Amidst Kentucky’s Golden Triangle, four new endeavors are in progress which have the potential to become tourist mainstays. The University of Kentucky Basketball Museum, which opened in Lexington in February; the Kentucky Super Speedway in Gallatin, which is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2000; the newly opened Newport Aquarium and the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort will offer a host of opportunities to capture the entertainment dollar and provide diversified activities for the public.

University of Kentucky Basketball Museum

The $5.3 million University of Kentucky Basketball Museum is located just outside Rupp Arena in the Lexington Civic Center. The rich history of UK basketball will be preserved within the confines of the 10,000-square-foot facility. Exhibits cover the 96 year-old tradition of UK basketball, from the developmental years to the high-octane teams of the ‘90s.

The museum offers patrons a plethora of options to choose from. You can announce play-by-play with Ralph Hacker, listen to Coach Rupp explain the basics of basketball or play virtual one-on-one against the likes of Ralph Beard, Kenny "Sky" Walker or Jeff Sheppard.

At the heart of the museum is a 15-screen, DVD, surround sound system which sums up the tradition that is UK Basketball. "The Dream Continues" tells an inspiring story that will pull the heartstrings of every UK supporter.

Oceanic Adventure’s Newport Aquarium

The $40 million Newport Aquarium, which opens this month, showcases more than 11,000 animals and 600 species, including tropical sharks, Antarctic penguins, American alligators and fish from all over the world. In all, there are more than 60 exhibits totaling one million gallons of fresh and salt water.

Highlighted are five acrylic tunnels that, unlike nearly all others in aquariums around the world, are seamless. Each tunnel is one continuous piece of acrylic, giving visitors the feel they’re walking on the river or ocean bottom.

The tunnels will take patrons to the bottom of a Kelp Forest; a Moray Eel Hideaway, a flooded Amazon Rainforest; a colorful Coral Reef and Surrounded by Sharks, the longest tunnel, measuring 84 feet.

Patrons can also visit an overview of the Surrounded by Sharks tunnel. The overview, one of the country’s largest open-air shark exhibits, allows guests peer into a 380,000-gallon shark tank teaming with 25 sharks and watch as experts feed and care for the animals.

The Newport Aquarium is the cornerstone of Newport on the Levee, a 10-acre urban entertainment complex to be completed in the summer of 2000 and to include a 3-D IMAX theatre and a 21-screen first-run movie house. The complex is located on the Ohio River in Newport.

Kentucky Super Speedway

Motorsports enthusiasts across the Commonwealth will have another option to see live racing, as the new Kentucky Speedway in Gallatin County is scheduled for completion in 2000.

The Kentucky Super Speedway will feature a mile and a half tri-oval racetrack which is on target for completion in May of next year. In addition, the venue will open with 65,000 grandstand seats, 50 luxury suites and a private start/finish line club with a restaurant and bar area. The facility is capable of expanding to 180,000 seats and 120 luxury suites on the 1,000-acre site.

Jerry Carroll, the former owner of Turfway Park in Florence, is the new co-owner and developer of the $152 million Kentucky Super Speedway, along with a handful of investors from Illinois, Tennessee and Kentucky. Carroll is also the new owner of the Louisville Speedway.

Kentucky History Center

Kentuckians now have the opportunity to learn about the events which define the state in which they live at the newly opened Kentucky History Center in Frankfort.

The $29 million museum, which opened to the public on April 10, is inundated with artifacts from the Kentucky Historical Society and incorporates an entire downtown city block in the state’s capital.

The center features Daniel Boone’s first vision of Kentucky across the Cumberland Gap in the center’s permanent exhibit "A Kentucky Journey", which takes a chronological trip through the state’s economic, social and cultural history from 2000 BC to the present. Life-size environments and interactive displays highlight this 20,000-square-foot time capsule.

Should you want to research your family roots, the Kentucky Genealogical Research Library has been moved from its former home in the Old State Capitol Building to the main reading room of the center. The library has been expanded to 80,000 volumes, and the main reading room features computer terminals, laptop hookups and five microfilm stations.

To date, only the general library has been open, though the center will celebrate its first annual Boone Day on June 5 with a seminar, speaker and chatauqua performance. Additional special collections including some 100,000 historic photographs and negatives, 20,000 maps and 6,000 oral history tapes will also make their respective debuts on June 5.

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John Gaver is editorial director of The Lane Report