What’s Happening at the Library: Local history programs and an art exhibit by local black artists

It’s Local History Month at the library.

That means at the end of the month, the reference and local history departments of the Clark County Public Library will be presenting their annual Local History Week.

This year, Local History Week runs from Monday, Aug. 26 to Thursday, Aug. 29 — four nights of terrific Kentucky History programming, with delicious dinners catered each night by Thompson Catering.

The line-up for this year’s Local History Week is:

— Monday, Aug. 26: “Opioid Epidemics and Addiction Treatment Responses: A Story in Three Acts,” presented by Dr. Claire Clark, Ph.D, MPH

— Tuesday, Aug. 27: “Harland ‘Colonel’ Sanders: Hard Work, Luck and Perseverance,” 1890-1980, performed by L. Henry Dowell

— Wednesday, Aug. 28: “Reformers to Radicals: The Appalachian Volunteers and the War on Poverty,” presented by Dr. Thomas Kiffmeyer, PhD

— Thursday, Aug. 29: “Elkhorn: A Journey in Time,” presented by Richard Taylor.

Dinners will begin at 6:15 p.m. with the programs starting at 7 p.m. The dinner and program cost $8 per night per person. Tickets went on sale Aug. 1 at the library circulation desk. Tickets must be purchased before the programs. The library cannot hold reservations for tickets.

There will be full descriptions of all the Local History programs in a later column this month.

You can read about the programs by coming into the library and getting a print newsletter/calendar from the pamphlet display in the library foyer, or by going to the library’s webpage, www.clarkbooks.org. Click on the programs tab under the banner picture of the library and then select the Adult Newsletter for August (PDF) link.

If you would like to speak to someone from the reference and local history department, call the library at 859-744-5661, ext. 111.

Get your tickets soon because Local History Programs sell out every year.

And speaking of Local History. For more than 100 years, Winchester’s black community has been putting on a Labor Day parade and celebration that draws thousands of people from all across the country.

To celebrate that achievement, the library is exhibiting art by local and regional black artists during August and September in the library’s reference area.

The show will start Monday and will be up through September.

Included in the show will be work by Kenneth Williams, Dwayne Green, Dwayne Morton, Pee Wee Robinson, Ernest Gentry, Mary Higgins, Dickey Higgins, Tim Higgins, Kobe Higgins, Laura Burns, LaVon Williams, Tony Dunn and Darryl Davis.

Next week’s column will be devoted to those artists and their work.

I can tell you for certain this will be a fabulous exhibit. Make it a destination for August and September.

Other programs next week?

— At 2 p.m. Monday, Chair Yoga. The class is taught by Kathy Howard, a certified yoga instructor with Yoga Alliance. There is a $5 charge per class.

— At 2 p.m. Wednesday, Kentucky Picture Show presents a 2018 film. On the eve of retirement a middle class, judgmental snob discovers her husband has been having an affair with her best friend and is forced into exile with her bohemian sister who lives on an impoverished inner-city council estate. Rated – PG-13

— At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jeff Gurnee plumbs the depths of triviality with trivia challenges at the Engine House Pizza Pub.

— At 9:15 a.m. Thursday, Gentle Yoga. The class is taught by Kathy Howard, a certified yoga instructor with Yoga Alliance. There is a $5 charge per class.

— From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, Outside the Lines Adult Coloring. Come in to see the black artist show and it will inspire you to create art of your own.

History happens every day at CCPL.

John Maruskin is director of adult services at the Clark County Public Library. He can be reached at john.clarkbooks@gmail.com. 

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