May 2006
My New Kayak: A Bliss-Stick Flip-Stick
Wednesday, May 31, 2006 News '06
Sheltowee Trace
Friday, May 26, 2006 Trip Reports
'06
To begin our big
memorial day weekend hike of the Sheltowee Trace Justin and I got in some
kayaking on the canyon section. The level was a little
higher than I thought it was at the time. It
looked very low and scrapy while running it, which
it was but not as low as I had thought. In fact I
have run it at a lower level before. Jake's
Ledge Hole looked bad, but it actually had a very
easy line through the middle. The left side
pour over was probably good to go as
well.Read
More...
Refreshing, New Ideas Come From Sports Meeting
Wednesday, May 24, 2006 News '06
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Refreshing, new ideas come from sports meeting
Bob White THE KENTUCKY STANDARD - 5/24/06
Like most Americans, I’ve had my fair share of the so-called normal sports.
I played basketball, football, and baseball as a kid. I also ran track and cross country in my younger years. Most of my involvement in those activities these days includes a television.
While these sports are great for fans and players alike, the constant sight and sound of these sports can make all of them a bit mundane.
Luckily for us in Nelson County, there could be some refreshing opportunities on the horizon.
A handful of local folks met last week to discuss different sporting opportunities with tourism officials and coach Steve Small, a motivating, people-person type of guy from Mount Washington recently hired to assist in the marketing of sports in Bardstown.
I’ll admit being a bit pessimistic about the need for the community to hire a sports-marketer, but after attending the meeting I made the realization that you can have a team of all-stars, but without a coach, the team won’t shine.
With tourism officials joining hands with local sportsmen and women, the team, gleaming with innovative ideas, is there.
For $1,000 a month, we have a coach too.
Let’s hope the coach can help the team’s ideas flourish. I’m optimistic of Small’s abilities.
Refreshing was that none of the sports discussed during last week’s meeting related to the so-called normal sports.
But that doesn’t mean alternative sports such as disc-golf, paddling and hiking couldn’t be marketable and profitable for the local economy.
One man in attendance noted the traveling disc-golfers would do to play a new course. Of course, with travel comes gas sales, lodging on occasion and food.
Another mentioned how a park-n-play whitewater course could lure hundreds from the region to put in and paddle around whether on their lunch hour or weekend.
A third idea was the construction of trails to connect disc-golf courses with the whitewater park and other local spots such as Sympson Lake.
I was a bit surprised at the enthusiasm Small and tourism officials had in these ideas.
Chairman Nicky Rapier told the disc-golfers their wish was already being considered.
Whitewater enthusiasts were told their hopes couldn’t surface at a better time, considering recent talk of raising the old rock dam at U.S. 31E and Beech Fork.
Small told trailblazer Mike Hammons his skills could come in handy with the disc-golfers, since courses generally make use of wide and wooded paths.
It was a bunch of good news last week to hear the optimism relating to sports generally considered outside the norm.
Committees will be formed to discuss each interest on an individual basis the group decided.
It’s so cool Small and the tourism folks are interested in hearing more ideas such as those discussed last week.
Within a year or two all of us might be able to break free on lunch hour and head to the river to play on the waves.
Within months, we might be able to take the kids for a round of disc-golf after school and work.
Within weeks we may hear of even more opportunities to come.
With plenty of innovative minds filled with plenty of quality ideas, there’s no telling what the sporting future may hold for this area.
While these sports may not be the norm, there’s nothing wrong with them.
Change is Good.
Refreshing, new ideas come from sports meeting
Bob White THE KENTUCKY STANDARD - 5/24/06
Like most Americans, I’ve had my fair share of the so-called normal sports.
I played basketball, football, and baseball as a kid. I also ran track and cross country in my younger years. Most of my involvement in those activities these days includes a television.
While these sports are great for fans and players alike, the constant sight and sound of these sports can make all of them a bit mundane.
Luckily for us in Nelson County, there could be some refreshing opportunities on the horizon.
A handful of local folks met last week to discuss different sporting opportunities with tourism officials and coach Steve Small, a motivating, people-person type of guy from Mount Washington recently hired to assist in the marketing of sports in Bardstown.
I’ll admit being a bit pessimistic about the need for the community to hire a sports-marketer, but after attending the meeting I made the realization that you can have a team of all-stars, but without a coach, the team won’t shine.
With tourism officials joining hands with local sportsmen and women, the team, gleaming with innovative ideas, is there.
For $1,000 a month, we have a coach too.
Let’s hope the coach can help the team’s ideas flourish. I’m optimistic of Small’s abilities.
Refreshing was that none of the sports discussed during last week’s meeting related to the so-called normal sports.
But that doesn’t mean alternative sports such as disc-golf, paddling and hiking couldn’t be marketable and profitable for the local economy.
One man in attendance noted the traveling disc-golfers would do to play a new course. Of course, with travel comes gas sales, lodging on occasion and food.
Another mentioned how a park-n-play whitewater course could lure hundreds from the region to put in and paddle around whether on their lunch hour or weekend.
A third idea was the construction of trails to connect disc-golf courses with the whitewater park and other local spots such as Sympson Lake.
I was a bit surprised at the enthusiasm Small and tourism officials had in these ideas.
Chairman Nicky Rapier told the disc-golfers their wish was already being considered.
Whitewater enthusiasts were told their hopes couldn’t surface at a better time, considering recent talk of raising the old rock dam at U.S. 31E and Beech Fork.
Small told trailblazer Mike Hammons his skills could come in handy with the disc-golfers, since courses generally make use of wide and wooded paths.
It was a bunch of good news last week to hear the optimism relating to sports generally considered outside the norm.
Committees will be formed to discuss each interest on an individual basis the group decided.
It’s so cool Small and the tourism folks are interested in hearing more ideas such as those discussed last week.
Within a year or two all of us might be able to break free on lunch hour and head to the river to play on the waves.
Within months, we might be able to take the kids for a round of disc-golf after school and work.
Within weeks we may hear of even more opportunities to come.
With plenty of innovative minds filled with plenty of quality ideas, there’s no telling what the sporting future may hold for this area.
While these sports may not be the norm, there’s nothing wrong with them.
Change is Good.
Sports Marketing Meeting Meeting Reveals Local Wish List
Sunday, May 21, 2006 News '06
Sunday, May 21, 2006
BRIAN WALKER The Kentucky Standard
Public encouraged to submit more ideas
It was the quality no quantity that made the meeting work.
The turnout of 13 people Thursday night for the first public discussion of sports marketing and tourism was more than organizers had expected. Attendees came armed with ideas for a variety of attractions, but the best part was that each carried a genuine enthusiasm, organizers said.
“This is great. To see these folks come in here and talk about what they’d like to see here and to have them commit to help is wonderful,” Bardstown / Nelson County Tourist and Convention Commission Chairman Nicky Rapier said.
The tourism board decided during numerous discussions through the years there was an untapped market of alternative sports, regional events and tournaments that could and should be held in Nelson County.
The board recently took action and hired Steve Small, a retired Western Kentucky University women’s basketball coach, to work as a part-time sports marketing director for the county.
Small introduced himself to the audience at the Fiscal County Meeting Room in the old courthouse with a 10-minute talk about his beliefs and dreams for Nelson County.
He touted the success of plans he helped implement in Bowling Green such as the disc golf explosion, a karate tournament and the popularity of soapbox racing.
Small said he wants to ensure locals get their desires met first even though bringing folks from outside Nelson County here to enjoy the area and to eat in the restaurants and stay in the hotels is important.
“We have got to make sure people that live and work in Bardstown and Nelson County have the recreation and sporting events and things they want first before we worry about everybody else,” he said. “If there is a local market, we will tap into those people and expand it from there.”
Bardstown Parks Department Director Donna Pascal said she was at the meeting to support the efforts of the tourism board and to offer any expertise she could.
Several members of the Bardstown Boaters Club, local disc golf duffers and Mike Hammons, owner of Horizon Hoppers Adventure Services, a local canoe and outdoors operation, were there to ask questions and seek advice on how to push each of the sports they enjoy.
Disc golf combines tossing a Frisbee-like disc into wire baskets, generally mounted on poles on a course. Many rules of standard golf apply in play.
“I’d like to see what it would take to get a white water park set up on Beech Fork River,” said Spalding Hurst of the Bardstown boaters. “There is a great location we have in mind and I know it would draw in kayakers and boaters from all over the place because there isn’t anything like this here close.”
After some group discussion, Hurst and others explained they must travel great distances to do some aspects of their sport and this would become a destination site for boaters or all types.
Rapier said he knows there is currently talk of how to better utilize the river for a water source for Nelson County. Plans are underway to build a new dam, making this the ideal time for the boaters’ wishes to be worked into the project, he said.
“I want you guys to help us do some homework on the logistics and how to help get something like this done in Bardstown,” Rapier said.
Dawn Ballard, Vice President of Tourism Expansion and Marketing for the commission, said she would arrange a more one-on-one meeting with the boaters so in-depth discussion on the topic could take place.
A trio of disc golf players from the area said the closest courses are in Elizabethtown and Radcliff. Those who want to play will drive great distances for a good course, they said.
Small, who said from the outset of his time on the job he supports the game, intends to see a course up and running by year’s end.
“I have been working on trails and different types of things that could be useful in construction of a disc golf course,” Hammons said. The golfers volunteered labor and knowledge too.
That type of cooperation is what it will take to make the work Small and others are doing pay off, Rapier said.
“I’m excited about this,” he said. “We had a nice turnout for a first meeting and there is going to be plenty to follow up on from tonight.”
For more information, call Ballard at 348-4877, Ext. 114 or log onto www.bardstownboaters.com, www.discgolf.com, www.horizonhoppers.com, www.kycanoe.com or www.visitbardstown.com.
Brian Walker can be reached at 348-9003, Ext. 114 or bwalker@kystandard.com.
BRIAN WALKER The Kentucky Standard
Public encouraged to submit more ideas
It was the quality no quantity that made the meeting work.
The turnout of 13 people Thursday night for the first public discussion of sports marketing and tourism was more than organizers had expected. Attendees came armed with ideas for a variety of attractions, but the best part was that each carried a genuine enthusiasm, organizers said.
“This is great. To see these folks come in here and talk about what they’d like to see here and to have them commit to help is wonderful,” Bardstown / Nelson County Tourist and Convention Commission Chairman Nicky Rapier said.
The tourism board decided during numerous discussions through the years there was an untapped market of alternative sports, regional events and tournaments that could and should be held in Nelson County.
The board recently took action and hired Steve Small, a retired Western Kentucky University women’s basketball coach, to work as a part-time sports marketing director for the county.
Small introduced himself to the audience at the Fiscal County Meeting Room in the old courthouse with a 10-minute talk about his beliefs and dreams for Nelson County.
He touted the success of plans he helped implement in Bowling Green such as the disc golf explosion, a karate tournament and the popularity of soapbox racing.
Small said he wants to ensure locals get their desires met first even though bringing folks from outside Nelson County here to enjoy the area and to eat in the restaurants and stay in the hotels is important.
“We have got to make sure people that live and work in Bardstown and Nelson County have the recreation and sporting events and things they want first before we worry about everybody else,” he said. “If there is a local market, we will tap into those people and expand it from there.”
Bardstown Parks Department Director Donna Pascal said she was at the meeting to support the efforts of the tourism board and to offer any expertise she could.
Several members of the Bardstown Boaters Club, local disc golf duffers and Mike Hammons, owner of Horizon Hoppers Adventure Services, a local canoe and outdoors operation, were there to ask questions and seek advice on how to push each of the sports they enjoy.
Disc golf combines tossing a Frisbee-like disc into wire baskets, generally mounted on poles on a course. Many rules of standard golf apply in play.
“I’d like to see what it would take to get a white water park set up on Beech Fork River,” said Spalding Hurst of the Bardstown boaters. “There is a great location we have in mind and I know it would draw in kayakers and boaters from all over the place because there isn’t anything like this here close.”
After some group discussion, Hurst and others explained they must travel great distances to do some aspects of their sport and this would become a destination site for boaters or all types.
Rapier said he knows there is currently talk of how to better utilize the river for a water source for Nelson County. Plans are underway to build a new dam, making this the ideal time for the boaters’ wishes to be worked into the project, he said.
“I want you guys to help us do some homework on the logistics and how to help get something like this done in Bardstown,” Rapier said.
Dawn Ballard, Vice President of Tourism Expansion and Marketing for the commission, said she would arrange a more one-on-one meeting with the boaters so in-depth discussion on the topic could take place.
A trio of disc golf players from the area said the closest courses are in Elizabethtown and Radcliff. Those who want to play will drive great distances for a good course, they said.
Small, who said from the outset of his time on the job he supports the game, intends to see a course up and running by year’s end.
“I have been working on trails and different types of things that could be useful in construction of a disc golf course,” Hammons said. The golfers volunteered labor and knowledge too.
That type of cooperation is what it will take to make the work Small and others are doing pay off, Rapier said.
“I’m excited about this,” he said. “We had a nice turnout for a first meeting and there is going to be plenty to follow up on from tonight.”
For more information, call Ballard at 348-4877, Ext. 114 or log onto www.bardstownboaters.com, www.discgolf.com, www.horizonhoppers.com, www.kycanoe.com or www.visitbardstown.com.
Brian Walker can be reached at 348-9003, Ext. 114 or bwalker@kystandard.com.
Elkhorn Clinic II
Sunday, May 21, 2006 Trip Reports
'06
Today, Jennifer and I paddled the
Elkhorn...Read
More...
Paddle Pickup 2006
Saturday, May 13, 2006 Trip Reports
'06
The 2006 Paddle Pickup was a huge success!
Read
More...
Elkhorn Clinic
Monday, May 08, 2006 Trip Reports
'06
Today Jay and I took John Thomas out for his first
kayaking experience.Read
More...
Elkhorn After Work
Tuesday, May 02, 2006 Trip Reports
'06
Jay and I ran the Elkhorn after work...Read
More...
