[music] [sound of walking on metal] >>they’re still a necessity sometimes ahead The work to make sure that these bridges of the past extend into the future.

>> It's not about developing sophisticated chef skills, it's about community and building relationships with people from other cultures.

[MUSIC] >> In this class, learning is delicious.

[MUSIC] How instruments from the past are bringing stories from World War Two to life.

>> The greatest legacy any of us can leave.

It is compassion.

[MUSIC] And that truly is forever.

[MUSIC] >> And the champ finally got a stamp.

>> Production of Kentucky edition is made possible in part by the KET Millennium Fund.

>> Good evening and welcome to a special edition of Kentucky edition, and we thank you so much for joining us.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Tonight, we're bringing you stories that represent the heart of Kentucky culture, from the traditions we honor to the histories we're still uncovering, there are few things more ingrained in Kentucky culture than bourbon, and one of the best ways to explore the heritage and craftsmanship of the state's signature spirit is on the world famous Bourbon Trail.

This year.

There's more to explore on the trail, as the Kentucky Distillers Association welcomed ten new destinations.

The new locations are in Meade, Breckenridge and Scott counties, along with Frankfort, Louisville, Lexington and Paducah.

They include urban satellite tasting rooms and new distillery experiences.

There are now 68 stops on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which attracts more than 2.5 million visitors a year, according to a report by the University of Kentucky.

The state's bourbon industry had a $10 billion economic impact on Kentucky last year.

The Kentucky Distillers Association says bourbon tourism remains a thriving industry in the state.

>> I think bourbon tourism is definitely one of the key parts of the bourbon boom over the last 20 years, because people from all over the world, millions of people, in fact, are coming here to really immerse themselves in the place where bourbon was invented.

And, you know, they can see the small distilleries, the mom and pop distilleries that are literally, you know, doing this by themselves and creating local whiskey, using local corn.

And then they can go to the larger distilleries and walk in the footsteps of Colonel Bean, wild Turkey, you know, these are global brands that people have talked about for generations.

And it's really helped not only boost tourism, but it's a tourism boost.

That's 365 days a year.

You know, a lot of things in Kentucky, like horse racing, for example.

And I'm a big fan of horse racing, but, you know, you can only go to Keeneland and Churchill and things like that only certain times of the year, and state parks, things like that, that are that are gorgeous, you know, some of those beautiful parts of Kentucky.

You may only visit those in the summer or the fall or something.

There used to be a slow time for Kentucky bourbon tourism.

Not anymore.

I mean, you have people coming every single day from all over the world to kind of experience the art and craft of of making the world's finest whiskey.

>> Eric Gregory says in 2008, there were seven distilleries in Kentucky.

They now see 5 to 10 distilleries opening each and every year.

There are currently 125 distilling locations in Kentucky, and 45 of the state's 120 counties to Jefferson County.

Now, where part of Kentucky's rich history is being revealed.

Thousands of records dating back to the 18th century were recently uncovered inside the Louisville Mega Cavern.

Now, the Jefferson County Clerk's office is partnering with the Filson Historical Society to preserve and digitize these records.

It's an effort that's helping African American families piece together their family histories.

Our Kelsey Starks learns more about the project and what they found in those records so far.

>> So I know you all have already discovered some really fascinating stories.

What are some of the ones that stand out to you?

>> I think, you know, some of the things that we've really been excited to see are, again, these folks whose stories don't make it into the headlines a lot of times, these sort of little fabrics of everyday life.

We've been focusing mostly on deed books so far in our initial searches.

And there have been some really intriguing, you know, the nuances, particularly of, of women, of free people of color who are sort of navigating the, the sidelines of the legal and economic world here, who are not given full legal rights under the the government at the time, and yet who are still acting, who are still owning businesses, who are still buying and selling property.

And that that demonstrates these these cultures of resilience that exist even within times of legal oppression.

And so those stories are going to be particularly important for us.

You know, even reflecting valuable, invaluable information about enslaved families in particular.

So we've seen a number of instances of, of free family members buying wives, buying children, buying nieces and nephews out of slavery.

Right?

You think about the really complex mental gymnastics that has to happen there to, to, to, to participate in the commodification of your child and to, to agree to a value for them with their owner.

And then oftentimes, one of the things that we're, we're seeing that that causes those transactions to be entered into a deed book is if they, they borrow money or they borrow against a property to, to help pay for the purchase price of those family members and buy them out of slavery.

You think about the, the, the precarity there of, of folks who are oftentimes day laborers.

They're working on the wharves here on the riverfront, you know, very, very low wages, but taking on huge sums of, of debt, three, four, $500 in 18, you know, 30s, 40s money, right, are huge sums.

And taking on that risk in order to preserve family.

And it's understandable why they do so.

Those stories are absolutely invaluable to help piece together these these family networks, so that as we start to see in the after the Civil War, after emancipation in the 1870s, when when black households are listed now for the first time in the census and you see these these family groups, you know, mother, father, children, maybe some extended family, there's a grandmother in there.

You can be looking for those clusters of names back in the 1850s and the 1840s.

And that gets you a generation farther back.

You know, for a lot of African American genealogists, there's there is a wall.

Yeah.

In 1865.

And it's really hard to get past there.

And what these records are going to do is, is for tens of thousands of, of contemporary louisvillians today, they're going to be able to, to move backwards in time and find those family members names.

>> There is a lot more to learn from Patrick Lewis and Kelsey Starks about this project, and you can view it online on demand at ket.org/insidelouisville.

There's another effort in Eastern Kentucky to preserve the state's past.

Dotted across the region, you'll find swinging bridges that connect rural communities this year with the passage of Senate Bill 261 landowners and local governments can now work together to maintain these unique structures.

Here's more from Kentucky Edition's Clayton Dalton.

>> Towering above the rivers and creeks of eastern Kentucky, you'll find an important part of Appalachian history swinging bridges a symbol of cultural pride.

They also serve as critical infrastructure in times of serious flooding.

>> Years ago, a lot of people traveled the edges of the rivers to get places, but when the river got up, you couldn't get across them.

So it was your method of getting from one side of the river to the other side, because the bridges would either be washed out or underwater.

>> Mountain communities like Manchester are investing in recreational tourism, and these swinging bridges are a vital part of that conversation.

>> Whether you agree or not with what's happened to the coal industry, people understand there has to be a diversification of the economy in here that we just can't rely on fossil fuels.

We need to do other things.

So you're seeing other communities really get into what can we do, you know, to create a diverse economy.

And one of them that we have, and probably our biggest asset is people love this type of this, this type of terrain, this type of atmosphere.

It's a lot more laid back than the city life.

And so people come down here and spend that time.

>> Many of the swinging bridges in eastern Kentucky have fallen into disrepair.

Until now, cities and counties were wary to maintain the bridges and take on that liability.

But with the passage of Senate Bill 261, all that has changed.

>> So.

But the bridge.

Nobody knows who the owner is.

So if they were to spend money on this bridge, they would get a bad mark in their audit saying, why did you spend money on something you didn't own?

Same thing for the county.

But when the water gets up, it becomes a pretty integral part.

Not here, but the other places.

You'll see about being able to get out of the haulers across the road, and you'll see where people park.

And so nobody wanted to keep them up because they didn't want want the liability.

And two, they didn't want to get dinged on an audit.

So that's what the legislation changed.

It says it's permissive.

Cities and counties can spend money on these without getting in trouble with the state auditor.

And because nobody really knows the clear definition, you're assuming responsibility coming out here.

So we reduced the liability under like the Tourism Development Act.

So it's kind of like getting on a four Wheeler.

And it's almost identical to what we did with the four Wheeler trails.

If you're going to go on the trails, you assume the liability.

You know what you're doing running through mud holes and going up mountains and everything else.

Don't come back and sue us.

When you took the risk.

>> Will Boling grew up in the region and used a swinging bridge to access his family's farm, named the Old Home Place Bridge.

The all metal structure remains a symbol and a utility.

He says he's happy with the new legislation that allows cities and counties to preserve these bridges, and for the protection it offers landowners.

>> Personally, I believe it's a great thing.

It's a one of those things where in the past we've always been happy to have been happy to share the bridges with folks, allow people to come out and, and take part in it, get out, walk across them, see everything there is to see.

But it was always something in the back of your mind.

What happens if somebody gets hurt, if something of that nature.

So having the ability to have that the the recreational liability protections, but also having some of the some of the dollars to upkeep the bridges is absolutely huge.

>> The bridges don't just impact individual families or out of town visitors.

>> You get a thing about it.

There could be one Bill, one bridge built, and it'd be a community of maybe ten families.

Exactly.

You know, they might be a mile or so stretched out, but it was it was a community thing.

And mostly where we built them was where it would serve the best for the community.

>> Oftentimes, too, the way I look at it, when we're going through and thinking about the things that we can do to make make the community more, more amenable to folks coming in to see it and to, to hang out and enjoy the things that we have.

It's also making things better for those of us who live here at the same time, too.

>> There's no question that Eastern Kentucky's swinging bridges offer tourists a special experience.

But for locals, preserving these landmarks means even more.

For some, it's hard to put into words.

>> They're still necessity sometimes, but it's it's still it's it's just something.

It's just something to get you.

>> For Kentucky edition.

I'm.

Clayton Dalton.

>> Thank you.

Clayton.

Another part of the Eastern Kentucky landscape in need of preservation.

The region's free roaming horses.

When the horses wander into the road or damage someone's property, they need safe harbor.

That's where the Appalachian Horse Project comes in.

The nonprofit has new farmland in Perry County and is giving rescued horses a place to retire or even be adopted.

>> The Appalachian Horse Project was born out of a necessity for care that was needed for the free roaming horses over Eastern Kentucky.

They span about nine counties.

The last count that we had whenever we were inventorying them, there was around a thousand.

We're talking about domestic horses that were dropped off to free roam.

That was the original plan about 50 years ago, you know, when coal mining was starting to slow down and the coal companies were reclaiming.

And, you know, they planted these wonderful flat pastures full of grass.

So it was kind of an ideal opportunity for livestock owners at the time.

So they would take them up, drop them off, let them graze for the summer, and then they'd take them back home.

Of course, over the years, things changed.

You know, maybe the the horse owners passed away and the family wasn't interested in continuing care or whatever the reason may be.

The two reasons that we've removed horses from the mine sites has been for health concerns.

Whether they're getting too thin or they've gotten an injury, or if they get on to the highways, then, you know, obviously they've they've got to be removed, especially if they're there's a few herds that were habitually going on to the roads.

So, you know, at that point, once they made a habit out of it, they need to be removed.

The original owners, the Maynard family, owned this property since the late 1800s.

It used to be a working cattle farm.

Their family wanted the county to have the opportunity to obtain the property and to keep it as a working farm.

Perry kind of knew about our plans already, and so whenever we had meetings with them and things and so whenever they got the opportunity to buy this, they of course thought of us and bringing the horses out here.

It has definitely helped us to be able to help more horses, because now we have all this extra space to bring them to.

We do still have fosters, but this is also going to serve as an adoption center for us.

So we have a few horses here on the property that, you know, once we feel like they are trained well enough and, you know, they're used to being handled by people and everything, then they will be offered up for adoption.

We hope to offer farm tours as early as this spring so that we can bring folks out, you know, and that'll be kind of a tourism effort, too.

It's been a place for the community, you know, to come together.

I mean, local families were always going and visiting the horses and feeding them.

And, you know, I mean, we have people who for generations have gone up and visited the horses.

So everyone's very happy to see that some of the horses that they have loved for so many years now have a safe place to call home to.

>> We're glad about that as well.

Well, the food we prepare and enjoy can tell us a lot about each other.

So we're going to travel now to South Central Kentucky, where a Bowling Green woman is using the cuisine of foreign countries to help people here in Kentucky learn more about other cultures and ethnicities.

Our Laura Rogers joined a class at the food school.

>> Need to be something that's kind of.

As the child of missionary parents growing up in Thailand, Anna did pick up some of the language.

>> I say I can speak restaurant Thai, which is just enough to impress my friends at Thai restaurants.

>> She made that comment as friends were brainstorming career ideas for Kulkarni, who taught high school for ten years.

>> And then someone says, well, what if you taught restaurant Thai?

What if there was a class called Restaurant Thai where you learn to cook some Thai food?

You learn a few Thai words like, wouldn't that be really fun?

When people do that, people actually want to take a class like that.

Would people buy tickets for that?

>> Turns out they would and they do.

>> People found us on Facebook and bought full price tickets like the first class.

>> That was in September of 2024, when the food school was born.

That first class has now led to several, all of them focused on food from other countries.

>> The house we live in now, one neighbor is Bosnian, the other neighbor's Mexican, and both of them are phenomenal cooks.

>> Anna and her family moved to Bowling Green from California.

They were pleasantly surprised by the city's diversity.

>> Bowling Green is so small, relatively speaking, that you're still going to bump into each other.

That Asian grocery store that I love is right next to the middle school where my friend's kid goes.

>> On this day.

She's browsing at another international grocer, picking up items for an Iraqi cooking class.

>> What we're teaching is more cultural exposure than it is culinary skills.

>> It starts with a food partner, someone who conceptualizes the ingredients and recipe for the class based on simple home cooked meals.

>> Every menu that we offer has a real person behind it, a person who lives in Bowling Green and has a cultural background in this other cuisine.

>> Pomegranates and coca works with the partner and on her own to perfect the recipe, then shares it with her food school class.

>> As long as you get.

>> It's just so beautiful to me how we meet these food partners.

They just kind of come up out of the woodwork.

People hear what we're doing and want to be part of it.

I have an Indian food partner.

I have a Venezuelan food partner, a Cuban.

>> Tonight's class is making the Iraqi dish of onion dolmas.

>> What's easy?

Accessible, casual, normal food.

What would you feed your family on a Tuesday night?

Let's make that.

>> The food school has also introduced its instructor to new foods and recipes.

>> We got to use ingredients I have never played with before.

I've never heard of pomegranate molasses before and it is so good.

And it's accessible right down the street.

And now I know what to do with it, so that's really fun.

>> Your onions should be soft.

>> She says.

It's also fun to learn the history behind popular dishes, like the origin of tiramisu as a favorite dessert in Ethiopia following Italy's invasion in the 1930s.

>> The two main things they left behind are the word Chao and tiramisu.

Everybody loves tiramisu.

This is the most popular dessert in Ethiopia because of the Italians, and I thought that was hilarious.

That was so interesting.

Like, how does this historical thing influence how people eat.

>> And potentially how they better understand each other?

>> We're trying to give people exposure so that they can build relationships and feel comfortable with all kinds of cultures.

>> Giving us all something to chew on.

For Kentucky edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

>> I made both of them very nervous.

>> Thank you.

Laura Kentuckians had the opportunity to take part in a unique history lesson recently, as the violins of Hope came to the Commonwealth.

The week long series of events included an exhibit made up of 100 instruments that were owned and played by victims and survivors of the Holocaust.

We spoke to one of the people who restored these instruments about the importance of bringing the world the stories behind the strings.

>> We never intended it to be what it is today, but in the past few years, especially when we started doing lots of educational programs and looking and seeing what's going on in the world today, culture, history, education is more important than what people think.

Usually when we learn about the Holocaust, it's about the numbers and the fights and the battles.

And I mean, can you grasp what does it mean?

50 to 70 million people dead in a matter of six years?

Probably not.

But you can relate to a story of a person that you heard his name, and he was going from point A to point B to point C with his family, or without surviving or dying.

It's something you can understand.

It can be your next door neighbor, your cousin or family from a different place, or someone from down the road, but it brings it closer to us.

It makes it, in a way, a bit more reality than just the numbers.

>> I think in a way, it reframes the music in a different way that maybe they haven't thought about before.

Like music, maybe as a means of survival, or music as a way of maintaining one's dignity or.

As a way to resist.

[MUSIC] >> It's really interesting to see these, these instruments with their own unique stories about where they came from and the amount of history between each instrument.

Because normally what you hear from the instrument is what you think of the instrument.

But behind these instruments is an actual story, like where they came from, who was owned by them.

That doesn't really get translated among a lot of other instruments.

You don't really get to see that side of them.

>> It makes history come alive for them.

You know, like they've they've studied World War Two, the Holocaust, you know, in their social studies classes.

And they come to me and they play on their instruments.

But to put that together in this very real way, I think it's very impactful and brings that history to life.

>> We are not going to have survivors for much longer.

Those who are still alive, most of them were kids during the war.

It's a different type of memory and experiences, and these instruments are telling the stories of their owners about what happened to them, what was going on in the world, different stories from different places of different people, different experiences.

And this is something that we all have to learn not to make the same mistakes again.

>> And finally, tonight, as one of Kentucky's most iconic cultural figures, Muhammad Ali continues to inspire pride in his home state.

Three years ago, the Muhammad Ali Center, along with Greg Fisher, then Louisville's mayor, launched the Get the Champ, a stamp campaign to honor his legacy.

That effort paid off.

In January, the U.S.

Postal Service unveiled the Muhammad Ali Forever stamp in his hometown of Louisville.

Take a look.

>> On behalf of the U.S.

Postal Service, it's an honor to join you today as we dedicate a forever stamp in honor of the champ, Ahmad Ali.

Today, we honor a man who was the world heavyweight boxing champion who reshaped sports, fought for his beliefs, and became a symbol of courage, decency and love.

As Ali said, service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.

And he lived those words every day.

Today, as we dedicate this stamp, we remember a man who dared to be bold, stood on principle and used his fame to improve humanity.

>> This moment is an invitation to all of us, an invitation to pause and to ask ourselves before every word we utter.

What stamp am I making on this world?

What do my words leave behind?

Muhammad spent his life showing up and showing us that true greatness is not measured by who we knock down, but who we lift up.

We all have this power.

>> Muhammad Ali was never just a fighter.

He was a force for compassion, a voice for dignity, a Louisville kid who became a citizen of the world.

From our streets to every corner of the globe, his courage still travels.

His love still delivers.

And his legacy like this stamp sticks with us always.

Now the mail will keep moving and stamps will keep changing.

But.

But what Muhammad Ali shows us with his forever stamp is that courage has no expiration date.

Compassion outlasts the moment.

And when you stand for what is right, your actions echo through time.

>> This stamp will travel millions of miles.

It will pass through countless hands, but it will quietly remind the world of a man who dared to believe that kindness could be powerful, and that being in service to others could be heroic.

But the greatest tribute we can offer Muhammad is not to admire him.

It is to follow his example, to make our own mark, our own stamp on the world.

>> Good words to end on tonight.

We thank you for joining us this evening.

Hope we see you right back here again at 630 eastern.

530 central for Kentucky Edition where we inform, connect and inspire until I see you again.

Take really good care.

So long.