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11th annual How-To Festival returns to the Main Library

Saturday, May 11, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.

April 26, 2024

As Louisville gears up for 150th running of the Kentucky Derby, the Louisville Free Public Library is busy laying the finishing touches on the 11th annual How-To Festival. Taking place on the second Saturday in May, the Library’s How-To Festival has become an annual tradition for thousands of Louisvillians looking for something entertaining, interactive, and educational to do after Derby is over. The How-To Festival offers attendees the chance to learn how-to-do more than 50 different things in five hours, all for free!

Want to learn how to grow bananas? Make delicious gluten-free cookies? Keep bees in your backyard? Play the violin? These are just a sampling of the free, interactive learning experiences offered by local experts and small businesses at the How-To Festival. “How-to” sessions last approximately 45 minutes and cover a range of activities—from business to fitness to gardening.

This year’s festival is a mix of past favorites—how to practice self-defense, grow delicious tomatoes, or do basic car maintenance—along with new lessons, such as how to weave a rug, create cheesecake in a jar, and break up with your smart phone. Kid-friendly activities include how to paint with diamonds, make shadow puppets, or create a friendship bracelet. And thanks to the ongoing partnership with the Louisville Urban Agriculture Coalition, How-To will feature twenty gardening sessions presented by Urban Ag member groups, including how to raise urban livestock, identify poisonous plants, grow mushrooms, and more.

The How-To Festival takes place on Saturday, May 11, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Main Library, 301 York Street. Sessions will be located in more than twenty areas throughout the building and surrounding grounds, transforming the entire library into a giant classroom. Food trucks will be available.

For more information, including the tentative schedule of how-to sessions, visit LFPL.org/how-to.