Turfway Park Racing and Gaming is back open after being closed for three years for renovations.
Churchill Downs bought the facility in 2019 and has done a complete revamp to make it possible for Turfway to remain open all year long.
As part of the $240 million project, the facility now has more than 800 historical racing machines and two restaurants in a new entertainment space. New dorms are also being built for the staff that work in the barns, and a new racetrack was also installed. They have also created a new event center that will allow guests to watch the horse races.
"We can utilize this space the other eight months of the year, for board dinners, weddings, concerts we're going to have music concerts here so we're excited about how we can flex this space going forward," said Turfway General Manager Chip Bach.
Hundreds of people were waiting outside Turfway before it reopened at 9 a.m. Thursday.
"It's hats off, really, it means so much to our community to be able to bring something back and especially with the horses," said Florence resident Patricia Combs.
Categories: Kentucky, Rural Lifestyle