Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Jessamine County is one of 16 tourism offices that are part of a new campaign to get travelers from central Kentucky and all over the country to enjoy all that the Bluegrass backroads have to offer.

According to Visit Jessamine director Charla Reed, this is called the Joy Ride campaign, and it is being supported by Kentucky Tourism with funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). 

Tourism is an approved use of ARPA funding in addition to premium pay for essential workers and investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure. 

Joy Ride is a marketing campaign that aims to drive tourism and economic development in Berea, Carlisle in Nicholas County, Cynthiana, Danville, Frankfort, Georgetown in Scott County, Harrodsburg, Lancaster and Paint Lick, Lexington, Jessamine County, Paris in Bourbon County, Richmond, Stanford in Lincoln County, Winchester and Woodford County. 

“This is not a Jessamine County thing; we are a part of the Bluegrass area region and so they used some funding from ARPA to do a whole campaign. It’s really cool,” Reed said. “Each county in this Bluegrass area has a poster associated with it, and ours features wineries. It’s a real positive.”

The campaign has had a little help from the History Channel’s Mike Wolfe of American Pickers. Wolfe is featured in a two-minute short film advertising the campaign, depicting the region’s rolling hills, historic downtowns, and other eye-catching sceneries. 

“On the main streets, and two-lane backgrounds, rolling hills- places where time stands still. Full of wonder and wildness. There’s no better place to get lost than Kentucky’s bluegrass. Take a joy ride,” said Wolfe in the two-minute video alongside Heritage Tourism Preservationist Leticia Cline. 

“We got him to drive around the different areas of the bluegrass, and he did a great promo for us, especially him cause he’s a big name,” Reed said. 

The Kentucky Tourism site for the campaign can be found here. 

Along with a map of all the highways in the Bluegrass region, the site highlights several activities and attractions available in each area. For Jessamine County, Camp Nelson, the Taylor Made Horse Farm, High Bridge Historic Park and the Kentucky River and Palisades are all highlighted.