Clark County tourism fuels record local growth 

Kentucky tourism broke records for the fourth year in a row in 2025, accord­ing to an announce­ment days ago by Gov. Andy Beshear. Last year, tourism in Kentucky gen­er­at­ed $14.6 bil­lion in eco­nom­ic impact and sup­port­ed near­ly 97,000 jobs. 

Winchester and Clark County played a sig­nif­i­cant part in that suc­cess, accord­ing to Tourism Director Jill Hamlin, whose June 2026 report was pre­sent­ed to the Winchester-Clark County Tourism Commission at its June 16 meeting. 

In Clark County, vis­i­tors spent $65.6 mil­lion on expens­es includ­ing lodg­ing, restau­rants, retail, attrac­tions, events, trans­porta­tion, and oth­er businesses. 

The spend­ing sup­port­ed an esti­mat­ed 428 jobs, gen­er­at­ing $13.2 mil­lion in labor income and rais­ing $4.9 mil­lion in state and local tax revenue. 

Hamlin was absent from the meet­ing due to ill­ness, but the board reviewed her writ­ten report. 

The eco­nom­ic impact was $2 mil­lion more than in 2024, when the fig­ure was $63.6 mil­lion. Labor income from tourism increased by $ 300,000, and tax rev­enue rose by $100,000. 

“That’s huge. The num­bers are astro­nom­i­cal!” board mem­ber Tamatha Boyken said.

Local organizations honored

On Monday, Hamlin and oth­er staff and board mem­bers of Winchester-Clark County Tourism — along with oth­er local offi­cials, media, and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers — went to the state cap­i­tal at the invi­ta­tion of State Sen. Greg Elkins of Winchester to cel­e­brate success. 

Also attend­ing the event were sev­er­al busi­ness and non­prof­it lead­ers rep­re­sent­ing a few of the many Clark County orga­ni­za­tions that claimed hon­ors in the 2026 Best of Kentucky awards, part of the Guide to Kentucky program. 

Sen. Elkins spoke to the group for about 45 min­utes, rec­og­niz­ing each recip­i­ent, lead­ing off with an extend­ed con­grat­u­la­tions to Winchester-Clark County Tourism for claim­ing the top prize in the Convention & Visitors Bureaus category.

Elkins had high praise for Tourism Director Jill Hamlin.

“If I’m want­i­ng [some­one] to sing the prais­es of our com­mu­ni­ty, while that per­son might be some­what small in stature . . . [she has] a very loud voice!

“When I first met Jill . . . I imme­di­ate­ly knew that [she] was the right per­son for that job. I saw the tal­ent there. I saw the passion . . . .”

Turning to Jill, he continued.

“I think you are most deserv­ing of this recog­ni­tion. You and every­one around this table . . . and on this day, I want to con­grat­u­late you.”

Jill was urged to say a few words, and she reluc­tant­ly com­plied. Through tears of hap­pi­ness, she told the group that they were the dri­ving force behind the suc­cess of Winchester and Clark County.

“You all are what makes peo­ple want to come to us. You help cre­ate our sto­ries. You help cre­ate the things that peo­ple can do when they come to vis­it, but also for all of us [who] live in our won­der­ful town and our won­der­ful Community. They give us some­thing to do to be proud of and to talk about so that when we’re at the gas sta­tions, we’re not say­ing, ‘Well, there just ain’t noth­ing to do around here.’

“Just look at this room right here. There is some­thing for every­body to do, and when we all come togeth­er like this, we can cre­ate more.

“I’m so proud of all of the oth­er 16 win­ners and peo­ple rec­og­nized for these awards. This is huge! Winchester ‑Clark County real­ly puts the Sweet in 16. We have done it, and we will do it again and again and again!”

Fifteen oth­er Winchester and Clark County busi­ness­es and orga­ni­za­tions were also rec­og­nized with Best of Kentucky hon­ors. (See sidebar.)

Tourism Board meeting

During Tuesday’s meet­ing at the tourism office, there was a dis­cus­sion of last weekend’s Beer Cheese Festival. Board Chair Elizabeth Chalfant said there were near­ly 150 ven­dors this year. 

City Commissioner Kitty Strode, a mem­ber of the tourism board, said she thinks the atten­dance was prob­a­bly the biggest ever for the fes­ti­val, which was in its 17^th year. She also com­mend­ed the employ­ees of Winchester’s Public Works Department for their efforts, say­ing that “if we didn’t have Public Works, there would be no festival.” 

Strode said the Friday night Rock the Block con­cert and street dance also drew the high­est atten­dance ever. 

Taylor said she hasn’t heard any­thing but pos­i­tive com­ments about the festival. 

Boyken said the Winchester-Clark County Farmers Market, which opened in May, has been well-attend­ed so far this year. 

“It has been packed every sin­gle Saturday,” board mem­ber Taylor Kincaid said. 

Boyken said she likes that the week­ly event brings dif­fer­ent gen­er­a­tions togeth­er. She said she’s been involved in the farm­ers mar­ket for 18 years, and she’s noticed there is a younger crowd than there used to be. 

“We see more babies in strollers and kids that I was their team mom for soc­cer and foot­ball. I love that! I’m out there every Saturday, and they come to see their friends, they get an iced cof­fee, they get a scone, they go for a walk. … It’s just a huge bless­ing,” she said. 

“I spend all week look­ing for­ward to Saturday morn­ings,” Kincaid agreed. 

Chalfant men­tioned Fort Boonesborough State Park’s annu­al Gathering of Descendants Day event, which will be held at the fort this Saturday, June 20, from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. 

There will be a pre­sen­ta­tion on using land grants for genealog­i­cal research, a talk by not­ed Daniel Boone his­to­ri­an Randal Jones, and a talk by Nancy O’Malley, the archae­ol­o­gist who led two digs at the orig­i­nal fort site. There will also be demon­stra­tions of pio­neer skills by liv­ing his­to­ry volunteers. 

Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for chil­dren, and free for kids under age 5. 

Parking is on Ky. 388, and a free shut­tle will run from the park­ing area to the fort.