WQXE News

Bernheim Forest invites area residents to celebrate spring at their annual BloomFest, taking place this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“BloomFest is a day of fun and nature that welcomes families and anyone that’s young at heart to explore the season, creativity, and discovery,” said Bernheim Forest Director of Marketing and Communications Lynette Cox. “We’re going to enjoy hands-on activities like arts and crafts, you can build garden fairy houses, enjoy naturalist-led discovery stations, and live musical entertainment from Mr. Dan, our Jolly Green Giant.”

One of the forest’s longest-running events, BloomFest is a day of fun, fantasy, and flowers. One of the highlights of the day is the Faerie and Gnome Parade, so participants are welcome to dress accordingly.

“We get a lot of kids coming out and dressing up as fairies and gnomes, and then we have a little parade at one o’clock, the Faerie and Gnome Parade,” Cox said. “We have a costume-lending tent where the kids can borrow the wings if they didn’t bring them, and they can borrow little gnome hats, and it’s just a great, fun, whimsical day in the forest.”

BloomFest also coincides with Bernheim’s spring plant sale, which runs Friday and Saturday.

“We’ve got a lot of great perennials, trees, shrubs, and native plants that are great for those pollinators to attract to your backyard and great for your landscaping,” Cox said. “Whether you have a shady area or a sunny spot, we’ve got the perfect plant to fill that for you.”

BloomFest is free, but donations are accepted at the forest’s gate. Visit www.bernheim.org or the Bernheim Forest Facebook page for more information.

Anybody who is planning on casting a ballot in the 2026 Primary Election is welcome to participate in in-person no excuse absentee voting, or early voting.

“Early voting begins May 14 and runs through the 15th and 16th,” said Hardin County Clerk Brian D. Smith. “These three days are available for any voter in Hardin County who wants to come in person to cast their ballot. The hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We have locations at the Hardin County Clerk’s main office in Elizabethtown and at Colvin Community Center in Radcliff.”

If you received a mail-in absentee ballot, as a reminder, the deadline for the clerk’s office to receive those ballots is 6 p.m. on Election Day. Postmarks do not matter; the ballot must physically reach the clerk’s office prior to the deadline. If you cannot get the ballot in the mail early enough to arrive on time, secure drop boxes are available at the clerk’s office’s Elizabethtown and Radcliff locations.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time on Tuesday, May 19. Contact your county clerk’s office or visit govote.ky.gov for more information.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their first meeting of the month Tuesday.

The court approved the first reading of the 2026-2027 county budget. The approved budget was amended from the budget proposed by Hardin County Judge/Executive Keith Taul following Finance Committee meetings last week, with total revenues and expenditures of $60,827,299. Taul said the amended budget cut $870,000 from his proposed budget.

Fourth District Magistrate Fred Clem said the two major issues several of the magistrates had with Taul’s budget were salaries and the proposed emergency services building to be constructed in Glendale. Clem said the magistrates want to take care of county employees but financial constraints have to be considered.

“Measured growth and salaries is part of our budget process, and every employee, and I want to be clear, even though they weren’t as substantial as the judge presented in his budget, every employee did get a one percent COLA and every employee did get a one-step raise, so no one was left out of the process of raises and COLAs,” Clem said.

Fifth District Magistrate Aaron Pennington said he was not against the emergency services building, but he wanted to see more details, and more financial planning, for such a large-scale project.

“This is not a no,” Pennington said. “This is ‘how much does it cost, and where are we going to get the money to pay for it?’ Again, I would probably be all for it, and not once at any Emergency Services Committee have I said, ‘Nope, we’re not for it.’ I’ve always said, “Yeah, but let’s figure it out. How are we going to pay for it?’”

Taul, who along with Seventh District Magistrate Larry Hicks voted against the amended budget, said the focus of his budget was public safety and “fair wage adjustments” to retain employees. He said the cuts made to the budget will prove to be detrimental to the county.

“I guarantee it’s going to be a reduction in quality of services,” Taul said. “It will be a reduction. We have high turnover, and the continuous cost of training of new employees, lack of support to fire services, and the improvement objectives, future objectives that we have out there for those fire services, are all being compromised.”

The budget will go up for adoption on its second reading at the June 9 fiscal court meeting.

In other meeting news, a public hearing was held on County Road Aid and Local Government Economic Assistance funds. County Attorney Jenny Oldham said the county is expected to receive $1,872,330.42 in CRA funds and $284,400 in LGEA funds.

County Planning Director Adam King said year-to-date the county has platted 64 new lots this year and approved 170 building permits. County Public Works Director Stephanie Givens said 25 trailer runs were made for the county’s recycling program in March, and more than 150 shredding bags were collected in March and April.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet May 26.