Most people look at a concrete ramp at the side of a building and see an access point for folks who use wheelchairs or walkers.
Hopkinsville photographer and artist Cat Lacy is not most people — which is why she looked at the handicap ramp at the Pennyroyal Area Museum one day and saw something extra. A canvas.
Lacy told museum executive director Alissa Keller she ought to have a mural painted on the ramp. It would add a creative element to the museum’s exterior without having to alter the historic building that was once the Hopkinsville Post Office.
Keller agreed and asked Lacy if she would do the honors.
This Saturday, March 23, the mural will take shape during Cayce Days in and around the museum.
“It’s a community mural,” Lacy told me. “I’ll do the finishing touches, but anybody can come and work on it.”
Painting will start at 10:30 a.m. Volunteers interested in helping can find the project on the Liberty Street side of the museum building.
Lacy has already sketched out a plan. The mural will incorporate many images of people and stories associated with Hopkinsville and Christian County, including psychic Edgar Cayce, author bell hooks, the Trail of Tears and even an alien or two.
The mural project is one among a dozen activities and programs dedicated to Cayce’s life and work on Friday and Saturday. A few of the programs have a fee and require registration.
Friday’s slate of events at the Pennyroyal Area Museum, 217 E. Ninth St., includes:
- 5:30 p.m. — Opening reception
- 6 p.m. — “The Women of Edgar Cayce’s Family” presented by Grace Abernethy; $10 fee
- 7 p.m. — Viewing of the film “The Beautiful Dreamer”
Saturday events include:
- 9 a.m. — Chakra workshop with Tricia Ferrell; $10 fee
- 10 a.m. — Morning exercises
- 10:30 a.m. — Cat Lacy will begin an outdoor mural painting, which will continue all day
- 11 a.m. — Short bus tours to Beverly Academy with Brett Pritchett and William Turner
- Noon — Mummy food demonstration and tasting with Alissa Keller
- 1 p.m. — Stones and crystals presentation with Julie-Anna Carlisle at Milkweed, 202 E. Ninth St.
- 2 p.m. — “Make Your Own Essential Oil Roller Blades” with Janet Bravard
- 3 p.m. — Pit (the game Cayce invented) tournament with Brett Pritchett
- 4 p.m. — Guided group meditation and labyrinth walk
- 6 p.m. — “Two Voice, One Message: The Work of Edgar Cayce and bell hooks” with Alissa Keller; $10 fee
Here’s our story with more details.
Cayce Days is sponsored by the museum, Milkweed Health & Harmony Emporium and Visit Hopkinsville.
It is an annual observance. Museum employees and board members organized the first Cayce event, styled as a seminar, in 1993.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
