Like a championship basketball team with a dominant center and shooting guard, Owensboro, Ky., has an amazing inside-outside punch as a tourist city.

Among the inside attractions of this thriving northern Kentucky city on the Ohio River is the enthralling Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum. Outdoor draws include the Western Kentucky Botanical Garden and the amazing riverfront area that includes summertime Fridays After 5 events.

Inside: Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum

The beauty of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum is that one doesn’t need to be a bluegrass fan to appreciate this special venue, which impressed my family, including my 20-something rap music fan of a son. Indeed, it exceeded expectations.

This is one smart attraction: It hooks you as soon as you enter. After paying admission, visitors are greeted by a wall of guitars, banjos, fiddles, and mandolins called the Picking Parlor. This isn’t just shiny eye candy. Participants are allowed to grab the instruments and picks and try their hand at playing!

One can’t help but care about the history of the music when one is allowed to be immersed in the instruments that made it popular. The joy of picking gave us a vested interest in the rest of the venue.

The displays on both floors are incredible. It all starts with Bill Monroe, whose lineup of the Blue Grass Boys (including Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, Chubby Wise, and Howard Watts) played the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn., for the first time in 1945, becoming the prototype for future bluegrass bands.

(Cool trivia: Flatt and Scruggs provide the music at the opening of the 1960s TV comedy “The Beverly Hillbillies.”)

The educational component of the museum is compelling. There are cool timeline displays with striking photos; huge art mosaics that describe bluegrass cousins such as early country music, parlor music, and banjo and fiddle tunes; information on how bluegrass spread across the United States; vintage posters of bluegrass festivals through the years, including those in Bean Blossom, Ind.; and exhibits of how bluegrass was integral to popular music, including that of Elvis Presley.

An array of video interviews with bluegrass legends are played on TV monitors. An oral history section, in which visitors can use computers to select which legend that they want to hear being interviewed, further immerses visitors.

If all this weren’t enough, the Hall of Fame portion of the building sparkles, as well. The golden plaques include the artist’s photo (while usually playing an instrument) and biography. The International Bluegrass Music Association is in charge of the selection process. The museum includes pioneers but also more modern artists such as Alison Krauss and Ricky Skaggs.

In March 2024, a huge Jerry Garcia exhibit opened, detailing the deceased Grateful Dead frontman’s early years as a banjo player, his deep connection to bluegrass and the influence it had on his legendary career. Exhibits bring to life Garcia as a young man and follow his career until his 1995 death.

Already, people have come from across the country to see the exhibit, which runs through March 2026.

 

Housed in a state-of-the-art, 46,000-square-foot building with a sweeping curved façade along Owensboro’s scenic riverfront, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum features a 450-seat theater, outdoor stage, and private event space. Several concerts by groups such as the Bellamy Brothers take place per month at the venue, and free open jams occur Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Outside: Western Kentucky Botanical Garden

This beautiful attraction offers a respite for anyone who wants to enjoy natural beauty or clear their head from the daily grind.

A wonderfully renovated, ornate 1840s Greek revival house with Italianate decorative features serves as the visitors center and includes a new backyard garden with walkway. Of course, the meticulously crafted landscapes and main gardens are the attractions, and management wants “every visit to end in a happy memory.” Twelve of the 19 total acres can be accessed by visitors.

A major attraction is the Path of Hope and Healing, established in 2022. Visitors experience the healing power of nature while walking along the 300-foot pathway. Among the flowers are 12 glass ribbons representing the top 12 cancers diagnosed in Kentucky. The path leads to a towering, 21-foot butterfly sculpture; the colors found in the wings of the butterfly match those of the 12 glass ribbons.

The spacious attraction includes a koi pond with bridge, rose garden, an extension collection of hybridized daylilies, herb garden with preying mantis sculpture, English cottage garden, Kentucky native plant garden, the state’s first-ever solar smart flower and windmill, wind sculptures garden, rainwater garden, working barn and greenhouse, and meditation garden (debuting October 2024).

Other highlights include a gazebo with live music, butterflies fluttering about, a small conservatory, children’s garden and air-conditioned children’s playhouse, and historic buildings including a country doctor’s office.

“A Bouquet for Marjorie” is a huge sculpture of a basket for picking cut flowers. The metal sculpture stands 21 feet tall, 15½ feet side, and 69 feet in circumference. The work is also a sundial and an equinox and solstice calendar through its casting a shadow on the grass.

The garden is open March to October plus weekends November to February. Check to confirm hours at www.wkbg.org.

Outside: Riverfront and Friday After 5

Owensboro has poured millions into its riverfront, and it shows. The incredible Smothers Park, at the foot of the attractive Glover Cary Bridge (also called the Blue Bridge), is the centerpiece. The smoke-free park features three signature fountains, cascading waterfall, spray park, open-air pavilion, porch-style riverfront swings, picnic areas, and a play area that was named the top playground in the world in 2015 by Landscape Architect’s Network.

The greenspace continues for several blocks west of the park in front of the impressive Owensboro Convention Center and six- and five-story modern hotels.

The area becomes even more majestic during Friday After 5, a free summerlong family-friendly concert and street-fair festival on the riverfront. What a blast!

Around 25-30 food (and adult drink) trucks offer a potpourri of choices, including barbecue, American fare, hibachi, tandoori, and fried Amish pies. Bands at various spots along the riverfront play rock, oldies, bluegrass, gospel, and other genres of music into the night. An outdoor stage is located at the RiverPark Center to the east and at the convention center’s Kentucky Legend Pier to the west, with other bands playing in-between at bandshells and mini-pavilions within Smothers Park.

The sublime atmosphere includes cornhole, boats that anchor near the stages to listen, and the bridge lit up at night with changing colors.

After walking the entire riverfront to scout food and drink, we enjoyed the porch-style swings and other seating spots to take in the sights and sounds. It was a night we won’t soon forget.