An upcoming horseback ride featuring Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear and Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo and the success of permit sales at the Black Mountain Off-Road Adventure Area were among the items discussed during a meeting of the Harlan County Fiscal Court on Thursday.

Harlan Tourism Director Kim Collier discussed the May 16 horseback ride that the recently formed Harlan County Horse Trail Team has worked on since Mongiardo visited the area last summer.

“(Mongiardo and Beshear’s) idea was to have a big horse trail ride every so often and to get as many people as we can to come into the county for each event and spend money here and help the economy,” she said.

Collier said there has been a large amount of excitement surrounding the horseback ride.

“This is something that is fairly new for Harlan County, and we are hoping to expand on this. We are hoping to eventually have some horse trail rides near Putney,” she said.

She added that the event could propel adventure tourism within the county.

“This is just an event, but it is something that we can build on for the entire county,” Collier said. “We already have ATV trails, but we need more hiking trails, horseback trails and mountain bike trails. In every magisterial district, there are things that we can do to help and bring people in and create and develop more trails for different things.”

Collier then presented the court a budget for the ride.

“It is looking like you are going to bring in about $1,000 for registration and spend about $1,250 in expenses. So, that is approximately $250 that we would need to spend on this project,” she said.

Special permission to use trails at the Cranks Creek Wildlife Management area for the upcoming horseback ride has been granted by Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife officials.

Harlan County Outdoor Recreation Board Authority member Ken Crider later informed the fiscal court that approximately $23,000 in permits have been sold to those riding on the Black Mountain Off-Road Adventure Area in the last three weeks.

“People have been real receptive. We have actually had people to thank us for putting in the permit system,” Crider said. “They were afraid we would lose the park if we didn’t have any way to pay for it.”