Families and fun: Kentucky Derby Festival Zoeller Pump Pegasus Parade floats down Broadway

Bailey Loosemore, Louisville Courier Journal
·2 min read

Peggy Miller just likes to see people smile.

That's why she stayed up all night Saturday finishing a new costume – a human-sized red Kentucky Derby hat – for the Zoeller Pump Company Pegasus Parade.

The hat was one of several costumes Miller has made for the parade through the years, including a jockey outfit she donned herself on Sunday and a mint julep ensemble that previously landed her photo in the Kentucky Derby Museum.

"It's a great community thing," Miller said of the parade, a Kentucky Derby Festival event. "... It just makes me happy to see somebody else laugh. I would do it 100 times over."

A Zoeller Pump Company Pegasus Parade participant, dressed as a large Kentucky Derby hat, greets viewers along the parade route.
A Zoeller Pump Company Pegasus Parade participant, dressed as a large Kentucky Derby hat, greets viewers along the parade route.

Related: Kroger's Fest-A-Ville returns for KDF 2023! Everything you need to know on how to go

Thousands of people again turned out for the 68th annual parade, which stretched along Broadway between Campbell and Ninth streets.

And though the clouds opened up and poured halfway through the route, marching bands and stereos continued to keep people dancing as entertainers passed.

Near the middle of the line was the parade's grand marshal – a bronze sculpture of Secretariat, celebrating 50 years since the horse's historic Triple Crown win.

Elsewhere in the parade, University of Louisville Health representatives pulled an inflatable cardinal. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear waved to the crowd. And members of Hwang's Martial Arts showed off their taekwondo skills.

Olivia Kang, 5, was apprehensive at first to perform several fan routines alongside a group of women. (The fans were too large for her small hands.) But she was confident she knew the routines well.

Stacy Koch, a master and fifth degree black belt in taekwondo, led the martial art studio's sword team and said members begin preparing for the parade months in advance.

Kentucky Derby 2023: Secretariat's legacy remains untouched 50 years after Triple Crown

While adults participated with the fan and sword teams, younger martial arts students performed with nunchucks.

"I just love that our city gets to come together as one," said Carter Martin Jr., a second degree black belt in taekwondo instructor. "You know, it's been some rough times. But when we can get out and have a good time together and celebrate something all together, it's a great time for our city."

Reach reporter Bailey Loosemore at bloosemore@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4646 or on Twitter @bloosemore.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Derby Festival's Pegasus Parade draws crowd despite rain