At yesterday’s official groundbreaking for the new headquarters of the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY, bluegrass royalty was on hand to help disturb the soil.
Jesse McReynolds, Larry Sparks, Del McCoury, Eddie Adcock, and J.D. Crowe donned their work clothes and turned over a shovel of good Kentucky loam as Museum staff and local/state luminaries looked on.
When completed in 2018 the new building will allow for greatly expanded exhibit and storage space for IBMM, plus indoor and outdoor concert space, a larger gift shop, and a restaurant space along the Ohio river.
Fundraising efforts to achieve this goal have been ongoing for several years, with both the City of Owensboro and the Commonwealth of Kentucky assisting in reaching the total required. To get started on construction, the Museum had to obtain commitments for more than $15 million, which they secured in April of last year.
The new facility will be dubbed the International Bluegrass Music Center and is expected to become a tourist destination for bluegrass fans worldwide.
