Photo: Renfro Valley Entertainment Center, Mt. Vernon KY.

An early 1960s article in a Chicago newspaper, written by the young Hunter S. Thompson, opined that the Renfro Valley Barn Dance, now Entertainment Center and KY Music Hall of Fame and Museum, would be a total failure. Today this charming mix of country and city attractions lures tens of thousands of new and repeat visitors off I-75 at Mt Vernon KY to hear new and venerable country music shows and acts. Stay at nice motels, ramble the old-timey streets, eat ice cream and fudge, and explore re-created pioneer homesteads.