LC TOURISM WELCOMES A SPECIAL GUEST OSSIE LUCAS…
By Susan Salyer
The Lawrence County Tourism Commission had a Regular Scheduled Meeting on Monday, May 18, 2026 at 5:30PM at the Fred M. Vinson Museum, 2nd Floor, 315 Madison Street, Louisa, Kentucky 41230.
LC Tourism Commissioner Wes Kingsmore was in attendance along with Susie Chambers, Brenda Hardwick, Debbie Hill, Chris Jobe, Christy Moore and Kate Cecil. Johnda Barker was also in attendance.
SPECIAL GUEST
Ossie Lucas, Owner of TRW Vendor Market (Twin River Wholesale) in Louisa, was the Special Guest on the LC Tourism Meeting. Lucas and his wife are owners of the Louisa location. Lucas said, “A lot of the customers are not local that are coming to Louisa to visit the TRW Vendor Market. 75% of our Building is for venders and 99% of our business is tourist. We are thinking of adding on a food court. I have 3 people from Louisa working for me and I’m willing to work with Tourism.”
COMMUNITY BIKE RIDE
Wes Kingsmore said, “We had good weather and music for this event. Overall a successful bike ride and good day. We gave out Paula Nye bike helmets which worked out really good. I would like to do another one this year.”
LIV & THE SYNDICATE PRE SHOW
Kate Cecil said, “It was a wonderful evening and the weather was good. It was a great event and we may do this again one evening.”
APRIL MINUTES
The Minutes for April 2026 were unanimously approved with a Motion by Chris Jobe and seconded by Christy Moore.
APRIL FINANCIAL REPORT
The April Financial Report was unanimously approved with a Motion by Susie Chambers and seconded by Debbie Hill.
FIRE DEPARTMENT FUNDRAISER
Chris Jobe said, “This was a very successful fundraiser for the Fire Department. We had 3 bands that played and everyone had a great time.”
BIRDHOUSE PROJECT
Some of the school students are painting bird houses for the Tourism Commission to distribute. Christy Moore said, “There are about 8-10 birdhouses left to paint and they will be all be ready.”
KTIA
Johnda Barker said, “The KTIA (Kentucky Travel Industry Association) event was in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. It was a great event and AI (Artificial Intelligence) was the number 1 topic. It’s fun to share tourism ideas. This fall the KTIA meeting will be in Lexington, Kentucky on November 11, 2026.
EHN UPDATE
There was discussion by Wes Kingsmore who said, “The Matching Funds dropped from $2 million to $1.6 million, he said. “These are funds that we can use for tourism purposes. They are matching funds so this can financially help Lawrence County.”
BRIDGE DAY/BURGER DAYS
Bridge Day is coming soon and the advertising has been started. This will be the annual walk from Louisa, Kentucky to Fort Gay, WV back to Louisa, Kentucky. Burger Days will start on June 19 and run through July 4th. There will be 3 bands that will be in Louisa to perform including Dillon Moore & Band, Trey Mabry and LIV & Syndicate.
LOUISA BASS CLUB/FREE FISHING DAY
The Louisa Bass Club will have their fishing event on June 6, 2026. The tourism commission will help with lunch on that day.
LAWRENCE COUNTY FAIR
The Fair is coming soon it will be the last weekend in July. There was discussion by the group.
FOURTH OF JULY
There has been a donation already made to the City of Louisa for $3000 from the Lawrence County Tourism Commission.
- Opening Prayer
- Call to Order
- Special Guests – Ossie Lucas Owner of TRW Vendor Market (Twin River Wholesale)
Old Business
- Community Bike Ride – Wes Kingsmore discussion.
Liv & the Syndicate Pre Show – Kate Cecil discussion.
- Minutes to approve for April meeting – Motion by Chris Jobe and 2nd by Christy Moore. None Opposed.
- Approval of April Financial Report – Motion by Susie Chambers and 2nd by Debbie Hill. None Opposed.
New Business
- Fire Department Fundraiser – Chris Jobe and Susie Chambers discussion.
- Birdhouse Project – Christy Moore discussion.
- KTIA – Discussion by Johnda Barker.
- EHN Update – Wes Kingsmore discussion.
- Bridge Day/Burger Days – Discussion by Wes Kingsmore
- Louisa Bass Club/Free Fishing Day – Discussion
- Lawrence County Fair – Discussion
- Fourth of July – Discussion
- Audience comments – None
- Adjourn – Motion by Christy Moore and seconded by Susie Chambers.
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The next Regular Scheduled Monthly Meeting will be held on Monday June 15, 2026 at 5:30PM.
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Lawrence County Tourism Minutes, April 20, 2026
Prepared by: Susie Chambers, Secretary
The Lawrence County Tourism Commission met on Monday, April 20, 2026 at 5:30 pm at the Fred Vinson Tourism Office. Members attending were Chairman Wes Kingsmore, Chris Jobe, Christy Moore, Kate Cecil and Susie Chambers. Also in attendance were Brenda Hardwick, Johnda Barker and Susan Salyer.
Wes called the meeting to order and gave the opening prayer.
Old Business: 1) Both the Louisa Easter Egg Hunt and the Fallsburg event were well attended and very successful. 2) The 5th grade classes from Louisa East Elementary had a field trip to tour the Fred Vinson Museum in late March.
Approval of March minutes with a motion by Brenda and a second by Christy. All in favor.
Our March treasurer’s report showed a balance of $20,269.40. Approval of March financials with a motion by Susie and a second by Christy. All in favor.
New Business: 1) Wes thanked Brenda for her years of service to tourism and being our treasurer. 2) Motion by Wes with a second by Susie to nominate Kate Cecil, our newest board member, to be our treasurer. All in favor. 3) Motion by Christy with a second by Susie to add Kate Cecil and Chris Jobe to our bank signature card. All in favor. 4) Mark and Tina Jackson, with a grant from Starfire in Cincinnati, will be having an all inclusive community bike ride on May 9th at Main Street Park from 11-3. With a motion by Susie and a second by Kate we voted to provide support for whatever they might need. All in favor. 5) We received an
7) We will try to secure a group to do a short set of music prior to the May 15th Footloose show at the Garden Theater. 8) Bridge Day/Walk will be June 27th. We will make it an American 250 celebration with music and food vendors. 9) Derby Day Event has been cancelled. 10) We voted to donate $250 to the HOSA 5K fundraiser and $250 to their Car Show with a motion by Kate and a second by Susie. All in favor. 11) With a motion by Christy and a second by Susie we voted to donate $100 for the Autism 5K. All in favor. 12) Christy made a motion to donate $250 for the fire school event with a second by Chris. All in favor.
With no further business to come before the board Susie made a motion to adjourn with a second by Kate. All in favor.
Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be on Monday, May 18th
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