9th annual Buy Local Fair to be held May 21 in Louisville

Attendees can enjoy local shopping, food, drinks and entertainment

LOUISVILLE (May 15, 2017) – The Louisville Independent Business Alliance (LIBA) will once again host the Buy Local Fair noon- 6 p.m. Sunday, May 21 at Louisville Water Tower Park, 3005 River Road.

Presented by Louisville Water Company, admission to the Buy Local Fair is free and parking is $5 per vehicle, or free for bicycle parking.

The fair will include more than 180 booths from a variety of local businesses, artists and craftspeople, community organizations, farmers, and food and drink vendors, as well as a ValuMarket craft beer tent, a Cox’s Back Porch area (with Amish Hills Furniture loungers) for the grownups, a Kids Zone with children’s activities, and live entertainment from Kentucky Opera, The River Rounders and Josh Card and the Restless Souls.

The cooking competition, sponsored by Trend Appliances, will be held at 2 p.m. when defending champion Patrick Roney from Harvest Restaurant will face off against Jacob Coronado from Red Herring. In this Iron Chef style cooking competition, the chefs will be given a basket of mystery ingredients (all sourced locally) and will have 30 minutes to create a dish for a panel of judges.

For the first time, the fair will also feature a “Drink Local Craft Cocktail Competition,” where local mixologists will create unique cocktails. Competing this year will be Copper & Kings, Heaven Hill, Rabbit Hole and Ballotin. One $5 drink ticket buys attendees a flight to taste and a chance to vote for their favorite cocktail.

LIBA is also partnering with Brightside and La Fleur de Merde, to make the event as environmentally responsible as possible. Green initiatives include composting, serving only 100% compostable beer cups (5,000 cups!), and encouraging the food vendors to use compostable items, or else they pay a small penalty. Over a dozen volunteers will act as on-site “trash talkers” to help make sure the waste items are placed in to the appropriate containers. Absolutely no bottled water will be sold at the event. Attendees are invited to BYOB (bring your own bottle – for water!) to fill up for free with Louisville pure tap® or purchase a reusable bottle for $2. Louisville Water will have its mobile units on site to provide a chilled, continuous supply of Louisville’s drinking water.

The mission of the Buy Local Fair is to provide a venue that fosters cooperation, cross-pollination and strength in numbers for locally-owned, independent entities. A study conducted in Louisville showed that for every $100 spent, $55 remains circulating when spent at a local, independent business (whereas only $14 when spent with a chain).

The 2017 Buy Local Fair is presented by Louisville Water Company and sponsored by Louisville Metro Council, Amish Hills Furniture, The Trend Appliances, Rainbow Blossom Natural Food Markets, Cox’s Smokers Outlet and Spirit Shoppe, Nanz & Kraft Florists, Eclipse Bank, eyedia Design It Again, ValuMarket, Louisville Magazine, Louisville.com, Louisville Public Media, LEO Weekly, Insider Louisville, YELP Louisville, Maloney Outdoor Advertising, Heaven Hill Brands, WAKY radio, Delivra, La Fleur de Merde, The Plant Kingdom and Leonard Brush & Chemical. For more information, visit www.keeplouisvilleweird.com/buylocalfair.