Boyle EDP lead funder for regional economic development luncheon

Published 6:45 am Saturday, August 18, 2018

Boyle County’s economic development agency plans to take the lead in funding a regional luncheon event at Wild Turkey Distillery’s visitors center near Lawrenceburg.

The regional event is designed to attract economic development projects for Boyle County and 10 other counties. It will hopefully attract around 50 site selectors, tax advisors and people involved in commercial real estate from the Lexington, Louisville, Cincinnati and Nashville markets, said Jody Lassiter, CEO of the Danville-Boyle County Economic Development Partnership, during the EDP’s recent board meeting.

The event is expected to occur in either October or November and would give Boyle and its partners in the regional “Kentucky Crossroads” economic development group a chance to show those VIPs what the region has to offer, Lassiter said.

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About 25 people from the Kentucky Crossroads counties will be on-hand to network with the guests, and the guests will get “carry-away” information about the region, “broadly focused on the commercial and industrial sectors,” as well as potentially a gift of bourbon, Lassiter said.

“We represent the lion’s share of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and the legacy bourbon counties in Kentucky,” he said.

The total cost of the event is budgeted at $12,000. Each Kentucky Crossroads partner is hopefully contributing $1,000, but Boyle County will be contributing $2,000. That’s because “we have received … dollars from our Chairman’s Circle donors for the purpose of leading our region,” Lassiter said.

There may be more than 500 invited to the event.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to draw from that about 10 percent, and have 50 guests come and joint us and share in a little bit of our hospitality in our Kentucky Crossroads region,” Lassiter said. “… We could not do this alone, and that’s why we’re doing it regionally. Because this kind of expense — $12,000 — with the budget you approved in June would be nigh impossible. So we’re able to get that value for essentially $2,000.”