(Photo courtesy of Mammoth Cave National Park)
By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Mammoth Cave National Park, one of nine National Parks in the commonwealth of Kentucky, won two awards during the 2024 “Best in Kentucky Awards” presentation put on by Kentucky Living, a publication that has been “serving the readers” of the Bluegrass State for 75 years and has more than one million readers.
The magazine originally asked its readers to vote in May for the three finalists in 30 categories that run the gambit of subject areas from best athlete and best farm tourist attraction to best breakfast place and best museum. The award show was hosted by Heather French Henry, who is a politician, a fashion designer and Miss America 2000, and featured a variety of well-known Kentuckians like Agricultural Commissioner Jonathan Shell, former agriculture commissioner turned KCTCS President Ryan Quarles and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
This year Mammoth Cave National Park won top honors in the two categories in which it was nominated.
Firstly, the national park was one of the three finalist in the category of best “place for adventure” with the others being the second-place finisher Red River Gorge Geological Area and the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, which came in third place.
Mammoth Cave was also a finalist for the best”hiking trail” alongside Red River Gorge Geological Area and Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest. Red River came in third while Bernheim Arboretum finished second.
As the winners of each category will be featured in the September issue of Kentucky Living, not only does the individual win but the recognition that comes from the victory increase tourism as well.
“The media you get from this is always great,” MacLean Lessenberry, executive director of Glasgow-Barren County Tourism, said. “You get a huge spread in Kentucky Living every fall…so it does bring a lot of in-state traffic to the winners’ locations.”
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