Officials at Shaker Village were thrilled to announce in January that the Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded it a $5.1 million grant to preserve and modestly modernize a pair of its historic facilities. Yet a closer look at its ongoing efforts to boost tourism at the centuries-old religious settlement near Harrodsburg reveals the 3,000-acre retreat has all it really needs to entertain crowds young and old. According to Jill Malusky, director of visitor engagement, the key to drawing crowds is using what’s old in new and engaging ways, then spreading the message that, well, a lot of cool stuff is going on there.
“The new approach we’re taking is using all the resources we already have onsite to reach people in different ways,” said Malusky. “Shaker Village is not just history, it’s agriculture, farm-to-table dining, recreation, hiking … things we have always done. But now we’ve added some new direction and enthusiasm.”
Not that that means the Shaker Village of old will be nosed out by a pursuit of the newfangled.
“We’re using Shaker history and its lessons and applying them in new ways,” said Amy Bugg, director of marketing and communications. “Nothing we’re doing is designed to turn away our loyalists. We want to continually bring them back and attract new markets, too.”
Historic setting, modern activities
In creating new programming for Shaker Village, Malusky’s team sought to introduce contemporary activities suitable to the breathtaking and historic setting. For instance, nature hikes have always been standard activities, but the goal now is magnifying the Shakers’ passion for health and wellness by expanding those to group events. Its 25- and 50-kilometer trail runs are good examples, as are forest hikes whose trails are blazed by craft beer stops. Group yoga and watercraft events include paddle boarding in an-on campus pond and canoe and kayak trips between the palisades overlooking the nearby Kentucky River.
Shakers liked their music, too, and the summer’s keystone event, the Well Crafted Brews & Bands Festival, will return June 18. Attendees can watch singer-songwriters and bands perform a range of all-original music while drinking Kentucky craft beer and noshing on grub from local food trucks.
In the past year, dozens of smaller-scale events have been added, things like campuswide scavenger hunts, flashlight tours of ancient woolly mammoth bones, “top to bottom” tours in rarely visited attics and cellars of Shaker buildings, weekend music and cocktails on the lawn, home brewing classes, even an “owl corral,” where owls are called in for up-close viewing.
A new series of summer day camps for ages 6 to 10 will begin in June and tie into reading programs at Lexington’s 14 public libraries. Children enrolled in certain reading programs will get free admission to some events during summer vacation. Child literacy, Malusky said, was also a Shaker priority.
Given Lexington’s ascendency as a surging restaurant town, it’s fitting the village’s Fresh Food Adventure dining series begins this summer. Starting June 11 and recurring on the second Saturday of each month through November, all are set menu affairs served on the lawn and prepared by guest chefs working with the Shaker Village culinary staff . June’s theme will be Garden and Grain, followed by July’s Hike for Beer dinner and August’s Foxhollow to Fork dinner. The fall will see meals centered on hard cider, sorghum and local quail.
According to Bugg, even wintertime at the village is seeing increased numbers as tourists are bundling up to hike the barren grounds. Though it’s been open year-round for many years, she said few know how beautiful it is after the forest has shed its foliage.
“Without the leaves you can see farther across our 3,000 acres and get views you don’t during the summer,” she said. “We’re seeing that people are willing to come out if you give them something to come out for.”
Balancing business, preservation
Ideally, guests will visit Shaker Village, take part in a planned activity, perhaps dine there and stay the night. While largely period correct, the village’s family houses are modestly modernized with climate control, memory foam beds and internet access. (It’s worth noting that guests of Fresh Food Adventure dinners receive a 20 percent discount on an overnight stay at The Inn.) In the modern marketplace, a not-for-profit business still must earn its keep by balancing personality and practicality to compete. Such battles, Malusky added, are common to most all historic tourist destinations.
“All these places, museums and heritage sites in general, must go through a similar reinvention and make themselves more relevant” to modern audiences, Malusky said. “It is the business model: nonprofits still need revenue to survive.”
Yet it doesn’t hurt either when a foundation provides a generous donation of $5.1 million. Those funds will be spent on updating its 1824 Centre Family Dwelling and 1820 Meeting House. In addition to needed restoration, improvements will include the addition of better climate control and enhanced accessibility for mobility impaired visitors.
“We’ll work to integrate technology that’s quite invisible but helpful to the whole experience,” Malusky said. The project will require hiring consultants and designers with this rare balance of expertise. “We’re hoping to become a national model for how technology can be used in an historic setting … to really enhance the experience.”
Malusky said that unlike the three-year shutdown required to overhaul and expand Louisville’s Speed Art Museum, modifications to the village will be open to the public for behind-the-scenes hard-hat tours.
“We think it’s important and educational to have the community involved,” she said. “Starting around 2019 you’ll be seeing a bigger and better Shaker Village with new spaces and innovations.”