Earlier this week, Churchill Downs threw a Gatsby-themed gala for its opening night of its weeklong run-up to the Derby that asked guests to dress in 1920’s fashions and Gatsby costumes and featured actors from Louisville theater—including a Daisy Buchanan understudy from a Broadway production of The Great Gatsby—in era-appropriate performances. Louisville Tourism provided artifacts and activations from the Belle of Louisville and the Waterfront Botanical Gardens, while Churchill Downs itself offered fans opening night ticket packages that included dinner on the Spires Terrace above the grandstand, a speakeasy cocktail tasting, and a room at Churchill Downs’ hotel.
“Derby week, we race six out of eight days, so we’re going to welcome almost 400,000 guests, and that’s the size of six Super Bowls that we’re about to produce this week,” Ramage said. “Everyone in Louisville loves a theme, so each of our days we have a different theme that goes along with it.”
Louisville love
On Tuesday, April 29—502’SDay—the Derby spent a third year specifically celebrating facets of Louisville life that it felt deserved time in the spotlight. This year, it focused on Louisville’s own former heavyweight champ, humanitarian, and greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali, while bringing in an artist to create a mural in his honor and putting a boxing ring in the paddock area.
For Thursday, May 1—Thurby—Louisville’s Frazier Museum offered a look at the history, culture, and music of Kentucky. It brought in country/gospel artist and “yodeling cowgirl” Phoebe White, Navajo flautist Fred Nez Keams, rower and Spalding University president Tori Murden McClure, and a tribute to record store/cultural hub ear X-tacy.
