True love, college sports and political asylum. Why these people moved to Kentucky and stayed

Where they went to high school doesn’t mean anything to you, and you’ve probably never heard of the neighborhood where they grew up. 

And while they may have watched the Kentucky Derby on television, until they got here, they had no idea the two weeks leading up to it qualifies as its own holiday season.

They are Louisville's transplants, and for one reason or another, they all chose to make Kentucky their home.

Frankly, I think that’s pretty cool.

In honor of National Kentucky Day on Oct. 19, I’m using this column to shout out all the things that make people want to live in the Bluegrass State. 

And who better to ask than people who left other homes to build a life here?

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As a Kentucky transplant, I'm always amazed at how many locals are astounded that I chose to move here and intend to stay. Four years ago I was living two miles from a sugar-white sand beach in Southwest Florida when I applied for this job in hopes of getting a little bit closer to my parents in St. Louis. Now Louisville feels more like home than any other place I've lived in my adult life. My fiancé and I are planning a wedding in Louisville and shopping for houses in Kentucky even though neither one of us have roots here. 

I knew we couldn't be the only ones who've chosen to call Kentucky home.

So this month I set out to find as many Kentucky transplants as I could, and I learned pretty quickly that the reasons people come here are generally what you’d expect: Falling in love. Starting a new job. Going to school.

A chance for a fresh start. 

Juanita Banks, for example, met her husband Herb on a bus heading toward Roanoke, Virginia. There was only one seat left, and they shared it. They chatted the whole ride and exchanged information before they parted ways. The pair eventually married, and she moved to his hometown in Whitesburg, Kentucky, in 1955. 

A future in Kentucky was far more uncertain for Yarima Hernandez, but she still thrived. She sought political asylum in the United States after fleeing Cuba, and Hernandez spoke very little English when she moved to Louisville in 2013.

She knew our city had a robust Cuban population, but she also hoped she could build a new life here and become part of the community. Now she serves as an advocate for elderly Spanish-speaking people at the La Buena Vida adult day center, 4620 Preston Highway.

Like a lot of athletes, Dexter Thomas toured several colleges before he committed to swim for the University of Louisville in 2012. The Arkansas native thought about going home after graduation, but instead, he took a job here. Now it’s nine years later, and he doesn't plan to leave. 

In 2016, Steve Gill was working in Nitro, West Virginia, when he followed a job offer to Louisville. Up until that point, he felt stuck in a rut, and he had former co-workers who’d made the jump from West Virginia to Kentucky. It seemed like a good fit. At first, the city life was overwhelming, but eventually, it grew on him. Plus he's not far from the Kentucky countryside if he ever needs to get away from the bustle of Louisville.

Just three years ago, California native Stacey Warner had never been to Kentucky, but she'd started a job where she could work from anywhere and had just gotten out of a difficult relationship. She needed a fresh start, and so she began researching different cities.

The more she learned about Louisville, the more it felt right.

“I moved here having never been here before in the middle of winter, and as soon as I drove up Grinstead, I knew it was home,” she told me.

The more I talked with these transplants, the more I saw themes in their answers. Becoming a Kentuckian was less about where they’d come from and more about all the things they grew to appreciate once they got here. What was telling, though, was that people who came here for entirely different purposes stayed for very similar reasons.

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Louisville’s booming restaurant scene, its proximity to nature and its sports culture were high on the lists of reasons transplants love being here. Still, there were so many other aspects to life that kept people adding more years to their time as Kentuckians. 

Drew Mayville, originally from Ontario, Canada, remembers coming to the Kentucky Derby in 1999 and telling his wife that he thought this would be a great place to live. He never expected it would happen. Now he, his wife and his daughter have lived in Kentucky for 18 years, and he's the master blender for Sazerac at Buffalo Trace.

Mayfield’s family has grown to love the culture, the people, and, of course, the bourbon industry as well as Kentucky’s proximity to larger cities, affordable housing, low cost of living and the college sports rivalries.  

Mallory Bahr, the head coach of Spalding University’s new women’s lacrosse team, grew up in Wisconsin and most recently lived in Denver. Since she moved here a little more than a year ago, she’s become excited about the Kentucky Derby. She loves being so close to Louisville Bats games, and she enjoys the country music scene in town. Beyond city limits, she says there are so many God-given places to explore. You don’t see marvels like the Cumberland Gap and Mammoth Cave in every state.

Seven years have passed since Carine Basenge resettled here. She was born in Rwanda and raised in South Africa, and she had never heard of Kentucky until a few hours before she boarded the airplane that brought her to the United States. She opted to stay, though, because of Kentucky's beautiful but unpredictable weather, the hiking trails, breweries, distilleries and college sports.

Louisville exceeded her expectations, too.

"It is big enough for you to meet new people all the time, but small enough for you to maintain community with those people," she told me. "I also love how it has both the big city feel and the homey feel."

Likewise Kristin McCall, who's originally from Pasadena, California, thinks it's incredible that even though she lives in a city, she can be so close to nature. Kentucky is beautiful, she says, it’s not a far walk from her home to find the woods or a creek. Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest is just an afternoon's drive away. 

For Thomas, Kentucky offers a good balance of a low cost of living with plenty to see and do. Even though he's not on the swim team anymore, he still likes to cheer on U of L athletics and enjoys events like the Jack O'Lantern Spectacular. The bourbon scene, too, is a big draw.

But the most common reason I heard about why transplants want to stay here had nothing to do with bourbon, nature or sports. 

Instead, it had everything to do with Kentuckians.

Local cookie icon Elizabeth Kizito of Kizito African Crafts Cookies and Baked Goods is originally from a village called Nansana in Uganda, East Africa, and she moved to Louisville in 1983 because her first husband was from here.

When I asked her why she stayed here as long as she did, she was candid.

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“I was separated from my family by distance and war, so I made a new family here in Louisville,” Kitzito told me. “So many people reached out to me. I made so many friends! I raised two beautiful children here and built a successful business. Why would I leave?”

Kizito was able to make a new family here even though she didn’t have any roots of her own in Kentucky.

This city embraced her even though she didn’t go to one of Louisville’s high schools or grow up in one of its many-storied neighborhoods. Really Kentuckians, you’ve embraced all of us non-natives.

Even though Gill is now in a much bigger place than Nitro, West Virginia, he says "The people here are generally nice and welcoming."

McCall, too, told me that everyone she's met here "has always been so welcoming and willing to help me if I ever need anything. Once you break into the community here, it never lets you go!”

Bahr was amazed at how friendly everyone she came across was to her.

"People down here are so genuinely interested in knowing your life story and telling you about this beautiful state," she explained. 

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And about 65 years after she met her husband on that bus, Banks has one thing she treasures most about this state. 

“The thing I love most about Kentucky is the people,” she told me. “Everyone has always been so kind, and it makes living here very enjoyable.”

It's about the people. 

So while this National Kentucky Day column is about the transplants, it’s really the people who have welcomed the newcomers that I'd like to celebrate today.

Features columnist Maggie Menderski writes about what makes Louisville, Southern Indiana and Kentucky unique, wonderful, and occasionally, a little weird. If you've got something in your family, your town or even your closet that fits that description — she wants to hear from you. Say hello at mmenderski@courier-journal.com or 502-582-7137. Follow along on Instagram and Twitter @MaggieMenderski.