Once the mining center of the southeastern coalfields, Hazard is reimagining its heart center.
Joan Vannorsdall
Hazard’s stories, both past and present, are told beautifully in murals throughout downtown.
We’ll get this out of the way now: Hazard, Kentucky, was not the inspiration nor the setting for the CBS comedy and 2005 film, “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Georgia can claim both.
No, Hazard—and Perry County that surrounds it—has a significantly more heroic name attachment, going back to the War of 1812. Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British at the Battle of Lake Erie, bolstered by 100 Kentucky long rifle soldiers stationed on the flagship. “We have met the enemy, and they are ours,” Perry wrote in his dispatch to General William Henry Harrison. Honoring the victor, Perry County took his last name, and the county seat took his middle name.
Bordered by the North Fork of the Kentucky River, Hazard is a city of 5,240 whose Mayor bears the wonderful nickname of “Happy.” Here’s his take on his town, posted on the city website: “What sets Hazard apart from other communities is our unique character. Hazard is quirky and creative, from our arts and entertainment to our special events, architecture, restaurants and shops.”
Curious about an eastern Kentucky town that would describe itself as quirky and creative, I went to Hazard to see for myself.
Like most county seats, Hazard has a downtown long dominated by law offices, banks, the County Courthouse and City Hall. And like most coal towns, Hazard saw much of its downtown go dark in the wake of mine shutdowns.
But the citizens of Hazard took matters in their own hands, forming a group called InVision Hazard in 2013 with assistance from the Mountain Association and Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky (FAKY), who provided help in bringing in foundation funding from outside the region “to promote affordable housing, nurture entrepreneurs and revitalize downtown corridors.”
And in 2019, InVision Hazard hired a downtown coordinator. What Bailey Richards has accomplished in four years—even as COVID raged—is visible all up and down Main Street.
Originally from the Cincinnati, Ohio, area, Bailey Richards came to the mountains for two summers as a volunteer with the Appalachia Service Project, focused on home repair and relationship-building. With a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Louisville, Richards came to Hazard in 2011 and continued her work in housing with the Housing Development Alliance and Kentucky River Community Care, in addition to reporting for The Hazard Herald.
Her knowledge about her adopted home town is encyclopedic, and it’s shared with visible pride.
“We’ve had an 18 percent increase in population between 2010 and 2020—the second highest increase in the entire state,” she says. “We’ve had a large influx of people moving home—some the result of COVID, of course. But also we’ve seen folks who grew up here coming back—pushback on leaving eastern Kentucky being the thing to do.” (No doubt it helps that the Hazard City Schools are usually ranked in the top 10 Kentucky systems.)
“Hazard has 3,000 people working in the downtown—there’s a lot going on.”
Indeed. As a newcomer to Hazard, I’m seeing some intriguing things. The Appalachian Quilt and Craft shop, a community gathering spot for fabric and yarn artists. The beautiful Riverside International Peace Garden, initiated in 2008 by two Hazard Girl Scouts asking for an end to wars. The busy Hazard Coffee Company and a well-stocked toy store next door. The Appalachian Apparel Company, with made-to-order shirts. A creatively stocked independent bookstore named Read Spotted Newt.
And in the former Greyhound bus station you’ll find the home base of the Appalachian Arts Alliance called the ArtStation. It’s a beautifully restored 1930s-era building with the original pressed-tin ceiling, brick walls and an outdoor garden/patio event space. It houses a dance studio, music lesson spaces, a community kitchen and performance area. And since its July 2020 opening, it’s a space that speaks volumes about Hazard’s commitment to creativity and its people.
Given its location on the North Fork of the Kentucky River, Hazard was in the center of the 2022 eastern Kentucky floods. “We were very fortunate here in downtown,” Richards says.
“Perry County got hit hard, but we were one of the few Main Streets in the region that didn’t get wiped out by the flooding. And so we were able to serve as a central distribution center for relief efforts.”
In the four years that Richards has served as downtown coordinator, 49 new businesses have come to the city of Hazard. “We want to help small, interaction-based businesses grow. To be hyper-local. We want to be a small town with a little bit of something for everyone.”
Like most effective leaders, Richards is quick to share the credit for the ongoing progress in town, and she understands with real clarity the purpose behind what’s been accomplished.
“The citizens of Hazard have driven the change here. And I don’t think our goal is to get back to where we were—we’re looking at a completely different definition of what downtown is.”
So yes. Quirky and creative are accurate and enticing descriptors for Hazard, Kentucky. No doubt more of the same lies ahead for the Queen City of the Mountains.
The Goose is Back
Joan Vannorsdall
Hazard’s famed Mother Goose House lost its head in 2021, but all is back in place at the quirky landmark.
Out Main Street from downtown Hazard stands the Mother Goose House. You have to see it to believe it—and Oprah and The New York Times, and as well as Home and Garden Television’s “Extreme Homes” have all made that possible for much of the world.
The story goes something like this: In 1930, Hazard resident George Stacy decided he’d design a home shaped like a goose after carving one for Thanksgiving dinner. It took 10 years to build the circular house with an oval roof topped by…yes, a monumental goose head.
In addition to being a dwelling, it was a store, a filling station and a bed and breakfast.
And then, in March of 2021, the head fell off.
“The Goose will rise again,” was the rallying cry in Hazard, and by August, the head was back in place.
You can’t keep a good goose down in quirky and creative Hazard.
The story above first appeared in our January / February 2024 issue. For more like it subscribe today or log in with your active BRC+ Membership. Thank you for your support!