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Daniel Boone is being resurrected in Jessamine County for one night only, and this time, it will be for a dinner and a show.

First Vineyard Winery will host a performance of “Daniel Boone: The First Kentuckian” on Saturday, August 5.

Kevin Hardesty will be portraying Boone. He’ll be telling the audience tales of the life and times of the intrepid trailblazer, mapmaker, surveyor, and scout, said Wilma Clapp, events coordinator at First Vineyard.

The performance is part of the Kentucky Humanities Council’s Chautauqua program, which according to the council’s website, allows actors to be booked to “travel to schools and community organizations throughout the state delivering historically accurate dramatizations of Kentuckians who made valuable contributions.”

Boone is credited with the exploration of the Bluegrass State. In 1783, pioneer Boone surveyed the property in which the vineyard is located- more than a decade before the country’s first vineyard was opened.

“We have so much history out here, and it naturally draws people in who love history, especially in that way because they hear Daniel Boone himself talk about it. Of course, it’s not himself, but Hardesty does a lot to equate himself and put himself in that role. He does a wonderful job of it. I think people will see history coming alive in front of them through him,” said vineyard co-owner Bobbye Carpenter

The vineyard last held this event with Boone in 2018; before that, they had an event with Mark Twain in 2015. But finally, the vineyard is bringing it back.

Dinner will be the Kentucky classic, according to Carpenter. It will include pinto beans, onions, cornbread, potato casserole, cobbler ala mode, or vanilla ice cream with the attendee’s choice of chocolate or caramel syrup, and water, lemonade, or iced tea to drink. The vineyard’s iconic wine- from the same type of grapes used at the turn of the 19th century- will also be available for purchase.

Dinner will be served from 6 to 6:45 p.m., followed by Mr. Boone’s presentation from 7 to 7:45 p.m. Tickets for the dinner and presentation are $25, and tickets for the presentation only are $12. Attendees will have opportunities before and after the show to speak with the reincarnation of Daniel Boone.

Reservations for the show and/or dinner may be made and paid for in advance by calling Bobbye at either (859) 885-9359 or (859) 948-4208 and must be made by July 28, 2023.