Coming soon: VisitLEX

Peerless.
Confident.
Time-Honored.
Cultivated.
Magnetic.

All that....yes! But Lexington is also a little quirky, suprising, unexpected.  We think that blue horse says it all.

The Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau will soon be changing its name to VisitLEX.  Our favorite blue horse is still prominent in our new logo. And we will still provide the same services for meeting planners and visitors. You will still find our website, www.visitlex.com, to be your very best resource for planning a meeting or vacation in Lexington. 

Horsey Holiday Lights

The Southern Lights holiday festival at Lexington's Kentucky Horse Park is celebrating its 20th anniversary! From November 22 through December 31, more than 100,000 individuals in more than 27,000 vehicles will stream through the 1,200 acre state park.  Even if you are not staying overnight in Lexington, make a detour if you are passing Lexington at dusk.  Located at Exit 120 off I-75, it's just two minutes off the highway. This is the largest holiday light display in the South. Don't miss it!

Who doesn't love Lexington? Well said!

Check out this love letter to Lexington:
Love Letter to Lexington

If you've been to Lexington before, you know exactly what she's talking about. If not, it will certainly peak your interest.

Lexingtonian Megan Smith, founder of Cake & Whiskey Magazine, wrote a love letter in The Huffington Post about our unique, cultured, coy, cosmopolitan city. Horse Capital of the World indeed; and so much more!

Only in the Horse Capital of the World

Is it a cake? Is it a horse? It's a cake horse, of course. Only in the Horse Capital of the World.

The ICES convention is going on in Lexington, Kentucky. So certainly they had to create a life-size horse made of cake. This organization loves Lexington. In case you don't know much about cake decorators, these people take their craft very seriously. This is the largest sugar arts exposition in North America. They, and the cake horse, are in Lexington from August 8 through August 11, 2013. The cake horse is on the ground level of Lexington's convention center.

In case you would like to make your own cake horse for dessert, be sure you have 927 eggs on hand before you begin!

Be here during Restaurant Week!

Immerse yourself in Lexington's cuisine scene during Lexington's first Beyond Grits Restaurant Week, July 25 through August 3. The list of participating restaurants is impressive, and keeps growing. Enjoy specially priced prix-fixe dinners that are downright decadent-at a fraction of the normal check!  $25 menus range from chef’s special selection, dinner for two or multi-course dinners (depending on the restaurant.) No tickets are required. White-tablecloth restaurants and pubs and everything in between...as long as they are local restaurants.  No chains...just the Lexington innovative cuisine that is building our reputation as a dining destination. Get more information at Beyond Grits.

Road Trip!

Lexington is a great drive in destination for many people. Our location at the crossroads of I 64 and I 75 makes us very accessible. Once here, having a car is a definite advantage.  We are surrounded by lush landscapes in every direction. You will definitely want to get out and wander the back roads.  Head out on an arterial road from downtown Lexington in any direction, and within minutes you will be in horse farm country.

If time is short, just take Broadway heading north. The road changes name and becomes Paris Pike. Years ago, the road from Lexington to Paris was a narrow two lane road with no shoulders and lined with crumbling rock fences. The beautiful road you travel now is the result of years of negotiating, lobbying, planning, regrading and rebuilding. The Paris Pike Project has won national acclaim and serves as a model for highway projects through sensitive historic landscapes. This remarkable road between Paris and Lexington passes through some of the finest real estate in the Bluegrass Region and is home to hundreds of Thoroughbreds, each with their own story and each representing the hopes and dreams of horse owners and trainers.

Need help finding good prices before you head out?? Check out this link: www.visitlex.com/gas-prices.php.

Psychedelic Coffee

Hanging out at the café at Third Street Stuff and Coffee is kind of like hanging out in your grandma’s kitchen; if you had a grandma that practiced voodoo, was related to Jackson Pollock, went to poetry slams and voted for O’Bama  It’s warm and cozy, cluttered and colorful, politically correct and more than just a little wackie. Just like in grandma’s kitchen, you feel at home, and you know you aren’t going to leave without something sweet.

Sit still long enough and things start to emerge, much like a Magic Eye painting. The colors start to organize themselves into chairs and tables.  Random words on the walls are really patron’s impromptu poetry. You note the coffee is Fair Trade, the paper products are made from sugarcane, they use corn-derived plastic products. You take note of a hand-written sign: “Warning: Handle the honey with caution because it tends to explode.”

The last time I was there, it was for a latte and some of their locally made breads. While I enjoyed my latte at a table, the line at the counter grew till it extended out the door. Being politically correct sometimes take a little longer, but it’s not the kind of place where you need to be in a hurry anyway. You won’t get the full effect. Again, much like a Magic Eye painting!

If you go:
Third Street Stuff and Coffee
257 North Limestone (not 3rd Street!)
Lexington, KY 40507
(859) 255-5301
Mon.-Sat.: 7 a.m.-11p.m.
Sun.: 9:30 a.m.-11 p.m.

(originally published at http://www.visitlex.com)

Culinary Cunundrum

 So, in an effort to impress friends from California, friends who have rarely left the state of perpetual sunshine and all things “hip/cool/phat/dope”, the land of wine snobs (perhaps rightfully so), a state whose official flower is a poppy for gosh sakes……….Anyway, in an effort to impress these timid travelers to the Midwest, or South, or whatever we are (they certainly didn’t know) we took them out to dinner.  As we who live here know, Lexington has more than its share of cutting edge chefs, Culinary Institute of America graduates, and precocious young men and women cooking way beyond their years. So what did our Californians want to sample? Fried chicken. I mean, come on, fried chicken? Don’t they DO that in California?  Or maybe California’s ban on trans fats had them yearning for something a little more decadent than California could provide. Didn’t they want to go to Jonathan’s for Duck Confit with foie gras brioche bread pudding, or the Malone's for some Kobe beef? Or Jean Farris for some grilled Mahi Mahi with cilantro infused basmati rice?

Of course in the end, to be a good host, we acquiesced. And off to Ramsey’s we went, where they chowed down on fried chicken, kale greens, creamed corn, macaroni and cheese and fried green tomatoes. And the Key Lime pie and the Combo pie from Missy’s Pies next door. Their only disappointment? No bones. In the chicken. (originally posted on http://www.visitlex.com)

Lexington is the place to start!

Even National Geographic Traveler understands that Lexington is the best place to start the Kentucky Bourbon Trail! We made the Best Spring Trips of 2013 list, alongside some very prestigious international destinations. Check it out here:
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/best-trips-spring-2013/#/barrels-kentucky-bourbon-trail_64197_600x450.jpg
We may be the Horse Capital of the World, but we know how to do Bourbon, too!

For your planning pleasure!

Have you seen the new 2013 Visitor Planning Guide for Lexington? You can view the digital version here:
http://www.visitlex.com/lexington-visitor-guide.php

Great article on the craft beer movement in Lexington.