The Ohio River is much more than just Kentucky's northern border.

It's also the backdrop of life in many of Kentucky's river cities, including Owensboro.

20 years ago, the Bank of the Ohio River in Owensboro was just that, nothing more.

But big dreams and decades long determination have transformed the area into the bustling riverfront it is today.

Our Clayton Dalton takes us on the road to Owensboro.

Riverfront Owensboro is Kentucky's fourth largest city, home to over 60,000 people.

Bourbon and barbecue aside, one of the city's hallmarks is its beautiful riverfront, a gathering place for people of all ages.

But it hasn't always been that way.

In the early 2000s, our community decided that it was time for us to start reinvesting in ourselves from an economic development perspective in the downtown.

And this master plan was not about beautification.

It's not about revitalization.

It's about placemaking, economic development, placemaking.

And that being that people want to come to communities where they have somewhere to go, somewhere to hang out, to be around other people.

You know, the third space, which is really where people need to they meet, is you have you at work that you have home, and then you have your third space places.

And so we had a really aggressive planning process where we brought a group in from around the country to look at different aspects of our community and how we would make this happen.

And we had probably 55 town hall meetings to talk about what it would look like, how we would move forward, how we would fund the project.

But it was done very intentionally to involve everyone in our community.

Turning this dream into reality was no small task.

It meant the city would need to implement a new tax to help fund the riverfront project.

It was a difficult decision by city officials and a point of tension among residents.

We had a major town hall with around 800 people that started the whole thing, and we had a crisis point.

We had an inflection point, which is what usually happens, you know, But instead of of burying our heads in the sand, we said, okay, what what can we do here to really start reinvesting in ourselves so we can compete for talent in the future with anything?

When you when you get to raise revenue and raise taxes, people aren't happy and that's natural.

And it's and it's right.

We all need to be very discerning when it comes to raising taxes and do it with very we understand the gravity of that.

Our community does.

But it was a matter of how can we best fund this project after we know that we have.

Thank God for Senator McConnell got us our 40 million.

How can we step up and tax ourselves so that we can make this project happen and make make these dreams come to fruition?

Break says the community investment has paid off.

Since that time, I believe it's been 5 to 1 with private sector dollars to the public money that was put into the project.

So we're super excited about that and and it's continuing every day.

Thanks for coming out of the ground today.

If you if you drive around, ther So we'll be look at the projects downtown and we look at the Smathers Park, which was named one of the the top playgrounds in the country.

It's an interactive, fully accessible park.

And kids from all over come you look at our beautiful blue bridge and it has lights on.

It does a lot of really cool few features with that.

And then the other gathering spaces.

There are bars, there are restaurants, there are outside spaces that people can gather and be together.

They have a performing arts center with the River Park Center.

We have the Bluegrass Museum, which is a fantastic venue, and our convention center that's full with conferences and events constantly.

So there's just a lot of opportunities.

So, you know, next steps are just to continue to build on what we have now to make it an opportunity for more business investors to come and invest their dollars in our downtown.

It's for millennials and Gen Z ers to come here, and so tell us what they need from housing opportunities to entertainment options.

But but I think what we'll see is just more more investment, more innovation and more people.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Clayton Dalton.