When July 4 comes mid-week, you’ll probably be tempted to take a couple days off before or after to enjoy the holiday with the many activities that will light up the Louisville riverfront over the next week. You could celebrate the Fourth with a backyard barbeque, but many of the events have great food available. As many events will benefit a charity if you participate, you can do good while enjoying yourself.

If you look at the events in Louisville throughout the year, you will see a few patterns. Many pull people toward our beautiful waterfront, benefit both the local economy and special charities, and are in line with Louisville’s stated goals to be healthy an environmentally friendly. Two events over the next week illustrate this perfectly.

Riverfest Music Festival: Ten local bands will entertain Louisville right along the river starting at 5pm Friday, June 29 and continuing through Saturday, June 30. You can camp nearby or boat in for the day, as you enjoy a mix of rock, soul, and R&B from groups such as the Devonshires, the Louisville Crashers, Soul, Inc., and more. Though you can bring your own cooler, you don’t want to miss the delicious pulled pork, chicken, burgers, and dogs from Butcher’s Best.

As befitting a festival held along the river, the event will support Edge Outreach. A local organization committed to bringing clean drinking water to disaster environments and developing communities in 23 countries, Edge send volunteers to diagnose water issues, install purification systems, and train local people. The work of this group helped Louisville be named as the model for compassionate cities and the International Water Capital of the World. Your donation of $10 ($20 at the door) will gain you entrance to Riverfest.

Waterfront Independence Day Festival. Sponsored by Fifth Third Bank for 10 of its 13 years, the Waterfront Independence Day Festival offers two days of free country, jazz, rock, and funk concerts, kids activities, food, and of course, fireworks. The fireworks on Wednesday night promise to be spectacular, plus offer a safer option than home fireworks shows.

As you enjoy snacking from the wide array of concession fare, you can benefit those who go to bed hungry in Louisville by donating non-perishables at Dare to Care collection points at each festival entrance. The collection effort is coordinated by Yum! Brands, as part of the company’s commitment to end world hunger.

With thousands of people coming to the waterfront, there is a potential for a lot of waste to be left behind. To minimize environment impact and promote a healthy alternative to pop, you can buy a refillable plastic bottle and refill it as many times as you want with Louisville pure tap® and then drop the bottle in a recycling bin. The proceeds from the sale of the bottles go to Edge Outreach. Vendors will donate used grease to be recycled for biodiesel and recycle cardboard packing materials.

You can help prevent pollution by biking to the festival, carpooling, or splurging by staying downtown at the Galt House, which is offering a special holiday package. Valet bike parking is free.

Come relax by the river in Louisville, enjoy events planned around this July 4^th, and help your neighbors.  Househunting? I can help you buy or sell property in Butchertown or other great Louisville locations. I’m Mollie Younger from the Younger Group where We Know Louisville. Give me a call and get started today!

JULY EVENTS

6/28-30/12         2012 Riverfest Music Festival

6/30-7/1/12        Crescent Hill 4th of July

7/1-31/12             Christmas in July

7/1-31/12             Urban Bourbon Exhibit

5/26-9/2/12        Blue Star Museums

7/3-4/12              Waterfront Independence Festival

7/4/2012             Independence Day at Locust Grove

7/6/2012             July 4th Forest Fun at Jefferson Memorial Forest

7/6-7/7/12          Molo Village Festival

7/7-7/8/12          Old Louisville Hidden Treasures Garden Tour

7/7/2012             DeaFestival Kentucky 2012

7/14-8/25/12     Celebrate Bastille Day at the Bristol Bar and Grille

7/8/2012            Schnitzelburg Potluck

7/13-7/15/12      Forecastle Festival

7/13-7/15/12      The Louisville Blues-n-Barbecue Festival

7/13-7/15/12      KFC Mayor’s Cup

7/14/2012           Biergarten

7/15/2012           Buckhead Border Challenge Triathlon & Duathlon

7/16-20/12         Backbone Bonanza

Wherever you call home can be your “best place to live,” but there is plenty of external evidence that shows that Louisville is being generally recognized as the most affordable place to call home. What do you want in your hometown? Affordable housing? Low cost of living? Safety? Arts and culture? Plenty to do? Amazing restaurants? Great medical services? Louisville has it all.

Recently, the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) concluded that the cost of living in Louisville is about 11% below the national average. This group, composed of Chambers of Commerce, economic development professionals in universities, has kept track of prices on goods and services in 300 metro areas since 1968. For the first three months of 2012, the group concluded that Louisville offers great housing prices, lower food costs for many commodities, and even lower cost for healthcare, transportation, and other services.

For example, housing in Louisville is 22% cheaper here than other cities studied. Based on the price of a 2400 square foot home, apartment rates and mortgage rates, home that costs $251,247 nationally goes for $231,573 right here, while mortgage payments are 16% less. Recent stats on Louisville real estate, indicate that the average and median prices of a home here are even lower at $167,461 and $140,000, respectively. What’s good news for you if you have a growing family is that Louisville also made the list of “Safest Cities for Families with Young Children” in 2010. Based on low pedestrian accident rates, a high number of hospitals per capita, quick fire response rates, and active programs to create safe environments for children coming to and from school, Louisville was number three on the list.

Meanwhile, healthcare is 10.5% lower though the quality of medical care in our area is great. Twenty local doctors and six hospitals were selected by peers for the U.S. News Top Doctors and U.S. News Top Hospitals. Norton Healthcare, Baptist Hospital East, Jewish Hospital, Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services, University of Louisville Hospital, and Kosair Children’s Hospital were recognized for specific specialties, such as cardiology, cancer, geriatrics, and more.

Located in a new cultural area where local food is plentiful, citizens pay 22% less for eggs and other foods. Lower-costs also result in lower prices in area chicken restaurants such as KFC or Church’s. With farmers markets available throughout the city and with local restaurants committed to by local, you can eat healthy for reasonable costs right here.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median income in Louisville is $45,000 per household. You might get a tiny bit more for your money in Birmingham, Alabama, Omaha, Nebraska, or Nashville Tennessee, but you’ll do better than in other cities in our region, including St. Louis, Missouri, Cincinnati Ohio, or Indianapolis, Indiana. However, when you look at major cities like Chicago, San Francisco, or New York, you really see the economy of living here. To live as well as you do in Louisville, you would need $57,068 in Chicago, $81,566 in San Francisco, or $110,421 in Manhattan in New York City.

Ready to enjoy the great value in living in Louisville as a homeowner? I can help you buy or sell property in Butchertown or other great Louisville locations. I’m Mollie Younger from the Younger Group where We Know Louisville. Give me a call and get started today!

If you’re a Louisville citizen who has been counting the days until the reopening of Kentucky Kingdom in 2013, you may have to wait a bit longer. The park, to be leased by the Koch family of Indiana, was on track to open next year as Bluegrass Boardwalk. Recent reports about the state of the rides have made the new operators delay the opening for at least another year.

Left in the hands of the Kentucky State Fair Board, maintenance of the park has been minimal. The board has kept up the landscaping, provided security, and provided minimal maintenance on board owned rides. According to the new operators, rides were not winterized and buildings are leaking. Significant snowfall in Louisville in February 2010 jumpstarted the damage. The Kochs claim 75% of the rides are inoperable and will need “significant overhaul,” per a report in the Courier Journal. Certified ride experts and ride manufacturers examined the equipment and concur that the rides need more work than can be completed in 11 months before the proposed opening. By fall 2012, the Kochs plan to reveal which rides will be ready to go by 2014.

The Kochs plan to lease the state owned park for 50 years, followed by two renewable 25 year leases. Though the family maintains they will begin a more in-depth inspection of rides to determine what can be opened in the parks first season once a lease is signed, state fair board president and CEO Harold workman maintains that the state and the Kochs have signed the agreement. Operators of Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana, the Koch will receive a 25% rebate on construction costs for Bluegrass Boardwalk. They were selected over former park managers, despite a much lower offer. Operators of the former Kentucky Kingdom have criticized that the Kochs lack a complete plan for refurbishing the park, while their approach favors their Indiana holdings.

The former Six Flags enterprise, Kentucky Kingdom, managed the 58 acre park on land next to where the state fair is held. Fair visitors considered rides at Kentucky Kingdom part of their fair- going experience. For the last two years, the fair has operated a small selection of rides of their own.

Reopening a larger park is important to the regional economy. The new park is expected to create 25 full-time jobs was 800 seasonal jobs. Before Six Flags took over, Kentucky Kingdom was the number one tourist attraction in Kentucky with as many as 1.8 million visitors per year. In the recent past, combined attendance at the old Kentucky Kingdom and the based Holiday World was 1.6 million, as compared to Cincinnati’s Kings Island which averages over 3 million visitors per year. Reopening a popular theme park which features exciting rides will keep the money in Kentucky, rather than neighboring states.

Stay tuned for the latest updates on our beloved park.With or without a theme park, Louisville is a great place to live. I’m Mollie Younger from the Younger Group where We Know Louisville. Give me a call and get started in buying or selling a home in today!

Our warm Louisville winter has lead to great news if you buy your produce at areas Farmers’ Markets. Crops are ripening earlier, so farmers are able to bring their product to the growing network of markets week ahead of schedule. Farmer David Snyder of Sunshine Farms in LaGrange opened two weeks before the Derby, around the time when the markets usually opens.  He was able to offer 15 or 16 early crops to offer, in contrast to the usual five or six crops a ready at opening. Other farmers were ready to go earlier too.

The food is not only available earlier, it may be tastier. According to U of K College of Agriculture extension horticulturalist John Strang, the sunny weather and cool night have led to “better tasting berries. “It doesn’t burn the sugars up, so they taste sweeter,” Strang said.

But, as Strang and others noted in the Courier Journal , they year has been challenging. Despite the early warm spells, later frosts interrupted the growing cycle. However, peaches, strawberries, leafy greens, and asparagus are making it to market earlier.

Farmers’ Markets are a big part of the Louisville food distribution scene, where people can not only buy fruits and vegetable but also baked goods, jellies, and meat. Shopping at markets introduces a personal element into buying food that is lost at many larger supermarkets. Many visitors come to the market as part of their routine and socialize with vendors and other buyers. Consumers like to talk to the farmer about how the animals were raised and treated before arriving at the market and about pesticides used.

Some markets like the Phoenix Hill Market NuLu market are also pick up points for Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) customers. Subscribers who paid at the beginning of the year received a weekly order of produce , eggs, and other things from May through October. Farmers save the best food for their regulars. The selection varies according to what is available and how well it grows.

Since the buy-local movement has moved to restaurants. Louisville diners can enjoy the early crops as well as individual shoppers. Grasshoppers Distribution, which markets and distributes food from local farmers, supplies local eateries who want to serve farm-to-table selection.

Here is a complete list of 2012 farmers’ markets in the Louisville area, complete with days and hours.

Pick up locations for Louisville CSA members.

Whether you want to eat out or cook in, locally grown ingredients are at your fingertips in Louisville. I’m Mollie Younger from the Younger Group where We Know Louisville. Give me a call and get started in buying or selling a home in today!