Things to know about Central Kentucky before WEG

By Andy Mead

AMEAD@HERALD-LEADER.COM

Welcome to Lexington, Kentucky.

You are entering a special list about our city and region, designed especially for visitors to the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

Our goal is to eventually have 2,010 items about Lexington on this list, and we’re asking for visitors to our Web site to help us by suggesting things for us to add. Do you know of an interesting place to visit? An interesting person who lives, or once lived, in Lexington or Kentucky? How about a historical tidbit that might interest people from around the country and world? We know we’ve left out a lot, so don’t hesitate to send us your contributions. Send them to Weg2010@herald-leader.com. And send us your contact information in case we have follow-up questions.

To give you an idea of what we’re looking for, here are 50 examples. Only 1,960 to go.

• There are 27 Lexingtons sprinkled across America, including in Pennsylvania, Tennessee and New York. We are the largest.

• The city you are visiting is governed by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG is our unpronounceable acronym). It was created in 1974 when the city and county merged. When you’re driving down a winding country lane surrounded by horse farms, you also are in the city.

• Visitors to Lexington, as well as many residents, think this is part of the South. But look at a map: We’re closer to Windsor, Ontario, than to Atlanta or Memphis. Ya’ll keep that in mind while enjoying our Southern hospitality.

• The latest estimate on Lexington’s population, in mid-2006, put the number at 270,789. We’ve grown some since then.

• Not too big, not too small: Lexington is the 68th-largest city in the United States.

• When people around here say “UK,” they’re usually talking about the University of Kentucky, not the United Kingdom.

• Lexington calls itself The Horse Capital of the World. There was a dust-up a few years ago with Orlando, Fla., which also claimed the title. But hey, who has the World Equestrian Games?

• About the way we say some things: A nearby town is Versailles, but we pronounce it Ver-sales. The little settlement of Athens is Ay-thins. Also nearby is Paris, which we pronounce in the usual English-speaking way. But when we speak of the European capital, we say “Paris, France,” to avoid confusion.

• Early in its history, Lexington’s name was “The Athens of the West.” Common pronunciation.

• Paris is the county seat of Bourbon County. The alcoholic beverage was named after the county, and some claim it was invented there.

• Fayette County was created in 1780 and named for the Marquis de Lafayette, the Frenchman who helped with the American Revolution.

• Our city hall is in the former Lafayette Hotel, also named for the Marquis. It was built in 1921.

• Lafayette slept here. He visited Kentucky in 1825 and was greeted with a military parade on May 16.

• Another French connection: Bourbon County was named for the French royal family, which also helped with the American Revolution.

• Lexington once was known as the buckle of the Burley Tobacco Belt, and plenty of tobacco still is grown in the fields in and around the city. But the old tobacco auction warehouses are being torn down or converted to other uses. And in 2004, Lexington became one of the first cities in this part of the country to ban smoking in most restaurants, bars and other buildings where people gather.

• Hamburg Place is a huge shopping center at Interstate 75 Exit 108. Shoppers flock to it, but environmentalists and urban planners have consistently panned its sprawling design. It covers much of what once was Hamburg Farm, where six Kentucky Derby winners were bred.

• Beside the Lexington History Museum on Main Street is Cheapside, where African-American slaves were sold in the early and mid-1800s. Often, families were separated as the slaves were taken south to work on plantations. The only part we’re proud of now is that it’s ancient history.