Louisville Hamfest History
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It all began in 1959 with a July planning meeting of the Greater Louisville Hamfest and the first successful meeting of Kentuckiana ham radio operators at Parkway Field.
On Sunday, July 31, 1960 the Greater Louisville Hamfest Association sponsored the second Louisville hamfest at General Electric's Appliance Park. Two stations were set up in GEs Monogram Hall for talk-in. About 800 people from 6 states attended. Inside Monogram Hall, the hamfest took on a county-fair look with exhibits on new radio equipment, lectures and entertainment. Prizes were awarded for the best homebrew radio components, the best mobile sets and the best-designed QSL cards.
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It was the Louisville Hamfest-Picnic-Auction on Sunday, August 6, 1961 at Cherokee Park. Throughout the years, the Greater Louisville Hamfest was in various places.
Although researched, no information about a hamfest here in Louisville from 1962 through 1965 could be found.
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On October 15, 1966 the Louisville Ham Kenvention came, with technical forums, exhibits, banquet and giant indoor trade-o-rama and a ladies program.
The Louisville Ham Kenvention was at the Executive In Motor Hotel on September 8 & 9, 1967 and August 30 & 31, 1968. It sponsored the ARRL KY State Convention in 1967 and was sponsored by ARTS in 1968.
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In 1969, the ARRL Great Lakes Division Convention was held here in Louisville. I couldn't find any further information, nor could I find data for a hamfest in 1970.
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1971 was the initial hamfest that eventually became the Greater Louisville Hamfest. It was held at Chenoweth Park (now Charlie Vettiner Park). This was the site used in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the Kentuckiana Radio Club for Field Day, possibly why some KRC members were involved with getting the hamfest started. However, there was an issue with using a Metro Park, like Chenoweth. At least, at the time, selling in their parks was not allowed, therefore they moved to eliminate that issue. {Thanks to Rick Roberson N4RZ for the 1971 info.}
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The GLH was held August 27, 1972 at Pine Grove, Otter Creek Park. Then in 1973, the third annual Greater Louisville Hamfest (that's how I knew there was one in 1971) was held August 26 at the Oldham County Fairgrounds in LaGrange, KY.
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Now this is where the number of hamfests in Louisville gets confusing. 1960 was reported to be the second annual GLH according to The Paducah Sun, but 1973 was the third annual GLH as listed in 73 Magazine. What in tar-nation happened? We will move forward.
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In 1974, the GLH was again at the Oldham County Fairgrounds, but moved to the Kentucky National Guard Armory on Crittenden Drive in 1975. and 1976, presented by the Kentuckiana Radio Club, Inc.
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On Sunday, September 25, 1977 the Seventh Annual Greater Louisville Hamfest moved to the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, the home of GLH for 11 years, through 1988. Attendance in 1979 was around 3000 amateur radio operators during the ARRL KY State Convention. The ARRL Great Lakes Division Convention was held in 1981. More than 5000 hams attended in 1985 when Space Shuttle Challenger Astronaut Tony England was a guest speaker during the National ARRL Convention.
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The Commonwealth Convention Center became the venue for GLH from 1989 until 1994 for 2-day events. GLH hosted an ARRL State Convention in 1991, 1993 and 1994 and a Division Convention in 1992. For just one year, in 1992, GLHA combined with the Kentucky-Indiana PC User's Group for the GLH and Computer Show, having demonstrations from Microsoft Corp. and WordPerfect Corp.
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The now titled Greater Louisville Hamfest & Computer Show, the yearly event moved back to the Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center from 1995 through 1998, hosting an ARRL State Convention in 1996.
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The Bullitt County Fairgrounds was the location for our hamfest from 1999 through 2003, hosting a state convention in 2000 and 2001.
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Saturday, September 11, 2004 was the Greater Louisville Hamfest, Computer Show and ARRL Kentucky State Convention, moving to Paroquet Springs Conference Centre in Shepherdsville, with a convention banquet on Friday night. In 2005 the GLH again hosted the state convention.
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With less computer equipment at the show and more ham gear, either in 2005 or 2006 we dropped the "Computer Show" part of the title and added the year to the GLH title. For 2008, we picked up the domain LouisvilleHamfest.com and created a graphic for each year's hamfest. (See the GLH Logo Archive.)
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It was number confusion when, in 2010, fifty years of hamfests was celebrated. Well, maybe not. Remember that number thing back in 1973 with the third annual hamfest being then, making the first in 1971? So, that means 2010 should have been like the 39th annual hamfest. Uh... okay...
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And then there was the dreaded "Louisville Sunrise Hamfest" in 2011, a show of its own. Egad! We were booking PSCC two years in advance, but that wasn't enough. That year, a wedding reception was booked the same afternoon as our hamfest. Well, we still felt we needed to have a hamfest, so we moved the time from 6:30am until 11:30am. Not a good hamfest. After that, we began booking 3 years in advance.
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We bounced back in 2012 and attendance grew even more in 2013 when GLH hosted the state convention. 2014 and 2015 were regular hamfests, with attendance remaining about the same for 3 years in a row.
In 2016, we again hosted an ARRL KY State Convention with "The Biggest - Most Exciting Hamfest in Over a Decade!" We had three large forum rooms and seven Major Prizes. We were visited by Lt. Governor Jenean Hampton, K5EIB. There were forums about the solar eclipse, K5P DXpedition to Palmyra Atoll, a technical/digital presentation, SERA and repeater coordination, dogs with radios and ARRL representatives highlighting the morning. At noon, there was a special meeting of the Royal Order of the Wouff Hong.
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2017 was a great show and in 2018 we again hosted a state convention. 2019 went well, but then there was 2020 - the year that was to be our 60 Years Celebration. (Really? Sixty years???) Well, that year was no time to have any kind of gathering with the coronavirus pandemic, so we postponed the event until 2021 and then had our our 60 Years Celebration. (Again with the numbers? Really? Shouldn't it have been like... 49?)
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We continue through now with the Greater Louisville Hamfest as a yearly event each September on the Saturday after
Labor Day. We hope you will be part of our historical legacy and gather with your fellow hams to enjoy this yearly event that is part of our community and Kentuckiana's biggest amateur radio event.
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