Kentucky Derby: Upcoming Events

The famous horse race scheduled for May 4, 2013 is worth booking a car rental in Louisville, Kentucky alone, but the long list of events leading up to the Derby are just as fun!  Plan your next tour by car rental in the United States around around the horse races and have yourself a slice of Derby Pie!

You can find the full list of events at kdf.org, the official Kentucky Derby Festival website, of which are around 40 remaining, but below I list a few of my favorites and why.  

Balloons Galore

The Great Balloon Fest is an essential part of horse racing.  "How so," you ask?  Well, any Louisvillian knows the week leading up to the Kentucky Derby just wouldn't be complete without hot air balloons!  Racing, glowing, and now apparently "glimmering", the balloon festivities of the Derby are held on 

April 25-27.  Entry to all events is free with a pegasus pin, and transportation is cheapest through CarHireX.com.

Chow Wagon

Welcome to Kentucky, where we still celebrate a food and music festival with an outdated and crude-sounding word like "chow".  Deliciously fried fair-style food will be served up at the Chow Wagon from April 25 through May 3, accompanied by live music of a wide variety of genres and a party atmosphere.

The Most Comfortable Race

The Great Bed Race is possibly the most ridiculous of the Derby traditions and a personal favorite of mine!  There is not much I could say about this race, aside from it being exactly what you would imagine from the title: groups of bedded-ridiculousness on wheels competing against each other, hoping to make it to a finish line.