Kentucky Derby: Party leads way to horse race

LOUISVILLE » There’s bourbon-tasting and hot air balloons, fashion shows and fireworks, a belle and a ball, and the event that started it all, the Pegasus Parade.

From the time the Kentucky Derby Festival starts in mid-April, the party doesn’t stop — not until the horses run for the roses on the first Saturday in May.

The Kentucky Derby lasts only two minutes, but the legendary race at Churchill Downs has spawned an extended celebration with more than 70 events drawing more than a million people to the Louisville area. Festival officials say it pours nearly $130 million annually into the economy.

“Louisville is the only city in the world that can take a two-minute horse race and turn it into a two-week party with a two-month build up,” said Mike Berry, now in his 22nd year as the president and CEO of the Kentucky Derby Festival.

The festival has come a long way since 1956, when four civic-minded leaders decided to use $648 to put on a parade.

“My grandmother used to tell me that what they would do to celebrate Derby was they’d go down to the train station and watch all the rich people and the celebrities come in at 10th and Broadway for Derby,” Berry said. “There was nothing for the community to do to celebrate this big sporting event at the racetrack. That’s where this idea was born by these four gentlemen.”

The first Pegasus Parade attracted 50,000 people, but the celebration it inspired keeps growing.

Now among the larger festivals in the nation, the Kentucky Derby Festival has won the International Festivals and Events Association’s highest award multiple times, organization President Steve Schmader said.

“They are, on a global stage, very well recognized for all they do,” he said. “The Kentucky Derby Festival never fails to stand out.”

Planning events that draw large crowds doesn’t come without risks. Berry said organizers partner with police and other agencies to keep people safe.

Louisville Police Lt. Jill Hume said law enforcement will be “all hands on deck,” especially during events that draw big crowds. She said extra security measures are in place this year, including SWAT teams in full gear and earlier street closures.

The only significant violence at festival events occurred in 2016, when two teens were wounded by gunfire near the Pegasus Parade route. Hume said that involved a grudge between teenagers and ended quickly.

“We made an arrest within 30 seconds because there was such a heavy police presence,” she said.

The Derby party officially begins Saturday with Thunder Over Louisville, which opens with military aircraft and stunt planes flying over crowds lining both sides of the Ohio River in the afternoon and closes with fireworks after sunset.