Kentucky Derby Festival – Kentucky Derby Adventure

Category: Kentucky Derby Festival

It’s time to race the beds!

Posted on May 7, 2023June 2, 2023 by rmiracle

It's Derby week and that means people are racing things. Horses? Sure. Hot Air Balloons? A must. Rubber Duckies? Why not?But one of the more entertaining and unusual things to race are... beds! See all the photos! Broadbent arena turns into a two-lane figure-eight short track race course for beds. Dozens of teams spend weeks preparing their beds to race...Read More

It’s a parade, mostly about horses

Posted on May 4, 2023June 2, 2023 by rmiracle

The Pegasus Parade is one of the oldest events during the Kentucky Derby Festival. The mythical winged horse is the official mascot of the festival and the parade. In fact many people ooh and aww over the inflatable Pegasus as it rolls down Broadway See all the photos The UofL Marching Band performs during the 2023 Pegasus Parade. For as...Read More

The 2023 Great Balloon Race takes to the sky

Posted on May 2, 2023June 2, 2023 by rmiracle

In the pre-dawn hours of the Saturday morning a week before the Kentucky Derby, dozens of trucks and vans pulling trailers, and hundreds of cars lined up on Pee Wee Reese Drive in Louisville, Kentucky waiting to enter a back gate into a large field between Runway 6 and Runway 15 of Bowman Field. An orange sun was starting to...Read More

The Great Balloon Glow brings excitement to the riverfront

Posted on April 29, 2023June 2, 2023 by rmiracle

While Thunder Over Louisville is the official kickoff to the Kentucky Derby Festival, the main thrust to the festival starts on the Friday before the Kentucky Oaks with the L&N Federal Credit Union Great Balloon Fest. For 2023, this is a three-event mini-festival dedicated to racing Hot Air Balloons. Friday morning, the pilots take to the sky in the Rush...Read More

Great news! We’re back

Posted on February 24, 2023June 2, 2023 by rmiracle

The past six years have put a serious damper on our ability to travel and bring you great stories and photography from the Kentucky Derby Festival. Between cancer, rotator cuff surgery, and then a couple of years of COVID, it's been a real challenge to "festival". But we are back for the 2023 Kentucky Derby Festival and we plan to...Read More

And it’s a wrap on the 2017 Derby Festival

Posted on May 9, 2017May 9, 2017 by rmiracle

After our successful return to North Carolina after spending two weeks in Louisville, it's time to look back on the two weeks. While our normal adventure lasts 10 days (Friday thru Sunday spanning the week before the Kentucky Derby), this year, we drove up to Louisville two Friday's before the Derby to take part in Thunder over Louisville and the...Read More

The Great Steamboat Race – a time for friends

Posted on May 5, 2017May 5, 2017 by rmiracle

We've covered what the Great Steamboat Race is about in the past. A couple of paddle-wheel boats ramble up and down the Ohio. Lots of cheating. Coal-fired steam vs. diesel engine. But what isn't talked about enough is the friendships made on the boat. What starts as total strangers and a force of habit come together to create lasting friendships....Read More

The 2017 Great Bed Races crowns winners

Posted on May 2, 2017May 5, 2017 by rmiracle

One of the more interesting things raced during the Kentucky Derby Festival is beds. That's right beds. Well sort of. These are more custom-made, four wheel carts with a push bar and optional steering that happens to hold a regular sized bed mattress. A team of five: a driver (frequently just a passenger) and four pushers race the bed around...Read More

And their off… Balloons that is.

Posted on April 28, 2017May 2, 2017 by rmiracle

One of the fun challenges this time of year in Kentuckiana is the weather. It's pretty unpredictable. Temperatures can run from 40's or lower one day and easily slip into the 90's a day later. You can get hours of rain or scattered thunderstorms that last for few minutes. This makes running a hot-air balloon event challenging. In the early...Read More

Balloon Glimmer over the Ohio River

Posted on April 27, 2017May 2, 2017 by rmiracle

In the early days of the Kentucky Derby Festival, there was just the Great Balloon Race. Then it expanded to add the Great Balloon Glow. Today, we have the Great Balloon Fest, a three-day hot-air balloon event consisting of three morning "races" and two evening light shows. Thursday morning starts with the Great Balloon Charity Race from Bowman Field but...Read More