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Back by popular demand, the world’s No. 1 bourbon Jim Beam is helping participants of this year’s Derby Festival Marathon and miniMarathon presented by Walmart and Humana capture their time in a bottle. Runners are invited to bring their race bibs to the Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse (408 S. Fourth St., Louisville, Ky.) to receive a complimentary engraving of their official race time and a signature race image on a bottle of Jim Beam Urban Select.
The personalized engraving comes with the purchase of a 375ml or 750ml bottle of Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse Select (50% alc./vol.; SRP: $29.99 and $45.99 respectively). As part of this one-of-a-kind experience, runners can hand label, fill and cork their own bottle. The offer, which is available until May 15, is featured on runner’s race bibs and included in runner’s virtual race bag.
“Jim Beam is thrilled to again join forces with the Kentucky Derby Festival to support Kentucky’s passionate running community,” said Kim Bennett, senior director, Kentucky Beam Bourbon Experiences, Beam Suntory. “We know that it takes great strength and determination to become a champion and whether runners aim to make history with a new personal best or simply cross a race off their bucket list, Jim Beam is ready to raise a glass and toast their success.”
Jim Beam is returning as the Official Bourbon of this year’s Marathon/miniMarathon, as well as the Race Expo and Packet Pick-up. Prior to the race, runners can also stop by the Jim Beam Bourbon Bar at the Race Expo on April 27 or 28 and sample the bold, rich flavors of Jim Beam’s award-winning whiskey portfolio. The Derby Festival’s road races are set for Saturday, April 29. Registration is still open at DerbyFestivalMarathon.com
Walmart and Humana are Co-Presenting Sponsors of the Marathon and miniMarathon. The Official Race Medical Partner is Norton Sports Health and Contributing Sponsors are BB&T, Churchill Downs, Louisville Water Company, Powerade, and The Courier-Journal. Official Bourbon: Jim Beam. Official Hotel: The Galt House.
Since 1956, the Derby Festival has worked to bring the community together in celebration. The Festival is an independent community organization supported by 4,000 volunteers, 400 businesses and civic groups, Pegasus Pin sponsorships and event participation. This involvement has made the Festival the largest single attended event in Kentucky and one of the leading community celebrations in the world.
Photo: CirqueLouis
Dedicated to producing exceptional cirquetheatre for the Louisville community, CirqueLouis and Iroquois Amphitheater will present their performance of East of the Sun, with a special guest appearance by Squallis Puppeteers on Friday, June 9 and Saturday June 10.
Cool off this summer with a journey to the Arctic North as the Polar Bear Prince and his bride travel beyond the ice and snow, where only the North Wind blows. CirqueLouis’ acrobats, jugglers, dancers, and aerialists astound on the stage and in the air in this tale which takes us East of the Sun – and West of the Moon.
Performances
Friday, June 9 – 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 10 – 7:30 p.m.
Advance tickets are $20 for adults and are available online at http://www.iroquoisamphitheater.com/. All ages are welcome. Ticket prices are subject to change the week of the show.
More information can be found online at cirquelouis.com or on the CirqueLouis Facebook Page at facebook.com/cirquelouis.
If you plan to run the Derby Festival’s Marathon or miniMarathon, but haven’t registered yet, your time is running out! Registration for the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon and miniMarathon Presented by Walmart and Humana will close at midnight on Thursday, April 20. There will be no late registration. The registration fees are $95 for the miniMarathon and $105 for the Marathon. Runners can register online at DerbyFestivalMarathon.com.
For runners who don’t want to go the distance of the mini or full Marathon, they can recruit friends and register as a team. In conjunction with the 2017 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon, the Marathon Team Relay option is again being offered. The Team Relay registration fee is $325. Teams can consist of up to 5 runners and have as few as 3 competing members. Relay Teams will run the same course as the Marathon, which has been divided into 5 separate legs consisting of two 5k, two 10k, and a 12.2k.
The Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon and miniMarathon is still the largest annual day of road racing in Kentucky. 2017 races are set for Saturday, April 29, and will again be capped at 18,000 runners. Both races will start simultaneously at 7:30 am on Main Street near Slugger Field and will finish at Preston and Witherspoon streets.
Walmart and Humana are Co-Presenting Sponsors of the Marathon and miniMarathon. The Official Race Medical Partner is Norton Sports Health and Contributing Sponsors are BB&T, Churchill Downs, Louisville Water Company, Powerade, and The Courier-Journal. Official Bourbon: Jim Beam®. Official Hotel: The Galt House. Official Pace Car: John Jones Auto Group.
The Derby Festival is an independent community organization supported by 4,000 volunteers, 400 businesses and civic groups, Pegasus Pin sponsorships and event participation. It entertains more than 1.5 million people annually. This involvement has made the Festival the largest single attended event in Kentucky and one of the leading community celebrations in the world.
Photo: Kentucky State Parks
Waveland State Historic Site in Lexington will host its annual Derby Day breakfast on May 6 with a special menu for guests.
To get started, guests will enjoy pimento cheese wafers with country ham pate and a cheese and chive scone with country ham. To keep the Derby experience pure Kentucky, guests will be served a hot brown tart, cheese grits with a jumbo shrimp garnish and fresh fruit with honey yogurt dip. Next are a Waveland exclusive, vanilla bean scones with homemade lemon curd and jam. To complete the breakfast, guests will enjoy a derby pie tart, bourbon mint brownie, chocolate dipped strawberry and to give you luck on your derby picks, a horseshoe sugar cookie.
Drinks include coffee, juice and as a special treat, a local winery will be on hand to provide each guest with a special mimosa to get your Derby Day celebration started.
This limited elegant breakfast will be in the mansion, served on fine china by period-dressed interpreters. Also included is a tour of the mansion highlighting how Waveland influenced horseracing in Lexington. The price for this breakfast is $75 per person. It starts at 10 a.m. and seating is limited.
A credit card is needed to secure a reservation. Any changes will need to be made by the Friday before the event. Gluten free options are available and must be requested at time of registration.
Waveland offers a unique one-of-a-kind experience! Reservations are required. Call today to schedule your spot for the Derby Day Breakfast at Waveland! 859-272-3611 or 859-619-8189.
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish and Wildlife
Twenty years ago this December, seven elk were released atop Potato Knob in Perry County in front of thousands of onlookers. The landmark restoration of a free roaming elk herd in Kentucky was off and running.
Fast forward to present day. There are now more elk in Kentucky than any state east of the Rocky Mountains and each year the prospect of harvesting one compels tens of thousands of hunters to apply for Kentucky’s quota elk hunts.
Those interested in applying for 2017 should not delay. Applications must be submitted online at fw.ky.gov by midnight (Eastern time) April 30.
“For the person who has always wanted to elk hunt but just couldn’t afford to hunt out west, consider applying for a Kentucky elk quota hunt,” said Gabe Jenkins, elk program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “Our application and permit costs are low in comparison and our elk hunters enjoy some of the highest success rates in the country.”
Kentucky residents and those living out of state can apply for each of the four permit types – bull or cow firearms and bull or cow archery/crossbow – but can be drawn for one hunting permit only. Each entry costs $10. Applicants for the youth-only hunt can put in for the regular elk quota hunts as well but cannot be drawn for both in the same year.
This year, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife will issue 700 general quota hunt permits and 10 youth permits. The permit breakdown will be 100 bull archery and crossbow permits, 150 bull firearms permits, 160 cow archery and crossbow permits and 290 cow firearms permits. Youth permits are valid for use for either sex during all elk seasons.
At least 90 percent of the available elk quota hunt permits go to Kentucky residents. Last year, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife received almost 75,000 applications from more than 34,000 applicants. Kentucky residents alone submitted 46,365 applications.
Sixty-eight percent of hunters who were drawn and purchased their elk permit for the 2016-17 season filled their tags.
Bull elk hunters enjoyed the highest rate of success among drawn elk hunters last year. Eighty-one percent filled their tags and 70 percent of hunters utilizing archery and crossbow equipment successfully harvested a bull. The success rate for cow elk was 35 percent for archery and crossbow hunters and 67 percent among hunters using a firearm.
“A drawn hunter isn’t guaranteed an elk but a little planning goes a long way,” Jenkins said. “Whether you’re a do-it-yourselfer or hire a guide, putting in the time and effort goes a long way and increases your chances of success.”
The bull firearms season generates the greatest interest at application time, and understandably so. The past two seasons have produced two state records and five of the 10 largest bull elk taken in Kentucky since the species’ reintroduction in 1997.
The bull firearms season consists of two week-long hunts, one starting in September and one starting in October. Likewise, the cow firearms season is broken into two week-long hunts in December.
The bull archery/crossbow seasons open in September and the cow archery/crossbow seasons open in October. Each runs through Dec. 31. However, hunters drawn for a cow or bull elk archery/crossbow permit cannot hunt when an elk firearms season is open.
Applicants’ names will be drawn at random by the Commonwealth Office of Technology (COT) in May and randomly assigned a permit type based on their application choices. Hunters drawn for an elk hunting permit are blocked from re-applying for three years.
While waiting to learn if you’ve been drawn, explore Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s website. It offers information about the basics of elk hunting in Kentucky as well as a newer featured called Kentucky Elk University. Designed to educate hunters of all experience levels, this online tutorial covers preparations before an elk hunt, what to expect in the field and what to do after the shot.
EARLY RETURNS: The 2017 spring youth turkey season ended April 2 with hunters reporting a harvest of 1,693 birds.
The youth-only weekend precedes the opening of the 23-day general statewide spring turkey season. This year, the general season opens Saturday, April 15.
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION: With spring now in full bloom across Kentucky, it’s important to remember to guard against tick bites if you plan to be on their turf.
This means minimizing the amount of exposed skin by tucking pants legs into socks or boots and tucking in your shirt, utilizing repellents containing 20 to 30 percent DEET per the directions on the label and checking your clothing and body after being in wooded and brushy areas and areas with tall grass.
Consider treating clothing and boots with a product containing Permethrin, an insecticide that kills ticks, mosquitos and other pests, but allow any articles treated with Permethrin to dry completely before wearing. One treatment can protect through multiple washings.
Should you find a tick attached, grab the tick with tweezers as close to the skin’s surface as possible and steadily pull straight back to remove. Afterward, clean the area around the bite and wash your hands.
The jousting has begun for the 2017 Great Steamboat Race set for Wednesday, May 3, on the Ohio River. At a press conference last week, the tasks and scoring system that will determine the winner of the race was announced. Representatives of the Kentucky Derby Festival, the Belle of Louisville and the Belle of Cincinnati also participated in a Four Roses Bourbon tasting to determine which single-barrel bourbons would be served aboard each vessel during the race.
The Four Roses barrel coded HW 48-4J was selected as the bourbon to represent the Belle of Louisville and the Four Roses barrel coded HW 48-4K was selected to represent the Belle of Cincinnati.
Passengers on board both boats will again have the opportunity to sample the two bourbons and vote for their favorite. The boat with the winning bourbon will receive a mini bourbon barrel trophy and bragging rights for a year. Great Steamboat Race private selection bottles will be available exclusively for sale at your local Louisville Kroger Wine and Spirits Shop in late April.
“We’re happy to once again be a part of Kentucky Derby Festival’s Great Steamboat Race. It’s an event steeped in rich history, much like Four Roses,” said Brent Elliott, Four Roses Bourbon master distiller. “The Bourbons selected to be served during the race are from our OBSV recipe, which is our high rye mashbill. I’m looking forward to Steamboat Race guests tasting both and deciding their favorite in May.”
The task and scoring system that was implemented eight years ago to determine the winner of the Great Steamboat Race will return again this year. Instead of the event winner being determined by the first boat to cross the finish line at the Clark Memorial Bridge, the winner will be the vessel which accumulates the most points from performing a series of nine tasks assigned to each competitor throughout the day and during the race. The task competition starts at 2 p.m. race day at the 4th Street Wharf.
- Task No. 1: Knot Tying Contest (10 points for 1st, 5 points for 2nd)
- Task No. 2: Nautical Flag Word Puzzle (10 and 5 points)
- Task No. 3: Handy Line Toss (10 and 5 points)
- Task No. 4: Monkey fist Toss (10 and 5 points)
- Task No. 5: Paddle Wheel Assembly (10 and 5 points)
- Task No. 6: Calliope Competition (10 and 5 points)
- Task No. 7: Buoy Flag Retrieval (25 points for successful retrieval, 0 points for failure)
- Task No. 8: VIP Retrieval (25 points for successful retrieval, 0 points for failure)
- Task No. 9: Four Roses Bourbon Barrel Retrieval (25 points for successful retrieval, 0 points for failure)
- Task No. 10: Finish Line Order (29 points for 1st vessel under the bridge, 15 points for 2nd vessel)
The total potential points earned are 164. The vessel with the most points as determined by the judges will be declared the winner. Failure to perform a task will result in a “no score,” plus a 35-point penalty. The majority decision of the judges will be final. The winner will be presented with a set of 12-point Silver Antlers at the post-race ceremony.
Boarding for the Great Steamboat Race will take place from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., with the boats departing the shore at 5:45 for a 6 p.m. start. Each boat will be assigned two judges, in addition to an overall event judge from the Derby Festival. The Awards Ceremony will take place immediately following the race at the Chow Wagon in Kroger’s Fest-a-Ville on the Waterfront.
Limited Belle of Cincinnati tickets are still available: $60 Cruise Only; $95 Dinner, Four Roses Bourbon Tasting, and Cruise. For Belle of Cincinnati tickets call 800-261-8586 or visit BBRiverboats.com.
Sponsor: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 369. Contributing Sponsor: Four Roses Bourbon. Supporting Sponsor: IDD Therapeutic Services, PLLC. Media Sponsor: Q103.1
The line-up is set for the 2017 Republic Bank Pegasus Parade. Floats and inflatable units participating in this year’s parade drew for positions at a special event tonight at the Ice House. “Louisville on the Move” will be the theme for the Derby Festival’s oldest event, which will feature approximately 100 units marching down Broadway on Thursday, May 4th.
“This year’s theme is twofold with both a health focus, as well as a nod to how the city continues to grow and progress,” said Mike Berry, KDF President & CEO. “There are many different ways to depict ‘Louisville on the Move’ and we look forward to seeing all the creative and original designs.”
The parade theme will be used by sponsoring companies to help direct the building of floats and costuming of the inflatable handlers and crew. The floats and inflatables compete for various awards based on originality, eye appeal, theme representation, animation, attention to detail and enthusiasm. Marching bands use the theme to help with musical selection and it is the basis of costume and concept design for the other marching units. The annual spectacle marches west on Broadway from Campbell to Ninth Street.
The 2017 Parade will feature 13 floats, plus 1 push float, many of them built by the employees of the companies sponsoring them. The following companies drew for their float position in the parade at tonight’s event, as well as the sponsors of the six participating inflatable character balloons.
| Floats: | Inflatable Balloon Characters: |
| Belle of LouisvilleCity of St. Matthews
Grand Lodge of Kentucky Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana Hwang’s Martial Arts Indiana University Southeast Kentuckiana Pride Festival Kosair Shriners/Kosair Charities Masonic Homes of Kentucky Metro Parks & Recreation Norton Healthcare Second Chance @ Life The Fillies, Inc. Push Float: Passport |
CareSource “Super Grover”Horseshoe Southern Indiana “Horseshoe”
LG&E “Louie the Lightning Bug” Republic Bank “Peggy Bank” StageOne “Flying Elephant” ZirMed, Inc. “Blue Angels Balloon”
|
Fans will have the opportunity to preview each float at the Republic Bank Kentucky Derby Festival Parade Preview Party on Tuesday, May 2, at the Kentucky Exposition Center, in South Wing C. This event will offer a taste of nearly the entire parade. Character balloons, equestrian units and assorted VIPs will join the floats on display for the indoor tour “inside” a parade. Admission is a 2017 Pegasus Pin.
Tickets for the Parade are on sale now online at KDF.org. Ticket prices are $10 for bleacher seats, $12 chair seating and $30 VIP seats.
Republic Bank is the Title Sponsor of the parade with new Contributing Sponsor, KentuckyOne Health.
