SHELBYVILLE, Ky. — A country star is returning to the Mulberry Orchard.
Luke Bryan is bringing his Farm Tour to the Shelbyville Farm Sept. 26 for the second straight year.
“We’re super excited to have him back,” said Amanda Gajdzik, owner of Mulberry Orchard. “We were thrilled to have him last year for the first time.”
Gajdzik’s family has been farming soy, corn and beef cattle for generations. Now, Gajdzik and her husband own Mulberry Orchard.
“It’s great to be able to raise our kids on the farm, just like when I grew up on the farm,” she said. “You learn a respect for the land and the hard work ethic and what it means to care for animals and people and things like that.”
The orchard is doubling as a concert venue. Gajdzik said Bryan’s team reached out to them in January to see if they were interested in having the Farm Tour return.
“You just get a different feel being at an open field and being able to see the stars,” Gajdzik said. “It’s just a lot of fun.”
She said Bryan’s team was looking for a farm with 80 acres of open flat land, with several connecting roads.
“They were looking for just something in the area, kind of the Louisville, Lexington, Cincinnati triangle and just reached out to several different farms in the area, interviewed different places and looked at different setups and thought that ours was a good opportunity,” she said.
That opportunity has been mutually beneficial, as Gajdzik said, the concert brings attention to farmers, Shelbyville and, of course, Mulberry Orchard.
“It allows for people to be able to highlight Kentucky Proud agriculture and get our name out there as well, so people will hopefully come back and visit us either leading up to the concert or after they enjoy,” she said.
As Bryan would say, 14,000 people are expected to “kick the dust up.” The tour will then visit Millersport, Ohio, and Smithton, Pennsylvania, after stopping in the commonwealth.