Happy October! As I write this the weather outside sums up everything I love about this month. There are cloudy skies, cool breezes, and just a touch of orange, red and gold colors among the trees and bushes.
As I mentioned earlier this week, a huge event taking place here in Lexington, Kentucky has consumed every second of our free time and I couldn’t be happier about it. The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games are still going strong and I had the opportunity to experience the opening ceremonies last weekend, an incredible black tie dinner with Irish tenor Ronan Tynan this past week, and plenty of equestrian events yesterday.
Keeping food and drink in mind, I thought I’d share with you a few of the highlights according to yours truly as well as some of the horse action I captured this weekend.
As we sat down to a very elegant dinner on Wednesday night my husband looked at me and said, “Of course, this would be the one time you couldn’t bring your camera!” He was right. It would have been inappropriate for me to be flashing away at this dinner, but the food was worthy of a full feature. I took a photo of the menu so you can get an idea of how outstanding it was.
The grounds at the Kentucky Horse Park are open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm with different types of equestrian sporting competitions taking place on different days. In addition to those, there are all kinds of booths and exhibits to browse.
As part of the Alltech Experience there is a Kidzone and an incredible educational garden area. All my garden foodie friends would absolutely love this. Plant boxes and pots fill the area and are overflowing with culinary herbs, bell pepper plants, cabbage, lettuce, and pumpkins and squash plants growing vertically up large wooden stakes shaped to look crayons and pencils. The selection of plants ranged from the local to the international with Kentucky mint to Thai peppers.
The Kentucky Proud tent features local Kentucky products from candy to pottery. Here you will also find a tribute to the beverages of Kentucky – bourbon, beer and wine. Guests can buy tasting flights which include wines from the state, the three types of Kentucky Ale beer – Kentucky Ale, Kentucky Light and Bourbon Barrel Ale, or several different kinds of bourbon from Maker’s Mark and Jim Beam.
My husband and I closed our night out yesterday with a flight of bourbon. We decided on Baker’s, Maker’s 46 and Basil Hayden. We were surprised that we actually like the Maker’s 46 the best of the varieties we tried.
The games 2014 will be held in Normandy, France in 2014 so there is a booth devoted to area. What better to feature in France than food! I was able to sneak in quickly to see one of the cooking demos taking place. The chef was preparing a beef stew dish featuring Kentucky beer.
The equestrian event yesterday was the Cross Country. I have to be honest I knew absolutely nothing about equestrian events before we moved to Kentucky. Once you are here though, even if you didn’t grow up around horses, you can’t help but feel a part of it all.
The horses are athletic and powerful, and the relationship with their riders exemplifies how important animals are to humans. I grew up with a pony and even took some riding lessons for a short time when I was about 9 or 10, but I never understood how intriguing the horse is until experiencing Kentucky.
The Cross Country event takes place around the entire grounds of the horse park. In fact, if you are walking and hear the whistle blow, you better hustle it across the drive because the officials will be pulling up the ropes to block the way and horse and rider will be barreling down through the course less than a minute afterward.
There are difficult jumps some with water and steep drops. Honestly, I usually avoid watching the jumps because I have seen horses and riders fall one too many times. When I take photos I focus, then close my eyes when they jump. Sounds silly, I know, but I just can’t stand to see a horse or rider get hurt. Cross country is actually a very dangerous sport.
Aside from the events, the Equine Village arena offers a variety of presentations and I caught one yesterday with some amazing gypsy horses. These horses show the huge diversity in breeds. While every bit as fit, they are so much different than the horses doing the endurance events with their broad bodies, long, wispy manes, and furry feet.
There is so much more to cover and I will be attending next weekend as well so hopefully I will have more photos for you. For now, I leave you with an example of the beautiful artwork all around the horse park, this a glass sculpture hanging high in the entrance to the Alltech Experience. Even if you can’t get here for the games, put Kentucky on your travel list because I promise the food, bourbon, beer and horses will not disappoint!
What a fun event and I would have loved to taste all the Bourbon! Kentucky is definitely on our travel list (it’s actually #1 US destination on my husband’s list so I hope we get to go sometime soon!)
A flight of bourbon?! Haha oh man, I couldn’t bring myself to 1 sip. I’m a wuss 🙂
Since I probably won’t make it out there myself, I really appreciate your post. Was the menu from one of the chef dinner series? I really wanted to go to one of those but wasn’t willing to fork over $300 for it! I had no idea there were so many things out there to see and experience. Thanks again for sharing!
It sounds like SOMEONE had a seriously awesome weekend…and with that much bourbon, how could you not!
Looks and sounds like a wonderful event. So glad it sounds like you had a grand time!
That looks like an insanely good time. I love horses. I rode for 10 years before I went away to college. Glad you had a nice dinner.
This sounds like such an awesome time 🙂
what kind of food options are there for a family who is visiting for the day?
5 Star – Let me know when you do make it here. I will gladly point you in the right direction for the food. 🙂
Michelle – It was only a few sips. 😉
Danielle – I wasn’t able to make it to one of the chef’s dinners. I was hoping for a press pass, but the events really filled up with lots of people taking interest. This dinner was one we were invited to downtown at the Hilton that was also part of the Games.
Joanne – It was awesome and I hope to have another one this weekend. My family is coming in and I’ll get to go to the closing ceremonies!
OysterCulture – It was really great! Hoping it convinced you to come to Ky. 🙂
Melinda – You’d fit in well then. I really wish I had taking more of an interest in riding when I was younger. I really love horses.
Eliana – It was a lot of fun!
Anonymous – They have centralized the eating up by the outdoor arena. You can get burgers, hotdogs, pasta, burritos, salads, cold sandwiches and a few other things at the main tent. It is all pretty pricey considering the options, nothing much under $9. It is typically $12 to $15 if you want a drink. Outside the main tent you can find other booths with pretzels, popcorn and pizza. Hope that helps. Drop me an email if you’d like more info lori at fakefoodfree dot com.