The Bourbon Barrel Walk encourages visitors to explore our local communities

Northern Kentucky’s Bourbon Barrel Walk brings art to the public with its unique barrels that are placed throughout the entertainment and business districts of Newport, Covington, Fort Mitchell, Florence and Bellevue. The self-guided tours that take people to these barrels help visitors find cool locations around the river cities.

“The Bourbon Barrel Walk was conceived as both a public art project and way-finding strategy,” says Jill Morenz, former director of the NKY Public Arts Network, which partners with the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce on the project, and current CEO of Aviatra Accelerators. The idea is for someone to follow the barrels through the city. Every barrel has a QR code on top that opens up the online map and tells you more information about it. “It’s kind of a journey of exploration through the cities,” says Morenz.

There are 100 barrels in total created by 69 artists, and every artist is paired with a sponsor. “The design was determined between the artist and the sponsor depending on what they wanted,” says Morenz. Most of these artists belong to the NKY Public Arts Network, which is an organization that helps promote their work. Each artist is paid to participate.

Lori Kay Farr is one of the artists that participated in this year’s Bourbon Barrel Walk. “My heart’s always been in public art,” says Farr. Farr’s design for her barrel was inspired by the childhood memories of one of the members of the Carri Chandler family, who sponsored the barrel. Farr helped bring these memories of her sponsor’s grandmother’s garden back to life.

“I didn’t realize that peonies flowers had come in yellow. She said there’s a lemon drop one that her grandmother grew,” says Farr. Her barrel is located at Greenline Salon, 201 W. Sixth St. in Covington.

Another artist who was involved in the Bourbon Barrel Walk this year was Sabrina Mantle. “It’s a nice opportunity for artists to get to paint something and actually get paid,” says Mantle. Like Farr, Mantle used acrylic paint to decorate her barrel. Her sponsor was Horizon Community Funds and you can find her barrel at East RiverCenter Boulevard in Covington.

Brent Keltch collaborated with the sponsor, Mubea, for his barrel. His medium was plasma-cut metal. He cut out the shapes of the continents and placed dots on them to represent Mubea’s locations worldwide. His barrel is located at 703 York St. in Newport.

Jim Conroy and Kimberly Popil Moon are two artists that happen to be a couple. They both contributed two barrels to the walk. Moon’s barrels can be found by the Purple People Bridge and at 328 Monmouth St. in Newport. Conroy’s barrels are located on the approach to the Purple People Bridge and 5 W. Fifth St. in Covington.

The Bourbon Barrel Walk will be available until August 2023. More information on the walk, along with the self-guided tours, can be found at nkyarttours.com.