Immortality Can Be Yours
On Saturday, August 29th, legions of the undead will converge on Possibility City in an attempt to set the record for the World’s Largest Zombie Gathering.

This convocation of the walking dead has been officially sanctioned by the Guinness Book of World Records. So put on your worst makeup, dress in your most ghastly clothes, splash yourself in blood, pick up an ax or chainsaw, and show up at 8:29 PM on the corner of Bardstown Road and Eastern Parkway . . . and leave a small but significant bloodstain on history.

If You’ve Got a Wooden Leg and a Parrot, Louisville Needs YOU
Believe it or not, there’s already a world record for the the largest gathering of pirates (2,646 — in California, predictably). But being the sort of city that owns the world record for gatherings of zombies, we plan on breaking it. Pirate registration takes place on Saturday September 4 until 11:30 AM; the record attempt follows immediately, from 11:35 to 11:50 AM. All this will be taking place at the Frazier International History Musuem as part of the Pirates exhibit.

The Requirements Are So Funny, We’re Not Even Editing Them
Participants must be outfitted in the required pirate dress code in order to qualify, and pirates of all ages are allowed. According to official Guinness guidelines, costumes must consist of the following:

• Pirate-style hat or bandana / ’kerchief.
• Eye patch.
• An accessory: Sword (fake ones recommended); hook; musket; skull-and-crossbones flag; or parrot.
• Appropriate shirt: Striped shirt, white shirt, or shirt.
• Appropriate trousers: Pantaloons, tatty trousers, or rolled-up trousers.

For more information, click here.

Just for the Record
If zombies and swashbucklers don’t do it for you, here are a few more records to consider sharing (or indeed breaking):

• The largest replica baseball bat in the world is in Louisville.
• The world’s largest serving of fried chicken (2,493.35 lbs) was served in Louisville.
• Woodford Reserve and Tiffany & Co partnered to offer a limited-edition $1,000 Louisville Mint Julep Cup, setting the record for the most exclusive mint julep cup in the world.
• Louisville’s summer just topped the nation in above-normal temperatures. (Hey, we never said it had to be a good record.)

Saddle up, Possibilitators: the World Equestrian Games are upon us. And although all the equine action takes place away from Louisville, we’re expecting the human action to head west for some supplemental recreation and entertainment.

Lexington’s Got the Games . . . and Louisville’s Got the Fun
Louisville’s no stranger to international accommodation — what with the Derby, the Breeders’ Cup, the Ryder Cup, and one of the world’s top-six hotels (among many other things, of course) — so we’re looking forward to sharing some of our city’s riches with this incredible gathering of sports fans and their families. Here’s a list of just a few of the nationally and internationally recognized things going on in Possibility City during the Games:

• Kentucky Opera Opening Gala
• IdeaFestival
• St. James Court Art Show
• Concours d’Elegance Car Show
• Actors Theatre “The Mystery of Irma Vep”

For a full calendar and more information, click here.

Different Courses for Different Horses
September 25 – October 10 | This is the very first time the Games have EVER been held outside Europe. So if you want to head to Lexington and see the world’s greatest equestrian athletes competing at the very highest level, you’ll be witnessing something never seen before on American soil. To learn about the individual events, which include Dressage, Driving, Endurance, Eventing, Jumping, Para Dressage, Reining, and Vaulting, click here to visit the Games’s site.

Tickets are available online by clicking here.

Here in the gateway to Bourbon Country, it’s possible to have more than one favorite bourbon of course. But just for fun, we want to know what your “go-to” bourbon is. We’ve tried to pick a brand from every Kentucky distiller, but you can also write in your choice if you don’t see yours listed.

Think long. Think hard. If you must, stop by any of the nine local bars/restaurants on the Urban Bourbon Trail to remind your tastes buds. And to make getting there even easier, download the iPhone application by clicking here. Once you’re ready, click below to vote. (Since all of these are our favorite, we decided to list the bourbons in a random order.)

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Don’t see you favorite bourbon? Go ahead and add it to the list below.

Urbane Farming

Make your friends green with envy: Watch this movie and pass it on.

The Green Food Generation
There’s a new national commitment to living better . . . and it happens through better eating and better farming. It’s being called the Green Food Generation, and here are a few reasons we’re so involved in this emerging movement:

• Louisville’s proximity and access to local fresh food provides a direct line from local farmers to local consumers . . . so we’ve become a Mecca for Community Supported Agriculture initiatives.
• Simultaneously, more and more fresh food suppliers are taking advantage of Louisville’s increasing fondness for home-grown produce by selling environmentally friendly growing supplies.
• Louisville has more local farmers’ markets than any of its peer cities.

Stick a Fork in It
Click here to find and share local farmers’ markets, food suppliers, farms, and urban farmers on a map.

How to Look Hot in Overalls
Did someone say farming in Louisville was sexy too? You’re darn right they did. Click here to read all about it.

More Dirt on Louisville

• Click here to visit a new local company, Urban Garden Share, that matches homeowners (with garden space) to gardeners (with experience). It’s the perfect solution for cultivating both food production and community!There’s a farmers’ market open every day of the week in Louisville.
• Jefferson County Public Schools are using locally grown produce in school cafeterias.
• Louisville’s not only a foodie town, but a local foodie town, with restaurants using local produce on their menus ranging from white tablecloth (Lilly’s and Limestone) to comfort food (Lynn’s Paradise and Mayan Café).

Once you voted add a comment below that tells us the best way to lower the city’s temperature. (Fill the Ohio with ice and bourbon; give all the polar bears and penguins at the zoo TARC bus passes; turn up the AC at the new arena and stop work on the roof until Fall gets here; and so on. You get the picture.)

The best ten ideas will receive something from the following weather-inspired pool of prizes:

• Possibility City Snowglobes
• Louisville Umbrellas
• Louisville Sweatshirts
• Louisville Water Bottles
• And more . . .

According to the National Weather Service this was the hottest June Louisville’s ever experienced; the average temperature in the city was 81.1 degrees, 6.9 degrees above normal. The previous record for was for June 1952, when the average temperature topped out at 80.6 degrees.

Now, we don’t know about you, but in a city famed for making darn near anything possible, we thought it was time someone did something beside drink iced tea and fuss.

So we took matters into our own hands. We assembled a team of researchers and meteorologists and people who wear glasses and came up with a two-pronged solution:

A City Where the Voting Is Heated
First, we think this is a place where we everyone should have a say in how things are run. So you, good citizen, get to decide whether hotter-than-normal weather is acceptable here. Just click HERE to go to the Friend of Lou Weather Poll.

Enough Hot Air — Do Something Already!
Second, this is Possibility City. There’s nothing we can’t figure out. We know that if you give enough resourceful, smart, and able people a place to share ideas, incentivize them with some sparkly objects, then a brilliant answer won’t be far behind.

So here’s the deal: Once you voted on the Friend of Lou Weather Poll, add a comment below the poll that tells us the best way to lower the city’s temperature. (Fill the Ohio with ice and bourbon; give all the polar bears and penguins at the zoo TARC bus passes; turn up the AC at the new arena and stop work on the roof until Fall gets here; and so on. You get the picture.) Just click HERE to do your bit.

Sparkly Objects
And for your troubles, dear friend, we will reward you. The best ten ideas will receive something from the following weather-inspired pool of prizes:
• Possibility City Snowglobes
• Louisville Umbrellas
• Louisville Sweatshirts
• Louisville Water Bottles
• And more. . .

Improving Forecast
Believe it or not, it gets better, because we’ll just learned about a cool way to get some hot deals. Get it? “Cool” way. “Hot” deals. Anyhow, a local Groupon-like discount service has just been launched. And if you like Groupon, you’re going to love Try It Local. Not only does it focus all of the unique businesses that make Louisville, “Possibility City,” more of the money goes back into the pockets of the local companies that are part of the program. So check it out at www.TryItLocal.com. You can thank us later.

Possibility City Night at Louisville Slugger Field — Thursday, June 24

And where more fitting to do it than in a place that Louisvilians transformed from a scrap metal yard into one of America’s greatest minor league ballparks — Slugger Field.

On Thursday June 24, we’re taking you out to the ball game. In addition to $1 beers and live music from 5:30-7:05, there’ll be tons of other bonuses like pictures with Buddy the Bat, raffles, a chance to catch free shirts, and the opportunity to meet and mingle with 200 new-and-soon-to-be best friends.

Oh, and make sure you bring your camera, because when you’re done, we want you to share your pictures on the Friend of Lou Flickr page.

As if THAT’S Not Enough . . .
Look lively: The first 100 people to CLICK HERE will win a pair of tickets to the game. (Try to bring someone who isn’t a Friend of Lou. If you sign them up at the game, we’ll give them some free Possibility City swag.)

But There’s More!
Get this: One lucky Friend of Lou will get to throw out the first pitch. Think you’ve got the arm for it? CLICK HERE and tell us what you think makes living in Louisville a home run.

. . . to be read incredibly fast at the end of this email . . .
The 100 Friends of Lou will be notified via email by Friday June 18. The winner of the first pitch contest will be notified via email by Friday June 18. (If you didn’t click and you didn’t enter you have only yourself to blame.)

Runners-Up: All is not lost. Do not panic. Click on the Friend of Lou Patch over there on the left, print it out, and bring it to the ticket booth on June 24 from 5:30-7:30 and you’ll receive $2 off every ticket you buy.

Did You Know?

• Voted by USA Today as one of the 10 greatest places for a baseball pilgrimage.
• Slugger Field’s architecture is unique — a 102-year-old train shed was incorporated into the stadium’s design.
• There’s loads of FREE on-street parking. Seriously.
• The distance from home to backstop is only 60 feet . . . the same distance as in Chicago’s Wrigley Field.
• The building is made from almost half-a-million bricks and two-and-a-half million pounds of steel.

This is the special edition Friend of Lou baseball patch that the Louisville Bats players wear. Print this page out and bring it to the game on Thursday, June 24 to get $2 off the ticket price.

Coupon discount valid one, per coupon. Coupon valid only on Thursday, June 24.

Roll Over Beethoven

Day Tripper
Abbey Road on the River | May 27–31
This holiday weekend over 30,000 music fans will be descending on the Belvedere to pay homage to the Beatles in the biggest event of its kind in America. With an average of over 60 bands annually, the festival features different types of bands . . . from acts that look, sound, and behave like the Beatles to others that just play the music of Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison without trying to reproduce the sound. Click here for more information.

Do You Want to Know a Secret?
Show up on Monday, tell ‘em you’re a Friend of Lou, and you can go to the festival for free. For nothing. Gratis. Want to stay longer? The Galt House is offering a special $99 rate. Same deal — just tell them who sent you.

Money (That’s What I Want)
University of Louisville Guitar Festival and Competition | May 28–31
The University of Louisville School of Music inaugural Guitar Festival and Competition assembles an international roster of top-rate guitarists, including Jason Vieaux, the Tantalus Quartet, William Yelverton, Dieter Hennings, David Walker, and others. The festival also features a competition . . . presumably for the highly strung . . . that comes with a fat $1,000 first-place award and concert. Click here for more information.

Got To Get You Into My Life
Forecastle Festival | Friday July 9–11
If you prefer your rock to look forward than backward, Forecastle’s for you. Founded right here in Possibility City, the event is equal parts music, art, and activism. Connecting the progressive Midwest, Forecastle has grown from 700 people in 2002 in Tyler Park to over 12,000 people at the Belvedere. Spin magazine named it one of the top “101 Things to Do in America.” The festival’s growing so much that its moving to Waterfront Park this year. Click here for more information.

P.S. I Love You
You know us — the very souls of philanthropy. EMAIL US the best concert or band you ever saw perform in Louisville, and the story that impresses us the most will get two tickets to Forecastle — plus we’ll share it in our next email, ensuring you not only of great wealth but immediate fame.

I Want to Tell You
HullabaLOU | July 23–25
Since we’re on the topic of music and festivals, let’s not forget the newest addition to Louisville’s music lineup — HullabaLOU. Sure, it has a cool name, but it also has three days of music, five stages set in one of America’s most legendary venues (Churchill Downs), and more than 65 artists ranging from Al Green to the Zac Brown Band. Click here for more information.

Tell us who you think is Louisville’s finest local business or service.

It could be a one-person enterprise, a music group or artist, a small family-run firm, or even a local company that’s hit the big time. Just write your recommendation in the Comments section below, and we’ll do the rest.

The Rest (And How We’ll Make It Cool)
We’re going to tally up all your recommendations in two weeks, then we’re going to make a special homegrown video for whoever wins. We’ll share it here with everyone — with luck, it’ll promote their business in the process.