I joked about titling this, “My parents are lucky I was never kidnapped.”
I spent most of my childhood weekends at events, fairs, festivals, expos, etc.—from wearing a blueberry costume for the Kentucky Book Fair to wandering around whatever city’s street fair we had a booth at that weekend. Kentucky Monthly magazine is only a few years older than me, so I grew up with it. At some point, instead of having my older siblings babysit me, my parents started taking me to events with them.
When my parents attended fancy receptions or dinners, I dressed up and schmoozed old people or the chefs. As the only person under 40, I was a star. I made BFFLs with a woman who ended up being my sixth-grade teacher (which totally didn’t make me the favorite student or anything), and I tried some excellent food. I hold the Vest sibling record for meeting the most pageant queens—from Tara Conner, Miss USA 2006, to Ann-Blair Thornton, Miss Kentucky 2011.
My favorite thing I’ve gone to with my dad was the Chocolate Crawl in La Grange. I spent the day going to each stop and exploring the town, checking back in at my dad’s booth between stops on the map. Another time that stuck with me was when my dad was a judge for the Harrodsburg Beef Festival with Miss Kentucky 2010 Djuan Keila Trent, and he let me try the food and “judge” with him.
My favorite Kentucky Monthly experience with my mom was a Party City event in Hilton Head, South Carolina. They invited writers from different publications, and their kids came. It was a weekend of themed parties: Halloween, sports, an outside fair-type one and several others. My mom and I spent the whole trip kid-friendly partying, and we stayed in a nice hotel and saw all the sights.
Growing up around the company, I have had a unique experience, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Most of my core memories are doing things through or for the company. As a kid, I’d go to work with my mom. On snow days, I’d pretend to ice-skate around the parking lot. In the summer, I’d go on adventures outside the office building or play hide-and-seek with the office staff when I wasn’t rolling their hair with tissue.
At one point, I made silly little newsletters for the staff with funny jokes or drawings, pretending I was making my own newspaper. I probably wanted to be a graphic designer because of the magazine. When I was in fifth grade, my dad put one of my drawings—about the fort we built together—in his column. In the eighth grade, I wrote my dad’s column—and I thought that was the coolest thing.
I loved growing up with the magazine. Having parents who were their own bosses let me be around them more and experience extraordinary things I wouldn’t have gotten to otherwise. My mom and dad have worked extremely hard to make the magazine what it is, and I’m proud to be one of the Vest Kids.
sydney vest