And they're off.

It's Derby season.

April officially begins the Kentucky Derby Festival season.

Our Kelcey Starks has more on the race that puts all of Kentucky in the winner's circle.

Well, you know, Louisville likes to stretch out.

The most famous 2 minutes in sports into a month long festival.

And that is the Derby Festival, of course.

Stacy Yates is the chief marketing officer for Louisville Tourism.

She's here to talk a little bit about the impact this season has.

Here we are in Louisville, just coming off the heels of some great March Madness games in here.

They're talking about an economic impact of $15 million for the city.

Let's talk a little bit about why this isn't only great for the city of Louisville, but really great for the entire state.

Yeah.

Well, first of all, it's a huge brand opportunity for the state, right?

When Lexington hosted things, when Louisville hosted things, Owensboro, Paducah.

It really just shines a positive spotlight on our state.

And then there's the economic impact, the throw off.

You know, in a lot of cases, when people are coming to a city like Louisville for something, they also discover something like bourbon.

And while there's a lot flowing through the streets of downtown Louisville, there are over 60 distilleries elsewhere out in the state that they might get a chance to get a taste of on that second and third visit, too.

So these kind of marquee events really boost tourism for the state overall.

Yeah.

Let's talk a little bit about that bourbon.

As I know, you all were kind of the masterminds behind that.

And it has really become Louisville and Kentucky in general has become a destination for bourbon enthusiasts.

What kind of impact has has that had now that we're all several years into this now?

Certainly created a buzz.

Yes.

Yeah.

So, yeah, so many years ago, over 15 now.

You've got to think back.

Louisville didn't have any distilleries that had a tourism component to it.

So we had production.

We were we were and still are, I believe, making a third of the world's bourbon supply.

But they weren't touring opportunities.

There were only eight distilleries out in the state that you could do this, and we just wanted to plug into that.

And so we did with this little promotion we came up with that was a cocktail tour essentially called the Urban Bourbon Trail.

And then we were an overnight success.

Now it's it's been 15 years.

But what we're so excited to say that we have a dozen distilleries with a touring experience now in the city of living alone, over 60 in the state, I'm told.

And we have like five or six on the docket right now that will be open in different stages from basically next week until the end of this year.

So a lot of activity in that bourbon tourism space.

We really have become what we set out to do.

And that is kind of be the the Napa for wine.

But in the bourbon bourbon corridor, if you will.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

And here we are in Derby season, which is the biggest tourism season, kind of the kickoff for a tourism season here in Louisville.

A great time.

To drink bourbon to.

Of course.

It is.

It has been a difficult few years, though.

I mean, coming off of COVID and a lot of downtown businesses struggled and are just kind of starting to come back.

So what do you expect this year?

Is downtown Louisville back?

I would challenge people that think that it's not and they're certainly not.

You know, I'm not.

All the office workers have returned.

I don't know that that's as much of a COVID thing as it is a new way of life right now.

You have hybrid schedules, so you might be down here on a monday and not find all of your favorite places open for lunch.

But I would challenge people.

You'd be hard pressed to come on really Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday and not wonder what was going on.

You.

It's a very lively, vibrant corridor here on Whiskey Row with it's at a dozen bourbon attractions and iconic attractions like Louisville Slugger, the Frazier History Museum, the Science Center.

You will see folks with a mini bat in one hand and a bourbon gift bag in another.

And you just it's bursting at the seams.

So downtown is very much alive on weekends, especially from a tourism standpoint.

Yeah, and a lot.

Still to come.

We've got the Slugger Museum here in downtown recently renovated and soon to be open, cutting the ribbon on those renovations.

And the secretariat exhibit is soon to be opening at the Derby Museum.