Who's In Town: National Archery in the Schools National Tournament

The National Archery in the Schools Program started in Kentucky in 2002 and has worked to advocate adding competitive archery into schools' PE programs ever since. They provide 4th-12th grade curricula that follow National Physical Education Standards to schools and mentor and recruit coaches of International Style Target Archery.

And they're in town from May 11 - 12 for their National Tournament.  I asked John Gautier of the NASP a few questions about their visit.

And let's just get this out of the way, I did not fall down on my job as your favorite blogger (or second favorite?... third?... just 'area blogger'?). I asked the folks from the National Archery in the Schools National Competition if the HUNGER GAMES was driving kids in droves to the sport of archery.  Jon's response, "We feel that NASP has contributed to the popularity of Archery, so the exact opposite of what the media announces. Archery has been around for a very long time and NASP has been in the works for just over 10 years." I'm not sure what that means. Does he mean that the NASP has made archery so popular that Suzanne Collins included it as Katniss's hobby?

The rest of the interview was equally... terse... But still, it sounds like a fantastic-- HUGE-- event! And, what a spectacle it probably is. It's at the Expo Center. I'm sorry I can't give you more information but their website is also... clear as mud.

LOU: What goes on during the tournament? Can you give us a brief overview of the event?

Gautier: The Nationals is a culminating event. NASP archers from all over the US have competed at the Regional & State level tournaments and advanced to the Nationals. The NASP World tournament at ESPN's Wide World of Sports follows this event in October each year and draws NASP archers & teams from the US, Canada, New Zealand & South Africa.

LOU: The website refers to the event as "Where Olympic Journeys Begin"-- just how close are the medal-winners to earning a spot on the Olympic team?

We have partnered with the US Olympic Committee to help promote the 2012 Olympics, NASP archers have a very good chance of advancing in Archery as they are receiving an excellent start with NASP.

LOU:  How many competitors do you expect? How many people total?

A. Over 8,100 NASP Student Archers

LOU:  Can the public attend this event? If so, what would be the most exciting time for someone to attend?
A. Yes, it is open to the public, there is a nominal gate fee per person per day. The most exciting time would at anytime, however the very last competitive flight that leads up to the Scholarship shoot off will be feature as well as the awards ceremony.

WHO'S IN TOWN?: KY State Rabbit Breeders Association Kentucky Cup

MINI-BUNNY (click photo for source)

For the second installment of Loueyville's new series WHO'S IN TOWN? the more important answer to the question is this:


BUNNIES!! Lots and lots of sweet, little, cute, cuddly, soft, fuzzy bunny rabbits. These aren't even your run-of-the-mill cutie-patootie bunnies-- these are champion bunnies. These are gold-medal-worthy bunnies.

What a soothing, delightful alternative to the sometimes nerve-jangling Thunder over Louisville airshow, huh? Go out to the fair grounds and see some bunnies? Sounds like a good plan to me.

The Kentucky Cup is from 8am-4pm and is open to the public at the West Pavilion of the Expo Center.

I had some questions about the Kentucky Cup, and Christy Frey-- vice-president of the Kentucky State Rabbit Breeders Association was nice enough to answer them.

LOU: The Expo Center's calendar lists the event as the "Kentucky State Mini Rabbit Breeders Convention." And that confused me. I assumed it was a convention of "mini-rabbit" breeders. But from your website I take it to mean it's a "mini-convention." Can you clear this up for me? Also, there is such things as mini-rabbits, right?

CHRISTY FREY: You are correct about the name. It is the KSRBA Mini Convention. We are also calling it the Kentucky Cup. The smallest breed of rabbit is the Netherland Dwarf and Brititannia Petite. Their maximum weight is 2 1/2 lbs. The largest rabbits are the Flemish Giants, Giant Angoras, French Lops and Checkered Giants. Their maximum weight can be over 20 lbs.


What goes on during the Convention? Can you give us a brief overview of the event?

During the show, American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) sanctioned judges will be judging one breed at a time to see which rabbit is the closest to that breeds standard. There is 47 unique breeds recognized by the ARBA. Hopefully we will have many of these breeds at the show. These 47 breeds are distinguished by color, size, and many other characteristics.


How many breeders do you expect? How many rabbits? 

We do not have an exact number, but we are expecting many rabbits and exhibitors from many different states.


Why did you choose Louisville for this event?

We chose Louisville for the location. It is centrally located in KY and has I-64 & I-65. Also the fairgrounds has an excellent facility. We have been advertising the Thunder over Louisville and other tours of famous places around Louisville for the exhibitors to look into doing. The show will be starting at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. It should run late into the afternoon.


Welcome to town Rabbit breeders (and more importantly, your RABBITS!!)! Enjoy Louisville. The KSRBA website is here: http://www.ksrba.webs.com/


Want to know more about the WHO'S IN TOWN? series on Loueyville? Click here. Our last installment was about Handbell Ringers. Read that here.

Rainy Wednesday Randomness

There’s so much good stuff going on these days that I just don’t have time to give everything its own post. Here are some of the events that are on my noggin:

Tll All this week the Bats are in town. Yippee! Mama loves her Bats.

• This month is Abbey Road on The River (May 21-25) at the Belvedere. Five days and more than 50 Beatles tribute bands. This is the kind of event I’d love to just go to check out, but even with the coupon available on the website, it’s $15. A bit steep for a quick check-out. HOWEVER, if you happen to be under twenty-one, you get in FREE if you go with a ticket purchaser. Spreading the Beatles love to the young ‘uns.
• Waterfront Wednesday (another big Yippee!) features the Meat Puppets this month (May 27). I’ve heard of them, but… ?? The other bands in the line-up are: the Features & Broken Spurs.
• If you go NOW—before midnight TONIGHT—to http://www.oprah.com/, you can download a coupon for a FREE two-piece grilled chicken dinner at KFC. Tried it last weekend and wasn’t a big fan, but free food is free food.
• May 22 is Bardstown Bound (now with added Baxter!!). Shopping, trolley, entertainment starting at 5pm. Here’s the website. It’s always a wonderful time. I particularly dig this year’s hippy-ish posters.
• Louisville landed a big convention fish yesterday. The ABC Kids Expo decided that Las Vegas mayyyyybe wasn’t really the best fit for a show that focuses “on products from newborn through teen, predominantly in the areas of furniture, bedding, room décor, baby gear, gift and layette, toys and related accessories.” I’d have a ball at that expo. Seriously. I love toys. Now can we please steal the big ALL CANDY EXPO from Chicago? I don’t even like sweets, but this still looks like the happiest place on earth to me.

And finally, the big news on the Lou front is for her second birthday (at the end of this month), she’s getting a whole new look! (well, the website, not so much Lou.) COMING SOON!!!

Loueyvillager Powers Activate! Form of A Letter of Support

This weekend is Kentucky Crafted: The Market at the Expo Center. Now, I've never been, and the website is awfully unhelpful when it comes to telling me what to expect (but it is very nice that it features a $3 off coupon), but there's all kinds of good listy thingies that think Kentucky Crafted is pretty special.

Back in December, American Style Magazine named it #2 on its list of Top 10 Arts Fairs & Festivals. And how much does it ROCK that St. James Court Art Show is #6 and Francisco Farm's Art Fair at Midway College (also in KY) is #7. Say what you will about Kentuckians, but we apparently know how to put on an art show. The KY department of tourism lists it in its top 10 events, as does the Southeast Tourism Council. Good stuff, I guess. I will be there with bells on.

(That being said, I really hope Kentucky Crafted isn't a "craft show" like, say, the Ursuline's Art Fair-- which, by the way, is moving to the campus of the Louisville Collegiate School next fall-- or the Cherokee Park Art Fairs are "art fairs." There's some good stuff there, given, but a lot of the stuff is mass-produced and soulless. I'd say the same thing about the St. James Art Show, but I think someone might try and revoke m y citizenship of this city if I talked trash about St. James. Again, some nice stuff. But lots of beads and scarves and pocketbooks. I'm just saying.)

Anyhoo, on to the point: Over at FatLip, Stephen George has posted a... well, I'll just let him explain:

The American Craft Council (ACC), the nation's largest non-profit contemporary craft organization, is planning to relocate its headquarters from New York City. Greater Louisville is one of eight cities asked to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP) from the ACC as they begin the process developing their short list of preferred headquarter locations. Greater Louisville Inc. (GLI) is working with several local arts organizations, the state, artists and local government to help spread the word.

Part of that process involves gathering letters of support to help make the case for Louisville. In order to demonstrate the support the ACC would receive in Louisville, GLI is asking members of the community to write a short (one page) letter of support regarding the benefits of locating an organization in Louisville. GLI's deadline to respond to the RFP is coming up quickly, so they ask that you send your letter c/o Bobby Ferreri at GLI (614 W. Main St., Ste 6000, Louisville 40202) by February 20. However, please address the letters to: Andrew Glasgow, Executive Director American Craft Council=2 072 Spring Street 6th Floor New York, NY 10012-4019

(Mama's note: that last little bit confused me, but that might just be my burned out chemo brain. He means ADDRESS the letter to Andrew Glasgow-- as in Dear Mr. Glasgow-- but SEND it to the GLI.)

Heck yes! That's a cause I can truly get behind. We want this, Loueyvillagers. Contemporary craft goes very nicely with things like 21c and Museum Plaza and the Arts and Crafts Museum and bourbon (because everything goes well with bourbon).

And if you write a letter, and I think you should, send it along to me. If I like it, I'll post it. If I don't like it, I'll probably still post it. Don't forget, we're lou at loueyville.com.

(If you're wondering what the other Wondertwin power "form" would be, it would be a stamp. Of course.)

Expo: Memorial Day Flea Market-- Crap You Can Use

Again, it's hard to believe that I have lived here for two years and have not availed myself of the monthly flea market at the Expo Center. Usually the last weekend of the month, the Kentucky Flea Market has several big, blowout weekends: Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day.

I dragged poor Mama to a Flea Market when we were vacationing in Florida this spring, and it was a massive disaster. Stall upon stall of Crap Nobody Uses, lots of socks, Avon stalls, and used books at new book prices.

The Kentucky Flea Market, on the other hand, is wall-to-wall Crap You Can Use. Mostly. At least every fifth stall was something worth looking at, mostly because of the cheap prices and "exotic" goods. (And that's a pretty good average-- 20% good stuff to 80% poo.)

The whole first two rows were bargain groceries, the kind you find at places like Big Lots. Overstocks, discontinued stuff. I'm not above buying discount groceries and toiletries from time to time, but I question the sanity of anyone who purchases discount condoms at a flea market (above). Methinks said purchasers are not all that committed to planned parenting.

I enjoyed taste-testing salsas and instant coffees. For some reason, I'm always sucked in by those booths featuring the little bags of dip mix that you add to sour cream. Why do they always taste so good? Artichoke and parmagan? Bacon and cheddar? Spinach herb? So good. What do they put in there? I only managed to keep myself from purchasing them (3 for $10) because of my upcoming need to pay better attention to what I eat. (Whatever they put in there to make them taste so good, can't possibly be good for you.)

What did suck me in, however, were the two stalls featuring vintage tv shows on DVD. Specifically, a bootlegged copy of Tales of the Gold Monkey, a favorite tv show of mine when I was a wee wee lass (it aired from 1982-1983), starring Stephen Collins as an Indiana Jones-ish pilot of a seaplane named the Goose in the 1930's South Pacific. I was more than happy to shell out $20 for the entire 22 episode run.

That show (along with Bring 'em Back Alive, which ran duing the same general time period and starred Bruce Boxleitner as Frank Buck, and was also offered at another stall) is somehow a hallmark of my childhood. So much so that when I went to the Museum of Television and Radio in NYC and was allowed to watch a tv show of my choice in their library, I opted for the pilot of Tales out of all of the shows ever featured on TV.

It's taken a lot of self-control to not skip out on this lovely, lovely day (it's 83 and sunny-- and don't worry, Lou is on her computer outside) and camp out on the couch and go all Veronica Mars on my new purchase (ie. consume it like it's a bottle of Jack Daniels and I'm... me. Kidding. Mostly.).

Other things I could have bought but restrained myself: Season One of MacGuyver for $16; Bath & Body Works products for half the retail price; a solid wood curio cabinet for $159... Other things I could have bought but was kind of grossed out by: aforementioned condoms; sugar gliders (poor things); knives up the Wazoo.

But I dropped $20 on something I couldn't get elsewhere and will get 20+ hours of solid entertainment from (and $5 on parking), and enjoyed the truly diverse crowd (more Big Hair there than I've seen in a while, though). Overall a good day.

Kentuckiana Cluster All-Breed Dog Show 2008: Bitches, man! Bitches.*

There is a place where dapper gentlemen dressed in suits and ties stand around and talk openly about their bitches. And it isn’t the lobby of the Mayflower Hotel. The 2008 Kentuckiana Cluster All-Breed Dog Show featured thousands of dogs from May 15-18 at the Kentucky Fair and Expo Center.

Of course, I went expecting to be transported to the Mayflower (yes) Dog Show from the 2000 Christopher Guest movie, Best in Show. And while the Kentuckiana Show lacks the pomp and spectacle of the show in the movie, for the most part the movie was dead on. There were the strung-out Parker Posey types and the flamboyant Michael McKeans. The second judging group I caught was the terrier group, so I couldn’t get “God Loves a Terrier” out of my head. But, truth be told, the show just wasn’t as fun or funny without Fred Willard’s commentating.

Some observations:

There’s a lot of dog-butt touching going on at dog shows. Apparently the appearance of a dog’s tail is of great significance in judging a dog, so the handlers spend a lot of brushing, stroking, and tweaking dog butt. It can be obscene and strangely intimate. At times I had to avert my eyes.

For a small dog, the tail does double-duty and serves as a handle. In order to place the dog on the judging table, handlers lift the dog by the neck and tail. I assume that this is to prevent squishing the dog’s fur. I know that it is okay lift a cat by the scruff of its neck, but it still makes me uncomfortable to watch. Likewise this means of lifting the dog.

Yes, those over-groomed poodles with the Cher hair and the hip pom-poms fair well at dog shows. I watched a white standard poodle won the Non-Working group (as she—Lord, I hope it was a “she” dog—walked by the “Non-Working" sign in the ring, my inner bitch said, “Non-Working? No shit.”). I cannot begin to describe the archness of this dog’s ugliness. Not only was she shaved to her grey-ish skin over most of her body, but her face appeared botoxed. And yet, the crowd loved her.

Dog shows smell like dogs. I don't know why this should have surprised me. I guess I assumed that with all the grooming and blow-drying and whatnot, they'd somehow wash the dog stink away. But I guess when you have hundreds of dogs under the same roof pooing and peeing, you're pretty much stuck with the dog stink. I just hope that the next expo booked in the hall isn't a flower show.

The 2007 Kentuckiana Cluster All-Breed Dog Show was named the 2007 Show of the Year by the AKC, so I guess what we have going on here is good stuff. In this dog show newbie's opinion, though, the show seemed slow and a bit anti-climatic. One way to perk things up a little (besides hiring Fred Willard) would be to mic the judging; that way in addition to the shameless poking and proding, viewers could be treated to choice comments like, "This bitch has a nice butt."

*Big love to anyone who recognizes the title as a quote from the endlessly quotable movie Say Anything.