02/24/22 – DERBY FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF PEGASUS PINS

EVAN WILLIAMS CREATES SPECIAL GOLD PIN BOURBON BOTTLE

Thursday, February 24, 2022. Louisville, KY. – A sign of spring! The first shipment of 2022 Kentucky Derby Festival Pegasus Pins arrived this morning at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience on Main Street. It’s the first place you can purchase this year’s pins starting today for $6 each. Heaven Hill Distillery has also produced a special Evan Williams Single Barrel Limited Edition Kentucky Derby Festival bourbon bottle to commemorate the 50th edition of the collectible pins. The bottle features a Gold 50th Pegasus Pin sealed in gold wax on the neck of each bottle.

“Celebrating the 50th year for the Pegasus Pins will make this year’s Derby Festival even more special,” said Matt Gibson, KDF President & CEO. “As always, these pins are an incredible value providing free admission into many of the Festival’s events, plus any pin could make you a Grand Prize winner.”

This year’s pin design celebrates the 50th edition with the number 50 as a holographic image and includes a tribute to the very first Pegasus Pin created in 1973. The pin also features the Louisville skyline to symbolize the Derby Festival’s connection with the community.

Evan Williams Bourbon Experience at 528 W. Main Street will be the only location in town selling Pegasus Pins through March 4th. The commemorative bottles are available for purchase at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience beginning today and while supplies last for $79.99.

“The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience is proud to partner with the Kentucky Derby Festival and celebrate a milestone year for the Pegasus Pin, which represents the unique Kentucky spirit that makes this time of year so exciting in the Bluegrass State,” said Evan Williams Bourbon Experience Artisanal Distiller Jodie Filiatreau. “Join us as we raise a toast to Kentucky’s heritage and usher in the 2022 Kentucky Derby Festival.”

Starting March 7, the pins will be available at retail locations including grocery stores, gas stations, banks, and other retail outlets in Kentuckiana from Elizabethtown to Louisville, as well as in Southern Indiana. They can also be purchased online at PegasusPins.com. They will sell for $6 each at retail and $7 at events.

The Festival will give away 10 Grand Prizes over the course of eight weeks and any 2022 Pegasus Pin can win. The prizes will be given away on Fridays beginning Friday, March 18, through Friday, May 6 on WAVE. To be eligible for the drawings, fans need to register their pins online at PegasusPins.com.

This year’s Weekly Grand Prizes include an Evan Williams Bourbon Experience Speakeasy Bourbon Party, $2,500 Main Event Entertainment Gift Card, $2,500 Great Clips package with haircuts for a year and a travel package, $3,000 Ashley HomeStore Shopping Spree, $2,500 Commonwealth Credit Union Visa Gift Card, $2,500 Cox’s Smoker’s Outlet and Spirit Shoppe The Cox’s and Maker’s Mark Bourbon Experience, $3,000 Meijer Shopping Spree, $2,500 Kroger Fuel Card, and $2,500 Kroger Grocery Card. The drawings will be broadcast on WAVE.

Those who find and register a Gold Winner Pegasus Pin also have a chance to win the 2022 Honda HR-V Grand Prize to be given away Friday, May 13, on WAVE. With more than 18,000 of these pins in circulation, the odds of finding a Gold Winner Pegasus Pin are approximately 1 in 18.

Along with the chance to win Grand Prizes, each Pegasus Pin envelope also includes an offer from Great Clips, as well as 14 coupons provided by retail partners including Mike Linnig’s, Rooties Sports Bar & Grill, the Kentucky State Fair, and Kern’s Kitchen Derby-Pie Chocolate nut pie just to name a few.

About Pegasus Pins: The Pegasus Pin Sponsorship program was started as an awareness campaign for the Derby Festival in 1973. At that time, only 10,000 of the plastic pins were produced. The 1973 version of the pin is valued at $800-$1,000 and it’s rare to find them. Since then, the pin sponsorships have become one of the primary sources of funding for Derby Festival events. A pin sponsorship investment is a way fans can support the Kentucky Derby Festival, a not-for-profit organization providing world-class entertainment.

About Kentucky Derby Festival
Since 1956, the Derby Festival has worked to bring the community together in celebration. The Festival is an independent community organization supported by 4,000 volunteers, 400 businesses and civic groups, Pegasus Pin sponsorships and event participation. This involvement has made the Festival the largest single attended event in Kentucky and one of the leading community celebrations in the world.

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April 11 - April 21