"This is a grassroots call to action to get people out walking the neighborhood at least once a month, while supporting and enjoying all the great businesses, both new and longtime favorites." Brian Goodwin, a Highlands small business owner, said that in the Louisville Metro announcement of the first Highlands Hop.
The first Hop ran Friday, September 25, from 5 to 9 p.m. on Bardstown Road and Baxter Avenue. Metro Councilman Ben Reno-Weber of District 8 announced it on September 23 and said the plan is to repeat it on the last Friday of every month. Businesses are encouraged to stay open later and run specials.
Goodwin put "new and longtime favorites" in the same sentence, and the timing explains why. Between late July and late August, the corridor gained new restaurants, lost a restaurant and a Baxter Avenue boutique that had been open 24 years, and saw announcements for places that haven't opened yet. A monthly evening on a fixed date gives everyone a regular reason to walk the strip and see how it has changed since the last time.
Bardstown Road Businesses Run the Sign-Ups
Councilman Reno-Weber described the Hop as something "local businesses along Bardstown Road organized" to create "a monthly destination for the community." The city's job was to announce it. The businesses run the sign-ups.
The announcement lists three places to contact if you want to take part: Goodwin, Darling's, and Murray's.
- Darling's is a gin-focused cocktail bar at 1765 Bardstown Road. When it opened in 2021, LEO Weekly reported that Goodwin was one of its four co-owners.
- Murray's Creole Pub is at 1576 Bardstown Road, in the space that used to be Pints and Union. WLKY reported in January that Chef Lawrence Weeks, a James Beard Award semifinalist, opened it as a two-story restaurant. The first floor is a British-style pub he calls the Bayou Bar, and the second floor was planned for reservation-only French Creole tasting menus.
So one sign-up contact has been on the corridor since 2021 and the other opened this year. That matches the "new and longtime" pitch.
The public announcements don't list which businesses took part on September 25 or what specials they ran. Louisville Business First's preview said only that participating restaurants, bars and shops would offer promotions and specials. The current details live on the Highlands Hop Facebook event page, which the city linked in its release.
What Changed on the Corridor Before the First Hop
Here is the summer the Hop came out of, based on local reporting from July and August.
Openings
- Bae's Baekery opened a new Bardstown Road location in late July. The Courier Journal's July roundup said it had opened just days earlier.
- Mimi's Ethiopian Restaurant opened August 1 at 1534 Bardstown Road, in the former Tacos D'Amor & More space, according to the Courier Journal.
Closures
- La Bamba at 1237 Bardstown Road posted a permanent-closure notice dated August 21, the Courier Journal reported.
- Pitaya closed its boutique at 955 Baxter Avenue after 24 years, Louisville Business First reported.
Announced, not yet open
- 12hours will combine a vintage clothing store with a Vietnamese café in the Highlands, Hoodline reported on August 21. No opening date has been announced.
The Hop announcement came out about a month after the La Bamba notice and the 12hours report. A once-a-month evening gives newer places a set night when people are already out on the street, and it gives longtime spots a reason for people to stop in again.
How the Last-Friday Schedule Falls This Fall
If the Hop keeps to a last-Friday schedule, the next three dates are October 30, November 27 and December 25. I worked those dates out from the calendar. The organizers haven't confirmed any of them individually, and no October theme has been announced.
Two of those Fridays land on holidays. November 27 is the day after Thanksgiving, and December 25 is Christmas Day. How the businesses handle those months is something to watch on the Facebook event page.
October 30 falls in a busy stretch of the Highlands calendar.
| Date | What's happening | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 24 | HalLOUween Parade & Fest | East Jefferson Street in NuLu, not on Bardstown Road | Parade 7 to 8:30 p.m. |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Scenic Loop closed to cars | Cherokee Park | 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 30 | Highlands Hop, if the last-Friday schedule holds | Bardstown Road and Baxter Avenue | 5 to 9 p.m. was the September window |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Crawl With US Halloween bar crawl | Check-in at Atomic, 1125 Bardstown Road | 4 to 10 p.m., check-in 4 to 6 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | PubCrawls.com Halloween Bar Crawl | Check-in at Flanagan's Ale House, 934 Baxter Avenue | 3 to 10 p.m., check-in 3 to 7 p.m. |
A few notes on those dates:
- HalLOUween moved. The event's own site lists Saturday, October 24 as a "NEW DATE," while the Louisville Halloween homepage still shows October 10. Go by the event page, and check it again before you head out.
- The Cherokee Park closure is the park's monthly car-free day. The Olmsted Parks Conservancy events page lists the Scenic Loop closed to traffic on October 25.
- The two October 31 crawls are separate events run by different organizers. Both appear in a Halloween events roundup published October 1. The Crawl With US event page lists ten stops along Bardstown Road and Baxter Avenue: Atomic, PG&J Dog Park Bar, Flanagan's Ale House, Big Bar, Chill Bar Highlands, Goodfellas Pizzeria, Highlands Tap Room, O'Shea's Irish Pub, Outlook Inn, and Wick's Pizza Parlor & Pub.
If the Hop does run October 30, Bardstown Road will have organized evening events two nights in a row, with the Hop on Friday and the crawls on Saturday. Plan parking and pickups with that in mind.
The Street Under the Hop Is Up for Changes Too
The road itself is getting attention as well. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's project page, last updated August 27, says pedestrian-access and signal work on Bardstown Road between Taylorsville Road and Eastern Parkway is still in development. Construction is tentatively scheduled for 2028.
The Courier Journal reported in August that the second-phase concept includes studying a single-lane roundabout at the five-way intersection of Dundee Road and Douglass Boulevard. The paper described it as a possibility still under study.
That timeline is long, and the dates can change. The Hop works on a much shorter cycle. Businesses on the corridor are building a monthly walking night now, years before any planned changes to sidewalks and signals start.
Quick Answers
When is the next Highlands Hop? The announced schedule is the last Friday of each month, which makes the next one Friday, October 30. Confirm it on the Highlands Hop Facebook event page before you go.
Can my business join? The city's announcement says to contact Brian Goodwin, Darling's or Murray's to sign up.
Is HalLOUween part of the Highlands Hop? No. HalLOUween is in NuLu on East Jefferson Street on October 24, a separate event in a different part of town.
I keep track of what's opening, closing and coming up along Bardstown Road because it's part of how I know the Highlands. If you're curious how the corridor's changes might affect what your home is worth, I'm happy to put together a valuation for you. Text or call Ethan John Adams any day of the week. Let's Connect.
