Kentucky Derby Festival: Stretching out the ‘fastest two minutes in sports’

You can’t stop time, but you can make the “fastest two minutes in sports” last a whole lot longer.

The Kentucky Derby Festival launched in 1956 as an effort to give racing fans a reason to arrive early for The Kentucky Derby. Now, the festival’s 70+ events attract visitors in their own right.

About 1.5 million people attend KDF events each year. About 500,000 turn out for Thunder Over Louisville, the largest annual fireworks show in North America. It happened April 13.

Bed races. A chow wagon. A half-marathon. The Kentucky Derby Festival has something for everyone.

– Beverly Bartlett