The districts were made possible by a state law enacted in 2016 allowing municipalities to create Entertainment Destination Centers.

Although it predates the 2016 legislation, the most well-known entertainment district in the state is Louisville’s Fourth Street Live – a pedestrian-only downtown street filled with restaurants, bars and other attractions. Other cities, such as Owensboro, Newport, Covington and Paducah, have established such districts on a smaller scale.

Bowling Green city commissioners greenlighted an effort to study a local district at their planning retreat in January.

Since then, city officials have met with downtown stakeholders and studied what other cities have done to prepare local guidelines.

Leading that effort is Brent Childers, director of the city’s department of Neighborhood and Community Services.

The planning effort is to determine “How do we use (the entertainment destination legislation) for our downtown areas. How do we make this work and successful for Bowling Green,” Childers said.

City Manager Jeff Meisel said the city is looking at the entertainment district as a catalyst for economic development in the downtown area as more people lured to downtown will lead to a better environment for businesses.

The district is “something that will go over well in Bowling Green,” Meisel predicted.

But establishing a local entertainment district takes a lot of planning on the front end.

“There’s a lot to think through,” Childers said.

Meisel noted that staff from other cities “recommend you do a lot of planning.”

What has to be determined is exactly what the entertainment district boundaries would be and whether they would have set, regular hours or be event-based, such as the recent Harvest Festival that drew thousands to downtown Bowling Green.

Most entertainment districts require that alcohol be carried in approved containers, and the alcohol would still have to be purchased from a business with a state alcohol sales license.

No outside alcohol is allowed to be brought into the districts, Childers said.

Other issues that were discussed at the retreat were possible increased demand on police and litter issues.

“We don’t want to put too many demands on the police,” Meisel said, but he noted that “the cities we have talked to have not had issues.”

Childers said it may be spring before a local entertainment district plan is adopted and implemented.

The city may choose to ease in to the use of the entertainment district designation by using it for only special events at first, he said.

The city is also in the process of interviewing for a new downtown coordinator position. That person would be integral in overseeing the entertainment district operations, Childers said.