So the Derby Festival officially began with Thunder Over Louisville, and continued for two weeks until the actual race. In the meantime, state fair-like booths and activities took place every afternoon and evening at Louisville’s Waterfront Park, which is right on the Ohio River. Food booths, parades and concerts filled downtown for those two weeks, and two Thursdays ago I got to meet up with an old friend.

Well, I got to see him on stage from about 40 feet away. But man, he’s as good as ever! It was raining a bit during the concert, but there was a good crowd – I took movies with my camera, and finally figured out a way to share them:

Video1

Video 2
(man, that one was so amazing)

Two days later, Derby weekend began.

Now, to give a bit of background: two fellow VISTAs work at the backside of Churchill Downs at a learning center for the (mainly Latino) workers; they organize ESL classes, professional development opportunities and work their asses off to raise funds to keep the Center operating. Meanwhile, they work amidst the trainers, owners and jockeys of the 4,000 horses housed on the backside, and during Derby time it’s pretty cool, because not just anyone can get onto the backside. You need a pass to get in, and can only get those passes if you’re connected to the owners/trainers/jockeys, or if you’re volunteering like we did.

This Derby season, the Center hosted a gift shop. All the items were donated by the Derby Museum (which is located on the frontside of Churchill Downs), and the Center got to keep all the proceeds. Which was AMAZING, because these gift items were atrociously priced. Nearly every VISTA took turns volunteering at the gift shop, and some, like me, worked both days. Long days.

Some info on the Oaks race:

-It’s the runner-up race to the Derby held on the first Friday of May

-Around here it’s called the “local’s race.” The turnout is big, but not nearly as big as the Derby...because, obviously, not as many people know about the Oaks. Hence the nickname.

-All participating horses are fillies (female horses), and while the Derby is known as the “Run for the Roses,” the Oaks is known as the “Run for the Lilies.”

During Oaks day, it rained almost nonstop. The track was sloppy, but that didn’t stop the races:

A video of a race on Oaks day

Saturday was the Derby. It was much better weather, and I found it fascinating that inside the Derby program where all the horses and their stats are listed, you can even see how many races horses have run and won on a sloppy track. Here are some other notes on the Derby:

-Although all the high-profile celebs (QE2, O.J. Simpson, that guy who sired Anna Nicole’s crack baby) sat on the frontside on “Millionaire’s Row,” the backside had all the behind-the-scenes heroes: the owners/trainers/jockeys and their families. When it came to race time, I found that more people around us were speaking Spanish than any other language.

-People who couldn’t afford to sit on the frontside and didn’t have the connections to get onto the backside but still wanted to have a good time would shell out $50 to go to the “infield.” This is, literally, the inside of the track. It’s fenced off, and has food and booze booths (unlike the backside, where we couldn’t even get a mint julep!). Some people come at the crack of dawn (which is when we volunteers had to be at our posts) to set down lawn chairs on the outskirts of the fence so they can actually see the races. Most of the people go for the party. Imagine State Street on Halloween (or what it used to be like) crammed into an outdoor arena. Everyone from Louisville has been to the infield at least once, and every one of them has a story to tell about it. I learned that there’s actually an underground jail in the infield.

-The Derby, like the Oaks, is just one race of about a dozen that take place on Oaks and Derby days. Throughout the late morning and afternoon there are about 10 races, and the brand-name races don’t happen until around 6:00 both days. We were extremely spoiled on the backside. We could get right up to the fence – we could have spat on the track. Meanwhile the infielders were caged far away from the track, and the frontsiders were stuck in their seats/boxes all day long.

-You may have heard of the tradition of wearing froofy hats to the Derby. It’s true. Some people even make their own, and those were the ones I liked the best. Other people were just there to have a good time.

The gift shop/learning center shared a building with the betting windows, so while we rotated between cashiering and selling water out front, we’d see long lines, or, after a race, people lined up to watch a TV placed out front (because from the backside you could only see about 20 seconds of the actual race!)

The gift shop closed down for the Derby race, so the dozen or so of us scattered to the fence to get the best view. Again, I was impressed that we were actually ON the fence for the race. There’s a lot of pomp and circumstance involved in this race – crowds lined the path that the horses took to walk from the barns to the track, and we caught the arrival of one horse being lead to the track. I got really excited when it was approaching, snapped photos, then got annoyed with myself for getting so excited to see a measly horse. (But if you dare say “It’s just a horse” or “It’s just a race,” you’re likely to start a fistfight.) After the race, I learned that the horse we watched approach was the horse that won. Street Sense was his name.

While hanging on the fence waiting for the Derby, someone passed me binoculars and pointed to Millionaire’s Row across the field. “See that lady in the lime green dress next to the lady in pink? That’s the Queen.”

During the race, we got to see the horses coming around the corner. Again, we only saw them for about 20 seconds from when they rounded the corner to when they were out of sight, but the excitement of the crowd was catching. These people get so freaking pumped for a 2-minute horse race!

Video1

Video2 - after the race

We ran back to the gift shop to re-open for the last two races (why they bothered to have races after the Derby I don’t understand), though we were thoroughly exhausted by this point. Overall, we were there from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and because so many roads were blocked off on the way out, we were siphoned in the direction of a VISTA’s apartment. So we all met up, ate food and drank beer in celebration of…NOT WINNING. (My sure-bet, Dominican, came in 16^th. WTF, Dominican?? My long-shot, Imawildandcrazyguy, came in 4^th. If he had come in 3^rd I would have come away with a wee bit of winnings – something more than nothing, anyway.)

It was a Louisville-licious week, that’s for sure. Now, if any of you want to see more pictures, I've got tons of 'em!