The History Channel reality TV show “American Pickers” was in Madisonville on Thursday filming an episode and drew quite a crowd on onlookers.
Jenny Gibson, owner of Big City Market & Coffee Bar, said the show has been making a trip through Kentucky and somebody tipped them to her dad Joe Thomas’ penchant for collecting old things and old buildings.
Host Mike Wolfe is interested in the revitalization of historic buildings, and Gibson said the episode will be at least in part about how downtown Madisonville is “being brought back to life.”
Thomas owns several buildings downtown, including the old Hopkins County Bank Building on North Main Street. Gibson described that as her dad’s “man cave,” and said Thomas has collected a lot of old mining equipment that he would be showing to Wolfe and co-host Frank Fritz.
Cody Holland, production manager with the show’s production company Cineflix Inc., said he couldn’t say much about what the hosts and crew were doing in Madisonville, or even who they were filming.
Gibson said she was told the episode would air in three to four months.
“American Pickers” debuted in 2010 and has been one of the more popular shows on the network.
By Mike Alexieff
The Messenger, Madisonville
