Does Louisville pretend?

Observations

Nov. 3, 2026

A couple of weeks ago, we had a series of questions for our group about the ways we might pretend to be something we’re not — as both individuals and as a city.

To start, I had us consider several scenarios that might have us playing the role we feel is expected of us, rating each on a scale of 1 (very easy) to 5 (very difficult). As a group, we don’t think it’s very difficult to “stay in character,” so to speak.

How easy or difficult is it to play the role you feel is expected of you?

One of us in the group that answers our weekly questions wrote about an authenticity in Louisville, saying, “I feel like Louisville is a place where it’s easy to find your people, whoever they are. Conservative, liberal, activist, normie, athletic, artsy, queer, straight, etc. There are so many ways to connect. Other smaller cities or rural towns can be dangerous for folks on the margins who want to live authentically, so pretending in those places can be an essential survival skill.”

Wanting to explore that idea of pretending a little more, I also had this multiple-choice for us:

Compared with other places, do you think Louisville requires more or less pretending?

A combined 70% of us answered about the same or less, with 12% answering more.

Several of us shared about how we believe Louisville is a place that requires less pretending than other cities, and about an authentic quality here that, combined with being welcoming and hospitable, can become a potent potion in the community cauldron. “Louisville may seem like it pretends, but as somebody who has lived in five other states and three other countries, this place is the near-perfect combination of Southern-actually-nice and Midwestern-actually-practical,” one of us said.

But of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t pretend here. We also asked this open-ended question, shifting away from individual behavior to the city overall:

Does Louisville as a community sometimes pretend?

We described a city that sometimes seems more concerned with appearing welcoming or sophisticated.

Lots of us shared, and, after going through all of our open-ended answers, two words jumped out: Southern and Derby (and sometimes in the same sentence). “Ha. I actually think we pretend to be more Southern and fancy during the lead-up to Derby,” one of us said. “We are mostly Midwestern but those last two weeks of April and into early May, watch out, we are so dang Southern.”

Much of what folks had to say fit into six categories —

Derby Pretending

Southern Hospitality Pretending

Big-City Pretending

You’re-One-of-Us Pretending

Not-Part-of-Kentucky Pretending

Progress Pretending

— and you can cycle through a bit of that here:

Derby Pretending

“Louisville cleans up, moves the homeless off the streets, raises its prices and puts on a show that it’s the perfect city during Derby. Sometimes this leads to a lot of locals feeling like outsiders in their own city.”

Southern Hospitality Pretending

“Of course we pretend. We pretend we are a quaint, small Southern city, welcoming and full of hospitality. That’s as long as you are white, wealthy, employed, a social maven. But when it comes to dealing with poverty, racism, homelessness, addiction, lack of health care for those without health insurance, food insecurity, we pretend none of these are issues worthy of our attention.”

Progress Pretending

“We play the role of a city that is progressive — inclusive and deeply committed to community — but we don’t always live up to those ideals. We celebrate diversity but often struggle with what it actually means to share power, resources and opportunity. I think Louisville is really good at showing up for a moment, a movement or a cause but sometimes struggles with the sustained work that real change requires. We tend to confuse proximity with connection and conversation with progress. And I say that as someone who genuinely loves this city and believes in its potential.

“I think the character we sometimes play is the well-intentioned neighbor who wants to be seen as good but isn’t always willing to confront the uncomfortable truths in our own backyard.”

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If someone you know is the kind of person who’s interested in exploring what’s best and what might be a bit better about Louisville, I’d love it if you’d nominate them to join the weekly conversation. And I wonder: How do you think Louisville pretends? Lemme know: josh@louisville.com

Does Louisville pretend?

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