine Mountain State Park is a wonderful place to come.

Have a vacation.

You can do the hiking trails.

You can just explore the whole area.

And rock is especially a neat little hike that you can take and overlook the city.

>> Bell County is also home to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, located between Middlesboro and Cumberland Gap, Tennessee.

>> We're the only county in the state with a national park and a state park.

A lot of people don't realize that.

>> Which means double the opportunity for taking in the area's natural beauty, history and culture.

Somebody is really going to stay busy when they come visit.

>> Yeah, yeah.

And that's kind of the whole idea is to kind of market it as a place you can go and have multiple things you can do over the course of several days or a week and, and try to find those cross sections where people can come and, you know, they can hike at the national park or the state park.

They can enjoy a live music event downtown Pikeville or in Middlesboro, or, you know, the tons of other stuff.

The national park has got a great exhibit on, like the frontier era history.

Up here.

We've got museums.

There's a lot of stuff to do here.

>> It's not an accident that our numbers have exploded.

It's been a lot of vision and and effort and support has went into that.

>> And has that led to a larger economic impact in your communities?

>> Absolutely.

You look at our community based on population and you look at Middlesboro, and we've got multiple branded chain hotels.

There are a lot of people make careers out of being in the hospitality industry.

So, you know, there's a lot of employment associated with it.

And then obviously, you know, they stay, they shop.

It helps our local business.

>> You are new to this role being executive director at Bell County Chambers.

So what would you like to accomplish and and see the chamber do in the near future?

>> I've lived in Bell County all my life, and I think it's the best place to to live and work and raise a family.

I am working closely with our two Main Street directors and with John Grayson with tourism.

And so we are really trying to push this area.

We want people to come stay, we want people to shop, we want people to explore everything that we have and give back to our area and grow to love it as much as we do.

>> Thank you so much, Laura Rogers, for that report.

Commissioner, I want to come to you.

I've heard, you know, officials like yourself and others in the tourism industry talk about how tourism is big business, a multi-billion dollar business for Kentucky, and brings in a lot of economic development.

Contextualize those numbers for us.

>> Sure.

And 2024, we had the best record ever, which I guess is a record anyway.

14 $14.3 billion in total economic impact, $10.1 billion in direct spend in our local communities.

It sustains 97,000 jobs in the state and generates $1 billion in state and local taxes.

That is economic development no matter how you cut it.

But more than that, a friend of mine here in Lexington, Mary Quinn Ramer, always likes to say that tourism is the first handshake of economic development.

And when you look at it as far as the role that it plays, Governor Beshear likes to talk about his new Kentucky Home Initiative, which really blends both economic development and tourism.

And it's exactly that.

This is a place where you want to live, work and play.

And in our industry, there's a saying, A lady out of Fort Worth, Texas, first came up with this, but if you build a place where people want to visit, you build a place where people want to work.

Build a place where people are, where they want to live, build a place where people want to live.

They have to work a place where people want to work.

People have to come visit and the cycle repeats itself.

So it's it's absolutely probably in the top five industries in the state.

Our biggest challenge really, more than anything else, is we are so diverse restaurants, hotels, rental cars, attractions, events, what we do on on a daily basis that I have always said that if you look at, look at this like an industrial park and you put everybody in tourism in one building, the people who work there, the people that visit, the people that are impacted, it's going to be one of the biggest buildings in every community, in every town.

>> Yeah.

Good way to look at it, isn't it?

It is.

Yeah.

Okay.

Northeast Kentucky also has a big tourism impact.

Boyd County, this is your home.

Miss Kitty is attracting art and music lovers and entertainment seekers.

Our Emily Sisk tells us more about what the county has to offer.

>> Where art meets adventure.

That's how Boyd County leaders describe their tourism scene.

At the core of that scene is the Paramount Arts Center, which has a 90 year old history of bringing entertainment to the region.

>> In my opinion, it is the jewel of the Tri-State.

>> In the early 1900s, Paramount Pictures film company decided to build a state of the art theater.

In each one of the 50 states.

>> They picked the location of Paramount Arts Center based off what city they thought was going to thrive.

>> Because of the area's rich industries like steel and coal.

Paramount pictures decided on Ashland not because of the Great Depression.

Paramount pictures had to pause construction after finishing around a dozen theaters, but Ashland has been the preferred location of the arts center since 1931.

>> The preservation is maybe the most important part of the thing that we do here, and so these murals that are actual honest to God murals with paint every year, they get redone and revisited.

>> Had some some pretty major work done probably 20 years ago now when they added the stage house.

Any traveling show can, you know, traveling theater show or any act has its it's perfectly suited for that.

>> We had Tyler Childers in for a conference a few years ago.

My favorite concert that has ever been here.

Not a country music star, but Weird Al was incredible.

>> There's also an in-house theater group called the Paramount Players that puts on shows for the community.

For many northeast Kentuckians, the Paramount is an irreplaceable piece in the region's puzzle.

>> That of of all the places in town.

That may be my favorite place, just to kind of be.

>> Music and the arts continue to shape Boyd County tourism.

The county is now host to two major music festivals, Rock the Country and Healing Appalachia.

Both events bring in world class musicians and many out of town visitors.

>> Being able to have Tyler Childers and Chris Stapleton perform, being able to have Nickelback and Kid Rock here, and a slew of other artists and just welcome people from all across the world to Boyd County.

We got a 50 mile radius of people staying in hotels for these festivals, but it's super cool just people coming from California, people coming from Ireland.

>> You couldn't get a hotel room from Mount Sterling to Charleston, West Virginia because of those events.

>> And in case the crowds of people don't sell the impact, the county has the dollar figures to back it up.

>> We'll probably add 50 to $55 million in economic impact, specifically in tourism to our region because of two festivals.

>> Now besides music, Boyd County also touts its adventure tourism.

One piece of that is Camp Landing.

The entertainment district has a Malibu Jack's theme park, ax throwing, movie theater, sports simulator and more, all on one property.

And they're still growing, with plans to add a sports complex, horse racing track and hotels in the near future.

>> For one piece of land, it will be the biggest entertainment facility in the state of Kentucky.

>> The masterminds behind Camp Landing are Elizabeth and Jason Camp, who moved from coastal Florida to Boyd County.

>> We love the small town atmosphere.

We love the friendly people that are here.

But there was a lack of, you know, doing some things.

>> So the camps bought what was a vacant mall and turned it into an entertainment district.

>> We never in our wildest dreams would have thought we would have bought a dead mall and turned it into something like this.

>> I think it could be a model for all of all of Kentucky or Appalachia, or even the country.

You know, retail is is struggling all over.

So, you know, just reinventing it.

>> And as visitors get further outside the city limits, they'll even find an off road track in rush, which is an unincorporated community on the edge of Boyd and Carter counties.

>> It's a 7000 acre off road park.

They have over 100 miles of trails.

We'll walk them 50 60,000 unique visitors a year to rush.

>> With all the industries and attractions at hand.

What helps Boyd County tourism stick together?

There was one loud answer.

>> It's the people.

It's always going to be the people.

>> The community is the one that keeps it going.

>> Tourism director Andrew Steele said.

If Boyd County prospers, then their neighbors in surrounding counties and states will succeed as well.

For Kentucky tonight, I'm Emily Sisk.

>> Thanks so much, Emily.

So Katie, this is your stomping ground and I want you to talk about you said something interesting while we were watching that report of Emily's about the connection of Ashland and Manhattan.

>> Yes.

And I didn't know this for a really long time, that our city was actually designed after Manhattan.

We have a Central Park, we have Broadway, we have all these things.

And they had changed the street, which was what really was the impetus for everybody saying, why did we change the street to Broadway?

And then the historical part came out.

Ashland is lovely, and it had to, like all of our communities, transition from the industrial section into something different.

So they have done a lot with arts and entertainment.

The Paramount Theater, you said you've never been.

>> On the list.

>> Every community I go to in the US that has one, I check them out.

I've only seen one that might come close, but it is beautiful and I have gone there since I was a little girl.

My favorite recent was when the Ark had their conference there in Tyler.

Childers played on stage and I was about as close to him as you, so that was pretty exciting.

>> Not bad.

>> But it's been really interesting to watch both Boyd County and Bell County to really activate their theaters and the music scene, because US 23, we've always sort of been the country music highway.

But when when you transfer over into Bell County in Middlesboro and Pikeville, that had not happened.

So when they restored the Bell Theater, that was kind of a catalytic project.

And the transformation in Pineville, especially from where we were a dozen years ago to just to finish a streetscape and how other communities replicate what's happening there.

It's been really fascinating.

I've been really impressed with my hometown.

When they said they were going to do Rock the country, I'm thinking really?

And it was fabulous.

So they have really injected a lot of tourism dollars, and a lot of people have said, this is really nice place and perhaps we'd like to live here.

So that's really good for them.

>> You can run some more numbers for us, Commissioner, right?

>> Yeah.

The two eastern Kentucky regions, we break Kentucky down into nine tourism regions, and the two that really cover most of eastern Kentucky and Appalachia.

Of that 14.3 billion that I was talking about, $1.1 billion in those areas.

And I mentioned this earlier, we I call us an invisible industry.

But if you're a doctor or an insurance agent, no offense to those industries.

You don't see these folks coming into your community, not just from around the state, not just from around the United States, but around from around the world who are coming in.

And it's really important to understand that impact.

You know, the taxes that we generate are economic impact.

Company that does this, tourism economics, spoke at our annual conference recently, and he he put it in a, in a in a way that really stood out to me.

He goes, the taxes we generate will pay for 18,000 schoolteachers.

Think about that.

If you take the tourism industry away, that's the kind of impact you're going to have on the state.

>> Yeah, Seth, we didn't get a chance to really talk about state parks, but we know there's a big birthday celebrated recently for state parks.

So talk to us a little bit about how they have grown and maybe even been remodeled, because we know that that's been an issue too, about modernizing them.

>> Yeah, we just turned 100 years old last year, 2024, and some of our individual parks now are going to start reaching their 100th birthday, like Pine Mountain down in Bell County next year in 2026.

We've been very fortunate.

Governor Beshear has supported additional investment.

The legislature have come through with some funding for us to go through and do some much needed upgrades at a handful of parks all across Kentucky, but several of them in eastern Kentucky.

We manage 44 state parks across the country.

17 of those are resort parks, meaning they have full service hotel, lodging facilities and restaurants.

And it's a lot to keep up with.

So we're very thankful to have those dollars to put back into our parks to make sure we are meeting all these tourists we're talking about, and all the locals that live around this area and giving them the best experience they can possibly have.

But I think state parks are a key component in any anything we talk about when it's tourism related, community development related, our state parks are one of the calling cards we're able to to share with the world when they're coming to visit.

>> This is not a fair question to ask with a minute and a half remaining, but what does the tourism industry need?

And particularly as state lawmakers look to go into session on January the 5th sixth, what would you recommend?

Commissioner.

>> We are a very, very competitive industry.

If you sit and look just on your television, look at all the ads that are coming in, everything from Walt Disney to cruise lines and the multiple cruise lines out there and other destinations.

We are fortunate that we have a dedicated funding stream with a 1% statewide transient tax on hotel short term rental.

Protection of that is crucial for us.

People like to be very competitive in our industry and in our state.

And you look to the south of us, and Tennessee has about twice our budget and others.

So so that's the key to it.

We have to be able to continue getting the message out.

Kentucky is a great, great, authentic destination.

We are a surprise to people.

And when they come in and say, I didn't know I could do that experience, they come back time and time again.

>> Yeah, good words to end on.

Thank you all very much for being a part of this conversation.

And thanks to our reporters for being in the field and going to Bell, Boyd and Pike County.

It's been a pleasure, and we hope that you've enjoyed this program.

And you can watch it online at ket.org if you'd like to see it again, or perhaps for the first time, be sure to join us each weeknight at 630 eastern 530 central for Kentucky Edition, where we break down the news of the day, and then Bill Bryant will do the same with the team of working journalists to discuss the news of the week on comment on Kentucky Friday at eight eastern seven central.

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday and we will see you soon.

Take really good care.