The Kentucky Derby Museum

The Kentucky Derby Museum is a nonprofit organization who is entrusted to preserve the history and legacy of the Kentucky Derby, it first opened its doors to the public in the spring of 1985 and has been open ever since, the museum has tons of different exhibits, some even being interactive for example there is a fake betting booth, a fake horse racing station where you can pretend your racing in the Derby! there’s an area where you and a friend can quiz each other on your Derby knowledge! and a few booths where you can watch all of the Derby races that have been recorded on tape, the farthest one dating back to 1922!( it wasn’t the best video quality since it was 1922)

Lots of different history has been preserved in the museum over 20,000 artifacts are open for the public to see, Its premier collections include those of trainer D. Wayne Lukas and jockey Bill Shoemaker,The trophies, awards, photographs, artwork and personal mementos from these collections detail the history and heritage of the Sport of Kings as far back as the 1840s, personally my favorite part of the museum is the fashion exhibit, where there are different Derby outfits from the early 2000s back to the 1800s when the Derby first started, there are tons of pretty dresses and fashionable suits to see there, another very cool thing at the museum is the short movie that they show, it goes over some of the history of the museum, like some of the winning horses, how the horses are trained and the jockeys, the coolest thing about it is that its shown on a 360 screen, so it wraps around the entire room, its a very neat experience.

One of the most important things to me about the museum is I have a personal family connection to it, my grandmother, Barbra Isabell, who is also a Fillie (The Fillies is a group of women dedicated to supporting the Kentucky Derby Festival.) is a volunteer at the museum, doing things like tours, and something that I just learned about called “Hattitude” where she helps design hats and fascinators for women to wear at the derby, she’s been volunteering at the museum for many years now, and enjoys it very much.

In conclusion, if you haven’t already you should visit the Kentucky derby museum, I promise you’ll enjoy it and learn lots, especially if you’ve lived in Louisville your whole life, seeing and learning all of the cool and interesting things about your hometown just makes you appreciate it a whole lot more!