The Louisville area offers many possibilities for family fun. Whether your family loves the thrill of sport and the feats of its heroes or enjoys creative, hands-on activities, downtown Louisville fills the bill. The Family Fun Itinerary can be organized to match the ages and interest of your family. You can mix and match or spend two days to visit all seven venues.

• You’ve heard of the ultra-famous Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-06, but have you heard of York? A Louisville slave, York played a key role in the expedition, eventually gaining an equal voice in the decision-making.
  
  It’s fact, not legend, that York helped pole the keelboat up the Missouri River, hunted for game, made the fire and even risked his life to save Clark’s.
  
  He eventually secured his freedom, but it was not until years after the expedition. Today, on the Belvedere, a prominent public plaza overlooking the Ohio River, York stands as a proud sentinel for the city. Through the masterful work of Louisville sculptor Ed Hamilton, this finally-free man gets his just reward.
  
  On your first day experiencing Louisville’s diverse past and present, be prepared to wear out a little shoe leather!
  
  The Muhammad Ali Center, located within easy walking distance of York’s statue, is values-driven with a definite multicultural flair. This is much, much more than a museum. It is truly an experience for the mind and an exploration for the soul. Named for its founder, the native Louisvillian known for his knockout punches and quest for peace, the center draws visitors from around the world.
  
  “You are my idol and always will be,” said Ben Dowell of Devon, England. “Our eyes were filled with tears of joy and happiness (for) your fight for justice and rights,” wrote a group from Uzbekistan.
  
  The 93,000-square-foot Muhammad Ali Center, located on the city’s riverfront, is open daily. Visitors can shadowbox with Ali or experience the strength of Ali’s punch against a heavy bag. A multi-media show guides the viewer through the life of “The Greatest” from his heady days in the ring to his travels for world peace and justice.
  
  The center features two permanent art galleries named for two of Ali’s closest friends – Howard L. Bingham and LeRoy Neiman.
   
• Mere blocks away in the West Main Street Cultural District and also on Museum Row is the renowned Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory where African-American baseball players and their bats are featured. Swing a replica bat of Hank Aaron or Derek Jeter. You can’t miss the museum, whose entrance is marked by the world’s biggest baseball bat – 120 feet tall, weighing 68,000 pounds.
  
  The museum continually offers new exhibits about America’s favorite pastime.
   
• Across the street from the Slugger Museum is the fun, fanciful and fact-rich Louisville Science Center, created for the young and young at heart. The Science Center will bedazzle you and the kids with its hands-on exhibits to make everyday science understandable and purely delightful.
  
  When you run out of exhibits to view, hop on the elevator and head for the IMAX Theatre.
   
• Next stop is the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, also located along Museum Row in the West Main Street Cultural Arts District. Marvin Finn, an African-American, is among the artists featured in the permanent exhibit of the Brown-Forman Gallery.
  
  The primary thrust for KMAC is contemporary craft and folk art, but it also exhibits paintings, prints, drawings, video and photography.
  
  Comprising 28,500 square feet of space, the KMAC presents about 15 exhibitions a year and gives a down-home Southern-style welcome to more than 65,000 patrons annually. In 2006, KMAC was cited as one of the “8 Great Craft Museums in the United States” by American Style Magazine.
   
• Or hop in the car and head for the highly acclaimed Speed Art Museum located on the main campus of the University of Louisville. Established in 1927, the Speed is Kentucky’s oldest and largest art museum with more than 12,000 pieces in its permanent collection. This outstanding collection covers 6,000 years of history, ranging from ancient Egyptian to contemporary art.
  
  Native American and African art works represent a significant and growing segment of the collection. The African art specifically includes art objects from the Yoruba, Benin, Kuba and Dan peoples of West and Central Africa. They include three magnificently carved Yoruba panels and a wonderful Fan figure.
  
  For your child (or the child in you), the Speed’s ArtSparks Interactive Gallery is a blast. Dance inside a video artwork, view yourself as a charcoal drawing or construct your own city. Be a kid (again)!
   
• If your day of touring is done, head on back to your hotel before venturing out to one of downtown Louisville’s most inviting nightspots: the electrifying Fourth Street Live! Popular bars and restaurants are amply clustered in this entertainment district to quench your appetite for fun, food and maybe a nightcap.
  
  Talk about family fun! The Sports and Social Club at Fourth Street Live! gives you more than one way to score. After you finish bowling, put on the feed bag in the full-service restaurant or relax in the comfortable lounge.