For those who enjoy the combination of physical exercise and a downtown atmosphere, the Mayor’s Mile will be the ideal place to enjoy the best of both worlds. The Mayor’s Mile will be a marked, mile-long path that runs through downtown Owensboro with various starting points.
The Mayor’s Mile is dedicated to the former, current, and future mayors of Owensboro, and Assistant City Manager Lelan Hancock has played a big role in planning and designing the OBKY project.
“It’s one of a short list of OBKY projects, along with the bridge lighting, the Entertainment Destination Center and the downtown murals to be painted at multiple locations,” Hancock said. “It’s there to honor all the mayors of Owensboro.”
Hancock said that as a runner himself, he’s walked the Mayor’s Mile several times to make sure its distance equates a perfect mile. Hancock believes the marked layout through downtown Owensboro will provide a great service to those who enjoy running, walking and biking, especially because a section of the Mayor’s Mile will run along the Ohio River.
Hancock said if you use the Bell House as one of the starting points that’ll be marked, the trail would run along the riverfront to the Owensboro Convention Center and turn left at the pier. The trail would then cut and turn in front of the convention center and take another left on 2nd Street, running all the way to Daviess Street, and back to the starting point at the Bell House in front of the RiverPark Center.
The project has been in the works for several months and is far less costly than most downtown projects.
“[Owensboro] Public Works played a big part in this,” Hancock said. “The total costs for this project should be less than a $1,000. Roughly about every tenth of a mile, we’ll have a banner hanging there.”
Tanner+West advertising agency is designing the banners for the Mayor’s Mile that will hang from existing telephone and light poles, and as soon as Hancock and Tim Ross, the Director of Public Events for the City of Owensboro receive and approve them, they will go up.
Maps will also be placed at different downtown locations — one of them being the convention center — to assist residents in finding the trail and starting points.
Both Hancock and Ross plan on unveiling the Mayor’s Mile as soon as the weather warms up in the spring. The artwork for the banners will be discussed at the first city commission meeting in January.
