Today is Thunder over Louisville which is the event that kicks off the Ky Derby Festival. A 2 week long party, for all intents and purposes, that leads up to a 2 minute horse race called the Ky Derby (I know there are horses, actually seen a couple a few yrs ago while standing on top of a couple of kegs in the infield). Thunder is the largest annual fireworks show in the country, created by the Zambelli family(their website has numerous pics from Thunder events over the yrs). www.wave3.com is the link to the local TV station that will be providing the live streaming of the air show and the fireworks. The weather here today will be clearing (storms last night) with a high in the mid 60s. This yr you could call it Lightning and Thunder. Lightning(Ca-chig-a) being provided by today's pitcher for the Louisville Bats' (AAA team for the Cincinnati Reds) Aroldis Chapman, a Cuban defector who's fastball reaches 102 mph. Ya always have lightning before the Thunder . Fireworks start at 9:30, airshow starts at 3.

I usually post this about a week before, but have been very busy this week. In fact it's the first time in about a week and a half that I have even been online. Complete travesty, a Geek Squad agent, and I haven't been online. Anywho, I will be at the baseball game working concessions to support my daughter's dance habit. Will be there all the way up to fireworks time. Parrots of the Caribbean(Jimmy Buffett cover band) will be performing in between the game and fireworks. Will try and post again on Tuesday (work another game Monday) after I've had time to recover.

have fun!! it sounds like an awesome day.

good luck with the fundraising and to the baseball club....i for one am very happy that MLB season is here!

Parrots of the Caribbean. Great name.

Anyway, thanks for posting about this! I always enjoy your Derby posts. It's hard to believe it's that time of year again.

Well it's Derby Festival time again, kicking off as usual with Thunder this Saturday. I actually get to stay home and watch Thunder this yr from home, instead of working the baseball game that leads into Thunder; which is good, because the weather this weekend will provide it's own thunder (Thunder has never been cancelled due to weather, including snow). It's gonna be a cold wet day down on the river for those in attendance. Now with that, Derby weather traditionally runs opposite Thunder weather, so hopefully Derby Day will be absolutely beautiful this yr, especially since our concessions booth this yr will be in the infield for the first time in about 7 yrs. Most likely getting a huge Mint Julep booth. BIG MONEY. This same booth last yr made more money than our 4 booths we had last yr COMBINED and our booths we had last yr had combined sales of about $40K on Derby Day. The group that had it last yr were caught refilling julep glasses (a no-no) at discounted prices and then putting ALL that money into their tip jar (Bigger NO-NO). Our sales are determined by glasses sold from an inventory standpoint and how we are charged by the concession co. So if you are refilling glasses, you are getting paid for the drinks that aren't affecting your inventory and when that money is pocketed, in essence you're stealing from the concession co twice over. So that group is no longer working, and we are the beneficiary of that occurrence. For those interested in the streaming of the fireworks, it's available at www,wlky.com it's the local station that carries it this yr. The 4 local stations rotate out each yr on who gets exclusive coverage. You can also check out the Zambelli fireworks co who puts on the show each yr, they have a feature on their website about Thunder, as well as their other shows they have done. For those unfamiliar with Thunder over Louisville, it is the largest annual fireworks show in the country, if not the world. And also has the 5th largest airshow in the US (6 hrs long) and a lead-in to the fireworks.

Glad you could stay home and enjoy Thunder this year!