LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — There’s a new mini golf course coming to Lexington, but it’s popping up for this weekend only. It’s part of a fundraiser taking place at the Living Arts & Science Center. The temporary course will play host to the first ever Putt-Putt pARTee.
“We hope to have anywhere from 150 to 200 people here milling about playing various holes and games along the way,” said Jeanette Tesmer, executive director of the center.
While the course is still under construction, a few of the holes are already set up in rooms and hallways, and the course will play throughout the building.
Tesmer pointed out the fourth hole, a narrow putting mat that sits on a ramp in a hallway. The hole has a few bumps along the path with bumpers on the side, and it requires hitting the ball up the ramp to the hole at the top.
“These little bumpers in here, they kind of make you think a little bit,” Tesmer said. “Like ‘how am I going to get it up there, how much effort am I going to put into it?’”
“That encompasses both sides of our mission of art and science,” she added. “Putt-putt kind of does that. You have these fun little obstacles that are kind of like the creative art side of it but you also have the science side of like, ‘get that hole through the tube up around, or can you hit it too fast or too slow and what does that do?’”
The pop-up course idea is a new fundraiser for the Living Arts & Science Center. The center used to have a fundraiser called Heart Full of Fun, but that event has not taken place in a while. Tesmer wanted to reproduce an event she remembered from her favorite art museum back home in Kansas City, which led to the idea.
“This is not you know a stuffy event where you're putting on a suit and tie,” she said. “You can come as you are. You can dress silly and fun as a team.”
With this as the first year of the event, Tesmer hopes it will become a community staple and a part of the center.
“You're going to look forward to it every year and you don't want to miss it,” she said. “We want to show that kids from an early age can start taking part in what makes a community great and what makes a nonprofit great.”
The Putt-Putt pARTee starts Friday, June 20 with an adult night. From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., tickets are $30. It includes food, a drink ticket, and other pay-to-play games. On Saturday, which is Discovery Saturday at the center, a round is $10 for the whole family.
You can learn more about the Putt-Putt pARTee here.
