Owensboro wants larger bluegrass museum

New site would have stage, shops



OWENSBORO, Ky. — City officials are hoping to move their bluegrass museum to a new site and create an entire bluegrass music center around it.
“This could be the biggest thing we do downtown,” Owensboro Mayor Ron Payne said of the proposal to move the International Bluegrass Music Museum into a state office building and expand it into the International Bluegrass Music Center.

The center would feature an indoor/outdoor stage, shops, and a barbecue restaurant, according to the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer.

The Western Kentucky city is a fitting spot for the center. Bill Monroe, known as the father of bluegrass music, was born and is buried in Rosine, about 40 miles southeast of Owensboro.

The city's drive to capitalize on bluegrass began 25 years ago when what was then the Owensboro-Daviess County Tourist Commission launched a drive to create a bluegrass festival, a professional bluegrass association, a convention, an awards show and a museum. Full AP story in The Courier - Journal