The Great Summer Send-Off
Labor Day weekend gives Kentucky one more chance to wring a little fun out of summer, with butterflies in Oak Grove, a Paducah parade, outdoor music in Covington and adventures that head underground.
From Butterflies to Boogie
The long weekend starts Saturday, September 5, with Oak Grove’s 18th annual Butterfly Festival at the War Memorial Walking Trail. Admission and parking are free, and the 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. schedule includes family activities ranging from a butterfly house and face painting to arts and crafts, train rides and a petting zoo.
The grand finale comes at 4 p.m., when thousands of butterflies are released. It is the sort of summer farewell that makes a fairly convincing argument for keeping your phone camera handy.
Saturday evening shifts the mood north to Covington, where the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra’s Boogie Band performs “Living in America” at 7:30 p.m. The free concert takes place at the Devou Park Band Shell and closes the orchestra’s summer series with popular American music spanning several decades. The Boogie Band is one of the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra’s subsidiary groups, built around the sounds of rock, soul, disco and other popular styles.
Labor Day itself belongs to Paducah, where the Labor Day Parade steps off at 9:30 a.m. September 7. After the parade reaches downtown, the celebration continues until 3 p.m. near the Farmers’ Market with live music, a car cruise-in, inflatables and food vendors.
When the Weekend Needs More Dirt
For Kentuckians who would rather trade festival crowds for limestone and trails, Carter Caves State Resort Park offers guided cave tours and a landscape shaped by the underground world beneath eastern Kentucky.
Farther north in Union, Big Bone Lick State Historic Site adds a different kind of history lesson. Visitors can explore hiking trails, see the park’s bison herd and learn about the Ice Age animals whose fossil remains made the area famous.
That is the useful thing about a three-day weekend in Kentucky: “one last summer outing” can mean a parade, a picnic concert, butterflies, caves or a bison sighting before Tuesday brings everyone back to reality.
For more places to spend a free afternoon, long weekend or spontaneous Kentucky day trip, browse the Guide to Kentucky recreation directory at https://www.guidetokentucky.com/recreation-places.
