Interview transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Clay Wallace, WUKY
This is One on One with WUKY. I’m your host, Clay Wallace. Here with me today is Diane Strong, who will be chatting about the upcoming Bourbon on the Banks Festival in Frankfort this fall. Thanks for being here today, Diane.
Diane Strong, Bourbon on the Banks Director
Thanks so much for having me.
Clay
Bourbon on the Banks is an annual festival celebrating Kentucky’s bourbon heritage held the first Saturday in October. What does a day at the festival look like, and who all is going to be there?
Diane
First, you’re going to cash in your ticket, and then you’re going to get a sample glass. You go up over the flood wall - because this park is along the Kentucky River - and you will see dozens and dozens of tents lined up. You’ll come down and you will have access to over 90 entities that we are sampling. We have some spirits, we have some beers and wines as well, but mostly we are a whiskey and bourbon festival.
You will hear music because we have six music stations. They’re not stages with seating - it’s background music - but they’re live musicians that are playing all along the pathway.
You’ll see some bourbon merchants. You can buy bourbon jelly and you can buy a table that’s made out of a bourbon barrel. We’ve also got a food court with a variety of everything from hot dogs to lobster.
You get to talk to master distillers right there at the tent. It’s mostly Kentucky distilleries, but we have 17 that are from out-of-state. You’re definitely going to meet and see and taste things you’ve never seen, tasted, or met before. It’s a really cool opportunity.
Clay
What’s the attendance like?
Diane
This year, we are selling 2,600 tickets. That’s slightly higher than last year, and that’s only because we added more Twilight tickets. By that time, enough people have left that it’s still comfortable. People are still not having to stand in lines. The integrity of the event is very important to us - we’re not going to sell more tickets to make a little more money and make people uncomfortable. I think people respect that about our event.
Clay
What are you most looking forward to at this year’s festival.
Diane
I look forward to meeting people. 72% of our attendees are out of state. These are people who have never really been to Kentucky before, or they’re visiting for the first time, or they love it so much that they’re coming back for the sixth time. It’s all really fun.
Clay
How does this year’s festival differ from previous years’ festivals?
Diane
We always tweak it slightly to improve. I send out surveys at the end and find out if there was anything they had issues with. We always get more seating every year. We’ve started offering what we call the bottle check. So, people go shopping, you can buy bottles at this event, and they’ll get so many they don’t want to carry them around. So, just like a coat check, you can drop off your bottles and pick them up on your way out. This is the second year we’ll have that available.
Clay
What is Frankfort’s role in the state’s bourbon history?
Diane
Oh, it goes way back. The park is right on the Kentucky River, and that’s the same Kentucky River where the bourbon was put in the barrels and floated down. We don’t argue about the capital of bourbon - we don’t claim to be that. But we say that we are the heart of bourbon.
We have so many master distillers and founders and distilleries that started right in Frankfort and Franklin County. Our history goes back. If you come to visit Frankfort, you will have opportunities to see the E.H. Taylor house, and you can go on walking tours, and you can drive to all of those distilleries.
And, of course, we’ve got Buffalo Trace, the oldest continuously operating distillery in the world.
Clay
Riverview park was impacted by the flooding in Frankfort earlier this year. What does it look like now?
Diane
Well, we almost started calling it 'Bourbon on the Beach,' because there’s a lot of sand. When a flood happens, when it leaves, that mud turns into sand. But it’s recovered really well.
We had to redo all of the electric. Bourbon on the Banks actually spent money to have the park improved over the years, and electric was one of the things we added. All of that’s been replaced.
It was pretty impressive, though. It was just about a foot from the flood wall top, so when people come over the flood wall, it’ll be hard to imagine that the water would have been touching their feet right there.
Believe it or not, it looks beautiful down there. I’d be very surprised if anyone noticed anything.
Clay
We spoke earlier this year when tickets first went up for sale and you told me that the 2024 Bourbon on the Banks led to over $80,000 donated to charity. What is the festival's charitable impact?
Diane
It's huge. We started in the first year just doing a $10,000 scholarship that went to KSU. Over the years, as we’ve built our nest egg and gotten more popular and managed our money and gotten better sponsors, it’s built up. We’ve always gained a little bit more, plus we have our VIP reception and auction and that raises money for charity as well. So, I think we’re at almost $400,000 over the years when you include all that.
But last year was our biggest personal donation of $80,000 specifically to nonprofits in the area.
Clay
What projects are you proud to say Bourbon on the Banks was able to raise funds for?
Diane
The improvements that we’ve done to the park, we’re really proud of that. We removed some of the invasive species so you can see the river.
And the Yes Card, for instance. We gave several thousand to that. That’s a nonprofit that gives $400 gift cards to students so they can use that money on the arts - music lessons, painting lessons, all these things that more privileged people can afford to do. It levels the field.
These kids are going out and putting the money on things they’ve never done before and discovering something they didn’t realize they loved.
And an animal shelter, LIFE House for Animals, got money.
It’s fun when the board gets together to talk about how much money we have to give away, and then decide who gets the money. It’s like Christmas time. It’s our favorite board meeting of the year.
I don’t get to make the decisions, but you can just see all the board members - that’s what they do this for, so that they can give back.
Clay
Does the money raised for charity come primarily from ticket sales?
Diane
Yeah. We try to get enough sponsors to cover the cost of the event, so the majority of fundraising comes from ticket sales. And then there’s some vendor fees.
We also have several events leading up to the festival on Thursday and Friday. For the VIP reception and bourbon auction, we team up with Downtown Frankfort Incorporated, DFI, and they host the concert series and all of these events downtown. They’re the beneficiary of the auction for that event, but Bourbon on the Banks hosts it.
This year, we’re celebrating the women of bourbon, and that has a live and silent auction that’s involved with it.
Clay
Who are some of the women in bourbon?
Diane
We’ve got Peggy Noe Stevens. She’s the first women master taster, one of the founders of the Bourbon Trail, and the founder of Bourbon Women Association. She’s an author. She’s a businesswoman. She’s amazing!
There’s Heather Wibbels, she's a master mixologist and author. We’ve got Melissa Rift with Old Forester. We've got Sarah Ahlgrim with Dark Arts, but she was originally from "It's Bourbon Night", which is an extremely popular YouTube channel. Creola Dickerson is with New Riff Distilling. Gigi DaDan with Angel's Envy and Alex Castle with Augusta Distillery. We've got Ashley Barns, she’s with The Spirit Group. And then Lisa Wicker, who is now with Whiskey Thief.
All of these women are bringing their brands to sample. And they're all bringing some special pours.
Clay
Are there any other lead-up events preceding the event?
Diane
There’s a kickoff party at Whiskey Thief. It’s great. They’ve got fire and music and the bar. And then we also have Mixology on the River, and that’s with Heather Wibbels on the Bourbon Belle, which is through Kentucky River Tours. That’s sold out, but it’s a neat educational experience on the boat.
On Friday, we’ve got a ton of stuff going on, starting with a bourbon pairing class with Peggy Noe Stevens at 1 pm. The Friday VIP starts at 5. Both those events are at the Kentucky History Center.
We’ve got a free downtown festival. It’s called Bourbon Street on Broadway, with circus and fire and street performers and human statues and magicians. It’s such a great time. Families can come down, not spend a dime, and just be completely entertained. Thanks to Expree Credit Union, who’s been the sponsor of that forever.
We’ve also got the Four Roses Pub Stroll that takes place Thursday through Saturday. And, starting Saturday, the Ashbrook and Cypress and Oak are both hosting brunches from 10 to 1.
Then, of course, we’ve got the festival, followed by the free afterparty that goes from 5 to 9. That’s open to everyone - you don’t have to go to any of the other events that we’re featuring to attend. The headline is Noah Thompson. He was the 2022 winner of American Idol, and he’s from Kentucky, so we’re super proud to have him. We’ll also have Creekwater, a local band, opening for him.
It’s a full three days. You’ll never be bored and you’ll never get tired of bourbon.
Clay
Is there anything else you want to add that I haven’t asked you about?
Diane
I should announce that our title sponsor for Bourbon on the Banks is Benson Valley Bourbon. They are a fairly new distillery in a very old distillery location in Franklin County. We're really proud to team up with them, and we're excited for what they're doing.