Kentucky Life
Featuring the people, places, and events that make Kentucky.
In February 2022, I began my role as a producer for Kentucky Life at Kentucky Educational Television, where we feature interesting people, places, and events around the state. As a producer, I pitch story ideas, conduct interviews, direct camera and audio crews, and edit segments to be aired on TV and the web. Below, you can find a few of the segments I’m most proud of.
Hillbilly Days Festival
Every April, Pikeville, KY hosts the Hillbilly Days festival, three days of food, fun, and hillbilly spirit. Featuring bluegrass music, a line of jalopies, and attendees decked out in their best hillbilly attire, the festival creates a way for Eastern Kentuckians to reclaim the word hillbilly – all while supporting a good cause.
Eastern Kentucky Flood
In this extended, web-only cut, we visit Eastern Kentucky communities in the aftermath of a series of devastating floods in July 2022, where neighbors came together to support and care for one another in the face of unthinkable destruction and loss.
Honoring Jonesville
The community of Jonesville was once a vibrant, primarily African American community located in the heart of Bowling Green. In the 1960s, the neighborhood was destroyed by a campaign of urban renewal and was quickly replaced by Western Kentucky University’s rapidly expanding campus. Today, a buon fresco mural honoring the community stands in WKU’s Kentucky Museum, overlooking the area where Jonesville once stood.
Trail of Tears Pow Wow
Located along what was once the Trail of Tears, Hopkinsville is home to the Trail of Tears Heritage Center, which aims to educate visitors on Native American history and culture. And each year, they host the Trail of Tears Pow Wow, a gathering for Native Americans from across the US to socialize, honor Indigenous cultures and traditions, and remember those who walked, and died, along the Trail.
Schnitzelburg Dainty Festival
Every year on the last Monday in July, Louisville’s Schnitzelburg neighborhood hosts the Dainty competition – a quirky street game started by the neighborhood’s German immigrants in the 1970s. In the 2023 competition, host Chip Polston tries his hand at becoming the next Dainty Champion.