Friday, February 16, 2018. Louisville, KY. – This morning, a sign that spring is around the corner! The first shipment of the 2018 Kentucky Derby Festival Pegasus Pins arrived at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience on Main Street. It’s the first place you can purchase a 2018 Pegasus Pin beginning today. Heaven Hill Distillery has also produced a special Evan Williams Single Barrel Gold Pegasus Pin Edition bottle to commemorate the 46th edition of the collectable pins. The bottle features a Gold Pegasus Pin sealed in wax on the neck of each bottle.
“The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience celebrates the heritage of Kentucky’s spirit and is proud to continue a partnership with the Kentucky Derby Festival to promote the unique experiences of the Commonwealth,” said Evan Williams Bourbon Experience Artisanal Distiller Jodie Filiatreau. “We welcome fans to join us in a toast to the 2018 Kentucky Derby Festival.”
Evan Williams Bourbon Experience at 528 W. Main Street will be the only location in town selling Pegasus Pins through March 5th. This year’s pin design is inspired by the Festival’s 2018 Official Poster image. The plastic pin features the “Spirited Pegasus” from the poster in a color combination of purple along with white, green and gold foil. The commemorative bottles are available for purchase at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience while supplies last for $74.99.
In March, the pins will become available at 1,000 retail locations and will sell for $6 each. The price at the entrance to events will be $7. Pins will be sold in grocery stores, gas stations, banks and other retail outlets around Kentuckiana from Elizabethtown to Louisville and in Southern Indiana, as well as online at PegasusPins.com. Festival Fun Packs, which include a package of 5 Pegasus Pins, also return this year for $25. Children 6 and under are not required to have a Pegasus Pin for admission to Festival events.
“The value of the Pegasus Pin goes beyond just being an admission to Festival events,” said Mike Berry, KDF President & CEO. “The funds raised from pin sales help us to continue producing events for the public and to maintain the high quality of those events. When you consider the average price of a concert or movie ticket, it’s an incredible deal.”
The Festival will give away 8 Weekly Grand Prizes and any 2018 Pegasus Pin can win. The prizes will be given away on Fridays beginning Friday, March 16, through Friday, May 4. This year’s Weekly Grand Prizes include an Evan Williams Bourbon Experience Speakeasy Party, $2,500 AAA East Central Vacation Package; $2,500 Kroger Fuel Card, $2,500 Commonwealth Credit Union Visa Gift Card, $2,500 Meijer Shopping Spree, Papa Johns Free Pizza for a year, $2,500 Certificate for Windows from Windows Plus and $2,500 Kroger Grocery Card . The drawings will be broadcast on WAVE 3 TV.
Those who find and register a Gold Winner Pegasus Pin also have a chance to win the 2018 Honda CR-V Grand Prize to be given away Friday, May 11 on WAVE 3 TV. With more than 12,000 of these pins in circulation, the odds of finding a Gold Winner Pegasus Pin are approximately 1 in 20.
Along with the chance to win Grand Prizes, each Pegasus Pin envelope also includes 3 coupons provided by retail partners including Kroger, Papa Johns, Meijer and Liquor Barn/Party Mart, to name a few.
About Pegasus Pins: The Pegasus Pin 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 pins have become one of the primary sources of funding for Derby Festival events. More than 250,000 of the pins are produced each year and the pin program has become a way for the community to have ownership in the Festival and show pride in the region’s largest celebration.
