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Bowling Green, Kentucky — The Fountain Street entertainment district in Bowling Green opened this summer. It allows people to walk around certain areas with their favorite alcoholic beverages. We examined the region after about three months of operation.
Around 2 p.m., after the lunch crowd had left, Peyton Sloan began preparing for the dinner rush. Sloan has been running the pub at Gerard’s Tavern in downtown Bowling Green since May, and two months later it became one of 17 businesses joining Fountain Row.
“It’s a little bit of a push for people to come to the city center, get into the city center more, and see everything it has to offer here,” Sloan explained.
Several signs line the streets of downtown Bowling Green explaining the rules of Fountain Street. (Spectrum News 1/Jordan Grantz)
To attract more downtown people, the entertainment area allows customers to enjoy alcoholic beverages in select cups outside the restaurant. Alcohol rules are in effect on Fridays and Saturdays between 11am and 9pm.
“It’s helped a lot of our customers order more rounds of drinks and leave with them, and we’re seeing more foot traffic come in and get drinks,” Sloan added.
Fountain Street also appears to have increased a sense of community in the area, she said.
Bowling Green is joining more than a dozen Kentucky cities as entertainment districts grow. Kentucky lawmakers passed a bill in 2016 that allows towns to implement specific districts, all aimed at growing the local economy.
“Having additional amenities downtown is one of the ways we want to drive workforce development and economic development,” said Telia Butler, Bowling Green’s downtown development coordinator.
Sharon, who grew up in Bowling Green, expects the move will bring people closer together.
“A lot of people, they tend to go to places like Scottsville Road, or something like that, so it definitely attracts more people in the area and supports more local businesses,” Sloan said.
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