LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A combination of events is going to bring tens of thousands of people in Central Kentucky this weekend, potentially leading to some parking and accommodation headaches.
During the upcoming weekend, the University of Kentucky will host the NCAA Baseball Tournament Regional. The high school state tennis and baseball tournaments will happen in both Lexington and Nicholasville. People from across the country will visit Danville for the Great American Brass Band Festival. The Railbird music festival will bring tens of thousands of people to the Red Mile.
A quick search of Kayak.com for hotel rooms in Lexington from Friday, June 2 to Sunday, June 4 shows only a few remaining rooms ranging from $194 per night to $610 per night.
The University of Kentucky will open up apartment-style dorm rooms to host the visiting NCAA baseball teams. The UK players will stay there as well. Fans hoping to visit for the tournament, though, will not have many affordable options, according to that apartment search.
Parking could be a challenge as well. Kroger Field's lot was already slated to be a satellite lot for Railbird. It is now divided up into parking for Railbird, NCAA baseball parking, and Kentucky high school event parking.
Tourism officials say with those headaches, comes a silver lining.
"You know, it's a good problem to have," said Lisa Miller of Visit LEX. "We just see it as a great opportunity for people to enjoy the city and go back and share with their friends and family and hopefully consider to come visit Lexington again,"
A brand new hotel, The Manchester, will open this weekend. Over the last few years, Miller says Lexington's gained a couple thousand hotel rooms. She says the positive effects of visitation like this can reverberate for a while.
"We want to be the most welcoming and hospitable destination and show them the best of Lexington, so just keeping in mind that when we have things like this come to town, the economic impact for our city is so great and so wonderful for our partners," she said.
