REGISTRATION NOW OPEN FOR PARTICIPANTS
February 14, 2022. Louisville, KY. – The Kentucky Derby Festival is sharing a special Valentine with the city of Louisville this year. With help from Zoeller Pump Company employees, Festival organizers revealed the theme for this year’s Zoeller Pump Company Pegasus Parade. The 2022 theme is “Loving Louisville.” Parade units will be encouraged to decorate with everything they love about the city like landmarks, icons, sports teams, music, and a lot of hearts. Registration is now open online for interested participants.
“We want the community to help us showcase all the amazing things there are to love about Louisville,” said Matt Gibson, KDF President & CEO. “We can’t wait to return to Broadway this spring and will be there to share lots of love for our city that’s supported the Derby Festival for more than 65 years.”
2022 marks the 67th year for the parade, which is the founding event of the Kentucky Derby Festival. For the first time in its history, the parade will move to a new day and time. It will step off on Broadway in Downtown Louisville on Sunday afternoon, May 1, at 3 p.m. to kick-off Derby week, instead of marching on the traditional Thursday.
“Zoeller Pump is proud of Louisville and all of our employees,” said Dwight C. Newton, Zoeller Pump Company Chief People Officer. “The Derby Festival continues to represent a celebration of this wonderful city. Zoeller is excited to have this opportunity to get this celebration started.”
Registration is now open for groups interested in participating in the 2022 parade. Parade units can apply in the following categories: Equestrian, Specialty Unit, Marching Band, Inflatable, and Float. Applications can be submitted online at KDF.org/PegasusParade.
Different themes are chosen each year to help guide the decorations and music used by the participants, including the building of floats and costuming of the inflatable handlers and crew. The floats compete for various awards based on originality, eye appeal, theme representation, animation, attention to detail, and enthusiasm. Marching bands use the theme to help with musical selection and it is the basis of costume and concept design for the other marching units.
The first parade was produced in 1956 to create a way for the community to celebrate before the Derby horse race. It was organized by just a handful of volunteers on a budget of $640 and has become one of the Festival’s largest events with an estimated economic impact of more than $22 million.
Zoeller Pump Company returns as title sponsor of the event since 2020, joining Contributing Sponsor Kentucky Venues, The Galt House as the Official Hotel and Media Partner, WAVE.
The Derby Festival is an independent community organization supported by 4,000 volunteers, 400 businesses and civic groups, Pegasus Pin sponsorships, and event participation. It entertains more than 1.5 million people annually. This involvement has made the Festival the largest single attended event in Kentucky and one of the leading community celebrations in the world.
