MainStrasse threw a party for an alley

The first Sunday in May, the Residents of MainStrasse Association (ROMA) volunteers, capped off two months of work beautifying an alley in their Covington neighborhood. The unnamed alley parallels Main Street behind a row of homes and stores between West 7th and 8th streets. Leading up to the party, volunteers cleared trash, pulled weeds, ground stumps, and power washed the brick-paved alley.

ROMA president William Dickson operates a tiller to prepare a strip adjacent to brick pavers for planting. Photo by David Rotenstein.

Once all of the debris was gone, new planters and mulch arrived to provide a place for flowers. A blank wall became a palette for a new mural and neighborhood children added another mural to a segment of wood fence.

Resident MainStrasse artist Bret Schulte at work on the mural he painted in the alley. Photo by David Rotenstein.

Almost 400 people came out Sun. May 3 to hear live music by MainStrasse musicians, enjoy food donated by local businesses, and take in the transformed alley. A $5,000 municipal grant funded the work and the party to highlight the neighborhood and the city’s historic alleys.

Musician Kyle Knapp is a fixture in MainStrasse pubs. Here he’s performing May 3 during the alley party. Also visible are the completed Bret Schulte mural, new planters, and children painting a wood fence. Photo by David Rotenstein.

COVertNKY offered two mini-vice-stroll walking tours showcasing the neighborhood’s ties to bootlegging and gambling history.

Dr. David Rotenstein leads one of the mini-vice-stroll walking tours. Photo by Brendon Yancy.

We also produced and installed a pop-up museum that documented the alley and neighborhood’s history. The six panels included historic photos and maps that illustrated such topics as a neighboring church that burned in 1985, the history of the subdivision where the alley is located, an overview of Covington alley history, and a series of historical points in time illustrated by Sanborn fire insurance maps.