I know that when you look at the title and see the word Paris, you think of Paris, France–the city of lights, known for the Eiffel Tower and culture. Well, we have one of those. My Paris is actually a small town in Kentucky right in the heart of horse farm country. So here are the Top 10 memories I have of Paris, KT.
Prom in Paris, KT was the event of the season. Both years I went were filled with people from the community coming to watch 15-19-year-olds getting out of cars wearing dresses that cost more than their rent. Now I’m not sure about other places, but it was normal practice here for people in their late 70s to cheer whenever random teenagers emerged from a car. So that definitely stuck in my mind.
My town being in basketball country, sports was always a big thing. While I was in high school we would always have huge rivalries with the other high school in town. There were scrimmages between the schools that allowed for the entire time to come out and watched. This also brought the best and worst of competition. Every time there was a flag or something happened on the field all the players would ‘assert their manliness’. We no longer play football against them.
With football no longer being played between the schools, we had basketball left. One particular game stands out in my memories and the memories of anyone from Paris, KT. A November 2014 game left both schools in minor trouble. Students were on twitter talking smack and everything until a student had posted a picture taking it a step too far. It was a big thing with police cars and later that night an ambulance. But, it was still fun!
That was the season that UK won the NCAA Championship. My county was on Spring Break that week so of course, what do we do? We partied and had a great time to celebrate. That was the year the tradition of burning couches at UK after a tournament win started. The partying moved from Lexington to the surrounding towns including my own making it a fun week.
Our school would always have a mud pit for senior games on the last day of school. Beforehand the high school would look like a total wreck of silly string, confetti, paint balloons (washable of course), and mud. This gave the Seniors a last chance to have fun before graduation with no finals and the underclassmen girls the chance to ogle the guys when they changed in the parking lot so their cars didn’t get all muddy.
The high school was small, but the gym was a good size. That meant that every May 1,200 people would crowd into a non air-conditioned gym. The 2017 class was certainly rowdy, yelling and cheering during through the speeches and name calls during the ceremony. The ceremony ended with the superintendent getting hit in the face with silly string.
In this small town in the middle of nowhere, we had nothing to do most of the time. Being a teenager to 20 something in a small town left you with very limited choices. We did have a drive-in movie theater and small coffee shop. This left many people with having to make up something, almost any weekend you’d see a bonfire in a field out off the back roads and barns (a la Footloose, 2012). So usually these parties are something else and always fun.
Every year the county fair was something else. It was in the middle of the summer so after school had ended it was a way for people to show off their mid-summer glo up or coming back from college to hang out with friends you hadn’t seen for months. And, of course, no county fair was complete without the tractor pull and pig wrestling.
I said we had at least one thing the original Paris does. That just so happens to be the Eiffel Tower! Granted ours is a lot smaller and does not light up at night, but we still have one. There was a big town party and street fair to promote the town, and our very own Eiffel Tower. People still use it for prom pictures.
The Marching band at Bourbon County High School has been state champs for two years now. The band is the best AAA in the state so any list about Paris, KT isn’t complete without it. Every year it’s a big thing, and many people tune in to watch or get regular updates of what’s going on. When they won four times while was in school there was always a huge celebration, complete with a pep rally, and the band members wearing their medals and state rings all day, every day, all year. It was something big for the town to have a party about and be excited about this sleepy, cow town.
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