The Los Angeles Times Finds Louisville to Be Delightful

I have some friends in Los Angeles who I've been telling to come visit for a while now. They keep saying they're coming but they haven't shown up yet. Now that their own hometown newspaper is telling them how great Louisville is though I expect to see visitors' itineraries in my inbox any day now.

We had come partly to see the well-regarded 32nd annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at of Louisville. Because I'm an Ohioan - Cincinnati - who was born in Louisville, I wanted to find out what was happening downriver along the Ohio.

Overall, I discovered an intriguing, funky scene and a good-humored, pop-culture-savvy populace . . . plus more. Louisville has an avant-garde, contemporary-art edge. In 2003, the city and county governments merged, increasing Louisville's population to 694,000 from 256,000. Now there seems to be a fresh, invigorating self-image - the "Possibility City," it calls itself.

I'm going back to Louisville for the 7th annual Kentucky Art Car Weekend (Friday and Saturday), sponsored by the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and featuring a parade of hand-decorated vehicles, among other events. The Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center, a partly open-air converted meatpacking plant, will turn into a drive-in theater for one night and host a party on another.

Beyond this week's Art Car event, I also hope to make it here from Sept. 25 to 27 for IdeaFestival, now in its ninth year and offering presentations by creative thinkers and problem solvers from around the world. And maybe again Nov. 21 to 23, when the Mellwood hosts its third annual Good Folk Festival, featuring outsider visual artists and "primitive" musicians such as Daniel Johnston.

And who knows what other festivals, cool events and art installations will be revving up in 2009? In Louisville today, anything seems possible.