Saturday, October 13th
Rest Stop – Beaver Dam – West Kentucky Parkway
Normally a trip on the West Kentucky Parkway is refreshing. I have long periods of open road to think. On this particular trip, the time was spent fuming in anger. I had just stopped at the Beaver Rest Area with its Visitor’s Center, (as everyone does who travels the Parkway) on my way to visit my daughter in Louisville. She had invited me to be a part of StoryCorps, the Library of Congress oral history program. (A happier subject for another time).
As West Kentucky travelers often do, I got a cup of coffee and enjoyed the first taste of caffeine for the afternoon. As I looked around the Center, I was struck with the new design of the gift shop. Bright and shiny, full of shapes and varieties were over 400 separate items. I know. I counted them. But only after I noticed that everything I picked up was MADE IN CHINA.
I couldn’t believe it. Not a single Kentucky arts or crafts product was on display. Many a time in years past, when I visited this Center, I could find potential Christmas presents from West Kentucky for friends and family.
Today, I stood in anger thinking of how this junk was being passed as souvenir trinkets from the great Commonwealth of Kentucky to unknowing travelers.
How dare Governor Fletcher and his administration support Chinese slave labor making crap to pass off as souvenirs from Kentucky? “Unbridled Spirit” must be globalization code words for slave and children’s labor.
I bought a bright shiny metal magnet of a horse, a cardinal on the outline of the state for $2.99, Clearly marked on the back, the price said “Kentucky Souvenir”, embossed in the metal “Made in China”. 
What will it take? Poison food? Lead paint poisoned toys? Countless other products dipped in toxic materials being shipped to our state before we, as Kentuckians, demand a common sense approach to tourism?
Here’s a radical thought. Why not sell real “made in Kentucky” products by real Kentucky artists and craftspeople as official Kentucky souvenirs?
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