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Jill Bakehorn (left) and Kelly King Bakehorn at the bar of their newest event venue. Photo by Bill Straus
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The newest venues under the umbrella of the recently rebranded “Venues of the Grand Reserve” include the 600-1,600 person-capacity “Distillery Square.” Photo by Bill Straus
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The “Venues of the Grand Reserve” also include the 170-350 person-capacity, Prohibition Era-inspired room “The Speakeasy.” Photo by Bill Straus
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The “Venues of the Grand Reserve” also include the 170-350 person-capacity, Prohibition Era-inspired room “The Speakeasy.” Photo by Bill Straus
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The Prohibition Era-inspired mural on the hallway wall leading to The Speakeasy was painted by Lexington artist Trisha Dailey. Photo by Bill Straus
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The Prohibition Era-inspired mural on the hallway wall leading to The Speakeasy was painted by Lexington artist Trisha Dailey. Photo by Bill Straus
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The hands-on partners created this statement wallcovering by hand, using the staves of 99 bourbon barrels. Photo by Bill Straus
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The hands-on partners created this statement wallcovering by hand, using the staves of 99 bourbon barrels. Photo by Bill Straus
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Each of the four indoor venues has its own fully stocked bar, with in-house catering available by Bluegrass Catering, owned by Jill Bakehorn and her mother. Photo by Bill Straus
The industrial Lexington corridor known as the Distillery District once played a major role in the country’s bourbon production and in recent years has been making significant strides to reclaim its stake as a notable entrepreneurial and social block. Those strides have been happening for more than a decade but have picked up increasing steam over the past two and a half years. Since 2014, two new bars, a brewery, a popular farm-to-table restaurant and a stylish dessert lounge all having opened their doors at the expansive James E. Pepper campus.
Half a mile down the street from the lively Pepper campus, however, Jill Bakehorn and Kelly King Bakehorn have doggedly been bringing their own social and entrepreneurial fabric to the Distillery District since 2010, the year they purchased a 4,000-square-foot parcel from developer Barry McNees and opened the multi-use event venue The Barrel House Events Center. Suited to hold up to 250 guests for weddings, corporate functions and other private events, the space got its first real boost within months after opening, when Ben Chandler hosted his 2010 election night watch party at the venue. The former U. S. congressman won his bid for re-election that night, but it was an extremely tight race, followed closely by the general public as various media outlets reported “live from The Barrel House” throughout the evening.
It was a media push that immediately thrust the venue in front of thousands of viewers – a push that the Bakehorns couldn’t even have bought and that they welcomed with open arms.
“It was fabulous,” said Kelly King Bakehorn, who serves as the event manager for the venues. “We took off like a rocket.”
The Bakehorns’ business continued to soar over the following months and years, with the opening of a 6,000-square-foot outdoor space called Garden Branch, often used for outdoor wedding ceremonies, and an additional event space with the capacity for 900 guests called The Grand Reserve, which opened in 2012 in the same building as Barrel House.
And now, the 24/7 partners – who are juggling 6-year-old triplets alongside their bustling 7-year-old business – are readying for a grand opening of two additional venue spaces that will boost the building’s total capacity to 4,000.
“It kept spinning and spinning into another venue and another venue and another venue,” said Kelly with a laugh. “You constantly have to reinvent yourself, especially in this industry.”
Reinventing often includes rebranding, and the entire four-venue complex is now being called The Venues of the Grand Reserve. With 52,000 square feet divided into four distinct indoor venues, the space is suited to host bashes and balls, fundraisers, weddings, holiday parties, and corporate events of various sizes. Set for their grand opening in April (though they are already technically in operation), the two new venues are “The Speakeasy,” a cozy room with Art Deco accents that can host 170-350 guests, and the building’s largest space to date, “Distillery Square.” The 15,000-square-foot space has a decidedly “industrial chic” vibe, with whitewashed brick walls, string lights and corrugated metal, oak and copper accents.
Kelly recalls that it initially took some convincing for McNees to sell the Bakehorns the properties (rather than leasing them), but persistence won out – the partners now own more than 57,000 square feet, including the exterior Garden Branch space and the 5,200 square-foot kitchen that houses Bluegrass Catering, the catering business that Jill Bakehorn opened with her mother in 1991. (The business recently moved in under the Venues of the Grand Reserve roof after 16 years in a 1,100-square-foot kitchen on North Limestone.)
While the Bakehorns both say they consider themselves “lucky,” the success and growth of their ventures have undoubtedly been fueled by the hard work and extensive experience both partners bring to the table.
A graduate of Eastern Kentucky University with a degree in comprehensive business, Kelly grew up in Lexington in an entertainment-oriented family. Her parents worked in the nightclub business and Thoroughbred industry. When she and Jill met, Kelly owned La Raza Bar & Grill, a nightclub on Oxford Circle, while Jill was pouring her elbow grease into her catering business.
Now more than 25 years old, Bluegrass Catering is well-established today, but Jill admits it was a challenge to get the business up and running.
“We just started it not knowing what we were getting into,” she said, adding with a laugh, “You wouldn’t do all this if you knew what was going to come.”
It didn’t help that Jill and her mother were entering an industry that was even more male-dominated at the time than it is today, but they put everything they could into the business, mailing letters to all their friends in the beginning to ask them to call on the budding business anytime they were hosting parties or events that needed food.
“That really was the help,” Jill said. “When [our friends] had a teacher retirement [party], they called, when their church was doing something, they called – that was what started us, that friend word-of-mouth.”
Friends have helped along the way, to be sure, but in its early days the business relied almost solely on the sweat of Kelly’s and Jill’s brows. While the venues now have nine full-time employees (in addition to 20-30 part-timers), Kelly recalls that they didn’t hire anyone until about three years in.
"We were doing it all – we were mopping the floors, we were washing the linens, we were wiping down things,” she said, referring to Jill and herself. “We wanted to make sure it was going to make it.”
The couple has taken a hands-on approach (literally) to various issues that have arisen over the years – together, they designed and handcrafted the huge statement wall-covering inside The Grand Reserve, which uses staves from 99 bourbon barrels, and more recently, when a client requested a farmhouse table for an event, Kelly taught herself to build one by hand in her workshop.
Earlier, in preparing to open The Grand Reserve – which was originally a distillery warehouse but more recently a parking lot – the Bakehorns were faced with how to approach the 9-foot slope of the floor. Kelly again took matters in her own hands, obtaining her general contractor’s license, hiring her own subs and filling in the uneven space with rock donated from the property owner of a razed McDonald’s restaurant (“I just had to pay for the truck to come over here and dump it,” she explained). After being covered with asphalt and concrete, the newly leveled floor of the 11,000-square-foot venue was ready for a topcoat – so the owners and their four gloved hands took to the task with a pail of acid stain and a couple of paint brushes.
From floor to ceiling, every square foot of the Venues of the Grand Reserve has a Bakehorn mark of design, creation, soul and sweat.
And while they may have been among the first kids on the block since the Distillery District’s renaissance, the Bakehorns have happily welcomed their new neighbors on Manchester Street over the years. They share an address with the art gallery and studio M.S. Rezny and the art-centric business MadeKY; and the addition of businesses like The Burl, Ethereal Brewing, Middle Fork Kitchen Bar, Crank & Boom Ice Cream Lounge and The Break Room, all located a half-mile away, have only helped bolster the entrepreneurial and social boon that is Manchester Street.
“Once the lights went on down there [on Pepper campus],” Jill said, with Kelly finishing her sentence, “…it was the cool road to be on.”
Upcoming public events at the Venues of the Grand Reserve
The Distillery Market
Third Friday evening of the month
(March 17, April 21, May 19, etc.) • 6-10 p.m
Distillery Square, 903 Manchester St.
www.grandreserveevents.com/distillery-market
Free for the public to attend, this event series features local artisans, crafters, boutiques and other vendors in an indoor market setting. A portion of sales are donated to charity each month.
Venues of the Grand Reserve Open House
Saturday, April 15 • 7-11 p.m.
The public is invited to an open house at the Venues of the Grand Reserve for a chance to meet the Bakehorns and experience all of the venues in one open event.