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Paducah at its Best

by Mountain Workshops
Avery Strayhorn, a sophomore at Paducah Tilghman High School, relaxes while receiving a pre-homecoming trim from Ron Brisbon in Big Mike's Barber Shop. With the football game and dance approaching the next night, students kept Big Mike's barbers working until long after dark. "You've got to look spiffy for your date," Avery says.

For one week in late October, more than 70 visual journalists descended on McCracken County taking an un-nerving look at the place and people that call this river community home.

Elder Billy Keeling (second from left) leads the Paducah chapter of Bikers for Christ in a prayer before Bible study. The group is meeting in the John Wesley Neighborhood Center, founded in 2015 by Sherry Golightly, that residents of the Littlefield area use for worship.
Vaysa Burton, 55, a transgender woman living in Paducah, uses dish soap instead of shampoo. "It does the same thing," she says.
Paducah Tilghman alumnus Kevin Pascal (left), a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Kurt pray for the school football team after practice.
Sister Lucy Bonifas, 78, prepares a bouquet of flowers grown in her backyard before delivering them to the chapel of Lourdes Hospital in Paducah, where she worked from 1969 until April 2016. Though she recently retired, Sister Lucy, a member of Sisters of Saint Francis, still visits the hospital every week to deliver fresh flowers and talk to patients. "God speaks to me through flowers," says Sister Lucy. "He surprises me with his gifts, with the beauty and love he brings."
Ajaya Jones, 4, offers a bite of cake to her friend, Jaiceeyon Ellison, 2, while eating with Jaiceeyon's mother, Alicia Ellison, in the Paducah Community Kitchen, a few blocks from Mikia's place. Alicia, 24, who grew up nearby, says the Community Kitchen, with its free meals, is one of her favorite places. "I live right here in this area," she says. "There's a lot of people who depend on it every day, and there's a lot of people who come to it for a social hour, too."
Samuel Lynn, 8, carefully dribbles a basketball under the carport of his home as his father, Nathan, 36, looms over him, trying to steal the ball. "I have to focus less on basketball and more on not stepping on chicken poop," Sam lamented.
Matt Soltys, 30, is a partial owner of Knuckle-Up Tattoo Co. and a piercer and tattoo artist at the business. "I occasionally get weird looks if I'm going out, but it doesn't affect me anymore," Matt says. "People in Paducah can be small-minded." He had "Foresaken" tattooed on his knuckles when he was going through a rough time in his life and wanted to take back control.
Heather Harrington, an employee at the McCracken County Humane Society, comforts a sedated dog before it's spayed. A nonprofit organization in Paducah that has been in operation for more than 60 years, the Humane Society spays and neuters all animals before putting them up for adoption.
Charlie Nichols interacts with customers through the kitchen window in Nichols' Worth Diner, which has been in his family for more than 35 years. He knows most of his customers by name.