1 of 3
70 exhibitors will participate in this year’s Antiques and Garden Show, which also features a wide selection of jewelry, antique and mid-century furniture, garden items and more. Photo furnished
2 of 3
Antique silver is just one of the treasures to be found among the 70 exhibitors featured in this year’s Antiques and Garden Show, which also features a wide selection of jewelry, antique and mid-century furniture, garden items and more. Photo furnished
3 of 3
70 exhibitors will participate in this year’s Antiques and Garden Show, which also features a wide selection of jewelry, antique and mid-century furniture, garden items and more. Photo furnished
For more than 60 years, the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation (BGT) has been tirelessly advocating for the protection and preservation of special historic buildings in the Lexington area – and next month the organization will celebrate another local tradition that’s rich with history, as it hosts the 33rd BGT Antiques and Garden Show.
March 2-4, BGT’s largest annual fundraising event will fill the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena with mid-century modern and antique furniture; plants and flowers; jewelry and silver; fine art and rugs; and all manner of garden items, from over 80 national exhibitors. Originally held in Heritage Hall, the show eventually moved to Keeneland’s Entertainment Center and then to the Kentucky Horse Park in 2012, where it covers the venue’s entire concourse level and spreads through all of its exhibition halls.
“As other antiques and garden shows have closed down around the country, we have grown our show to be a regional show,” said Sheila Ferrell, executive director of Blue Grass Trust. “Every year we get people from Louisville, Cincinnati, Dayton, Knoxville, eastern Kentucky and our beloved and cherished Lexington audience.”
In fact, many seasoned attendees opt to purchase a “run of show” pass to the event, which allows entry over all three days – it can be hard to see it all in a single day.
And while the opportunity to shop for a unique selection of antique and vintage-inspired home and garden items is a primary highlight of the weekend, the multifaceted show features lots of other ways to engage and entertain its thousands of expected attendees. Among the new features this year is a series of “quickfire seminars” focusing on fun, general-interest topics – from container gardening to low-stress entertaining. Hosted by noted local landscape designer Jon Carloftis, those hourlong seminars will take place on Friday and Saturday afternoons, each consisting of five 10-minute sessions led by local experts from a variety of fields. On Friday, the event’s annual luncheon will feature keynote speaker India Hicks, an internationally renowned lifestyle expert, author and entrepreneur who will speak on the topic of “Living an Extraordinary Life.”
Carloftis, whose landscape design company will also host a pop-up store at the show, says the event provides an opportunity to tap into the extraordinary and ordinary alike.
“We show people real things: the highest of the high and also the ordinary, which is what people’s lives are,” he said, while describing the inventory he plans to have on hand at the show. “We try to get away from pretentious things and have real, beautiful wonderful things – lots of garden supplies and garden candles that are Kentucky-made and all-organic.”
Ferrell assures that the show “will be filled with good-looking, good-smelling things to buy” in price points that range from affordable to high end.
While the popular event takes place in early March, according to Ellen Tunnell, a volunteer who serves on the event’s organizing committee, it signifies to many the annual gateway into the gardening season.
“It’s always an annual event people look forward to because it’s a harbinger of spring,” said Tunnell.
1 of 4
Lexington landscape designer Jon Carloftis (far left) and Dale Fisher (far right) are both heavily involved with the planning of the annual show. Photo furnished
2 of 4
Photo furnished
3 of 4
Photo furnished
4 of 4
Photo furnished
Blue Grass Trust Antiques & Garden Show
www.bluegrasstrust.org/events
March 2-4, 2018 (plus a gala-style “preview event” on Thursday, March 1)
Fri.-Sat.:10 a.m.-6 p.m. // Sun.:11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Highlights of the event include:
• More than 70 exhibitors and vendors from across the country with antique and vintage-inspired furniture, home and garden accents, fine rugs, jewelry and more
• Kentucky Treasures Exhibit featuring the National Quilt Museum: a pop-up exhibit from Paducah’s famed museum featuring exquisite handmade quilts from its collection (on display throughout the weekend)
• Bringing the Outside In: vignettes of creative living spaces by local designer Jon Carloftis, focusing on ways to incorporate nature into your living space (on display throughout the weekend)
• Designer Vignettes: interior design displays created by local designers Thomas Birkman, Benjamin Deaton and Matthew Carter, geared to inspire attendees on ways to incorporate their gardens into their homes (on display throughout the weekend)
• Quickfire Seminars and Cocktails: hourlong seminars consisting of five 10-minute talks led by local experts on a variety of fun, general-interest topics, including “Collecting Mid-Century Furniture, Art, Jewelry and Clothing” by Lucy Jones; “The Real Deal Things You Need for the Best Home Bar” by Marianne Barnes; “Low Stress Entertaining at the Drop of a Hat” by Ann Evans; “All Things Party” by Roger Lee Leasor and more (taking place Friday, March 2, and Saturday, March 3, at 4 p.m.)
• “Living an Extraordinary Life”: luncheon featuring lifestyle expert and entrepreneur India Hicks (Friday, March 2 at noon)
• Shop the Show: an opportunity to visit booths with interior designers Joe Richardson and Carolyn Threlkeld from Hubbuch and Co., who will discuss how to incorporate items into your home (Saturday, March 3 at 9 a.m.)
• Complimentary daily lectures by experts including Benjamin Deaton, John and Jessamine Michler, Joseph Hillenmeyer and Diane Wachs
• Food and drinks available for purchase throughout the event grounds throughout the weekend
Note: While some lectures, exhibits and events are complimentary with the show’s regular admission, many require a reservation and a separate fee. Visit the event website for ticketing details.
The historic Thomas Hunt Morgan House in downtown Lexington was deeded from The Woman's Club of Central Kentucky to The Bluegrass Trust for Historic Preservation. Both organizations' headquarters now operate from the grounds. Photo furnished
A BRIEF HISTORY OF BLUE GRASS TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
The roots of the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation stretch back to 1955, when a spirited group of Lexington citizens organized in an effort to save two historic Gratz Park properties from demolition: the John Hunt Wesley House and the Col. Thomas Hart House. While the Thomas Hart House ended up being razed that year to make way for a parking lot, the Hunt Morgan House – the 1814 house where famous scientist Thomas Hunt Morgan, one of the few Kentuckians to ever win a Nobel Prize, was born – was saved. Originally branded as the Foundation for the Preservation of Historic Lexington and Fayette County, the group soon became the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation.
A few years following the saving of the Hunt Morgan House and BGT’s official formation, Gratz Park became Lexington’s first official historic district (H-1 Overlay Zone), meaning that property owners within the district must obtain approval (permits) to make changes to the exterior of buildings and sites. Lexington now has 15 official “historic districts,” which help preserve the charm, character and history of some of its most beautiful areas. While BGT, a non-profit organization with four staff members and a dozen volunteer-run committees, isn’t officially affiliated with the city, it works alongside the city’s historic preservation office as the “citizen advocacy” leg, advocating for the preservation of special historic places within the Bluegrass.
“Blue Grass Trust is why Lexington looks the way it does,” said Jon Carloftis, an active BGT member. “Everybody falls in love with Lexington.”
The annual Antiques and Garden Show is just one of the many ways the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation takes a high-energy, hands-on approach to honoring history in Lexington. The organization also organizes a free, popular monthly event called the BGT deTours, which allow attendees a chance to explore historic buildings, homes, neighborhoods or properties that they might not otherwise have the chance to see. Taking place on select Wednesday afternoons, the events are followed by informal social hours, allowing attendees the chance to mingle and meet new folks of various backgrounds. Properties that have been featured on the deTours in the past include the Old Fayette County Courthouse; Hampton Court, where several homeowners opened their properties for tours; and The Miller House, the marvel of contemporary residential architecture built by Jose Ourberie. This month's BGT deTour will take place on Wed., Feb. 7 at downtown's historic Lyric Theatre & Cultural Arts Center.
Started in 2011 and geared toward “young professionals and the young at heart,” Carloftis said that the deTours are just one way that the organization seeks to energize the Lexington community around the city’s history and the topic of historic preservation.
“They’ve got these amazing new people on the board who are business people, and they understand you have to change and keep it going,” he said. “We love tradition, but you always have to change it up. They make it fun.”