BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – The Kentucky Black Caucus of Locally Elected Officials is hosting their Summer Summit for the first time in Bowling Green Thursday and Friday.

This summit places an emphasis on leadership and civic activism, though a particular emphasis was placed on the youth.

“My session was about building bridges in the community and that starts with the youth,” said Gatton Academy graduate and incoming Emory University Freshman Albert Mbanfu. “I just spoke about the issues that we have right now in Kentucky, and how the solution is not always with the older folk, that the youth has a part in that and the youth has a place to where we can start making changes.”

Along with bolstering Black leadership and tenacity, Thursday and Friday’s panels will also speak on community engagement and overcoming adversity.

“I feel that I still see some microaggressions along the way, even though racism, it’s gotten better. There’s still some people that, they just don’t change,” said Jonesville Academy eighth grader Aiden Elois-Griffith. “You just have to get past that. You have to think about it and be persistent.”

While Elois-Griffith said these incidents can bring him down, he credits his family and his education, for his persistence.

“They’re always telling me tips, how to do better, how to be a better person, how to interact. Jonesville is the number one. They really try to get involved with the school and help us become better men, especially since we’re already at a disadvantage.”

When asked what were some of the greater issues affecting black youth, Mbanfu discussed education.

“I know Kentucky is ranked pretty low with the education rankings, so I’m making sure that and in education areas that we’re uplifted. When we’re able to be seen in that light, we’re able to improve other areas dealing with housing, the community, drugs, where we’re not seen as much. I feel that being able to get that spotlight on this is the most important right now.”

Both Mbanfu and Elois Griffith said their advice for overcoming adversity, is finding camaraderie in community.

“I think Black people do a good job of bolstering together, using each other to support each other,” Mbafu said. “When we have one person on the top, we’re able to uplift everybody else, which is very nice. So I think having that leadership with others is the most important.”

“We work hard, we try our best, we try to give 120%, so I feel that if you keep on trying, you’ll get there someday,” said Elois-Griffith. “It may take a while, it may take one year or 100 years, but you will get there.”

Governor Andy Beshear will be at the summit Friday to give a presentation in remembrance of the honorable J. Michael Brown.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Bourbon Trail is maturing, like the fine whiskeys it showcases.

A new-look Bourbon Trail unveiled Thursday will lead visitors to large and small distilleries alike, linking relative newcomers and age-old brands in a collective strategy to build on bourbon tourism’s popularity.

It began with seven participating distilleries welcoming visitors 25 years ago. Now the excursion will showcase 46 distilleries, giving visitors more options to plan trips to soak in the sights and smells of bourbon-making in the Bluegrass State.

Since its creation in 1999 by the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, the spirits tour has attracted more than 18 million visitors from all 50 states and dozens of countries, the KDA said.

“The Kentucky Bourbon Trail now is a global, bucket-list tourism destination,” Eric Gregory, president of the distillers’ association, said as industry leaders gathered for the announcement.

As the original trail grew, it traversed the heart of Kentucky bourbon country, spotlighting such powerhouse brands as Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Wild Turkey, Woodford Reserve, Evan Williams, Four Roses, Old Forester, Michter’s and Bulleit.

In 2012, a separate Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour was launched to showcase the growing number of smaller distilleries seeking their share of the ultra-competitive spirits market.

Now those tours are consolidating. The new tourism and marketing strategy was unveiled in Louisville — the gateway to bourbon tourism. They also announced a new logo and a new digital marketing campaign to help tourists plan bourbon trips to the state.

Spirit companies have invested huge sums into new or expanded visitor centers to capitalize on the growing appeal of getting behind-the-scenes peeks into how bourbon is crafted.

For small distilleries, joining the Kentucky Bourbon Trail was likened to making the big leagues.

Kim Bard, co-founder of The Bard Distillery in western Kentucky, said it will immediately change perceptions about smaller producers that were part of the craft tour.

“People would come in, a lot of times they see us as less-than because we’re on the craft trail and not on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail,” she said in an interview. “They see that as a very distinctive line.

“Now that the KDA has put us all on the same trail, I think that sort of thinking will stop and we’ll be looked at as just another distillery, which is great for us,” she added.

Brent Goodin, owner of Boundary Oak Distillery in central Kentucky, predicted that shifting to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail will boost tourism at his and other smaller distilleries. Producers see tourism as an essential part of brand promotion.

“Anything we can do to make the tourist realize that everything is Kentucky bourbon and we’re all producing the same thing –- maybe not as much as the next guy but we’re all kind of in it together,” he said in an interview.

Any big bourbon announcement in Kentucky typically draws a bevy of the state’s political leaders. On Thursday, industry leaders were joined by Democratic Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman and Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, who co-chairs the Congressional Bourbon Caucus.

Bourbon tourism’s global appeal is creating more business opportunities for producers, Barr said.

“There’s so much opportunity in the export market for Kentucky bourbon,” Barr said.

Coleman led the crowd in toasting the bourbon sector’s past and future while recognizing Kentucky’s status as the “undisputed home of bourbon.”

Bourbon tourism has shaken off any pandemic-era hangover as venerable bourbon producers and industry newcomers alike are benefiting from a new surge in visitors. Attendance surpassed 2.5 million visitors last year along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour.

Overall, Kentucky’s bourbon industry injects $9 billion into the state’s economy each year, creating more jobs and attracting more tourists than ever before, according to a recent study. More rounds of growth are expected as Kentucky producers make billions of dollars in capital investments. Kentucky distillers produced a record 2.7 million barrels of bourbon in 2022, according to the report, which was commissioned by the distillers’ association.

Producers had a record inventory of 12.6 million bourbon barrels aging in warehouses at the start of 2023, according to the association. Those massive inventories are a bet on the future because most bourbons typically age four to eight years before reaching their market. Bourbon gets its flavor and golden brown color during aging.

Kentucky distillers produce 95% of the global bourbon supply, the KDA says.

Kentucky basketball fans won’t have to wait long to see Mark Pope’s first Kentucky team play in a big game during the 2024-25 season. The Wildcats will play the Duke Blue Devils in Atlanta in the State Farm Champions Classic. This game will be played on November 12th and should bring a lot of eyes as a Duke team, which many expect to be elite, will take on a Kentucky team under a new regime.

Duke has the number one recruiting class, highlighted by the number one player in the class, Cooper Flagg, who many expect to be the number one pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. To go along with Flagg Duke has another three five-star recruits. Their class has six total players, with all of them being ranked in the top 40 of the recruiting rankings.

The Blue Devils also brought in four transfers with three of them being four-stars in the portal rankings.

This will be a game where Kentucky has a real chance, as it will be early in the season, and this Kentucky team has played in some big moments. These transfers are all older players, and this should help Coach Pope’s team not crumble under the bright lights.

While Duke will likely be ranked in the top five and favored in this game, the Wildcats are more than capable of winning. This would be a massive statement by Coach Pope if he got his Kentucky tenure going with a massive win over an extremely talented Duke team. This basketball game will be a good one that draws a huge crowd.