THUNDER COUNTRY DRAWS A RECORD CROWD

The Kentucky Derby Festival kicked off its two-week celebration with excellent weather conditions and a record-breaking Opening Ceremonies.  A record crowd estimated at 800,000 lined both sides of the Ohio River to watch Thunder Over Louisville on Saturday, April 22.  In addition, the Coast Guard reported a record number of 604 boats were anchored on the Ohio River for the show.  This year's show was sponsored by Caesars Indiana, Chase, E.ON U.S. and UPS, as well as community McDonald's Thunder Funders. 

"It was a picture perfect day, " said Thunder show producer, Wayne Hettinger.  "This was the best forecast we've had in the 17-year history of the show.  We didn't miss a cue all day - and you could even hear the fans cheering from the 24th floor of the Galt House."

Highlights of the event included the first-ever Thunder Air Show appearance of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels.  Thunder fans who arrived early saw a bonus performance by the Blue Angels, as well as other Demo teams.  The teams took to the sky just after noon for practice, after rainy weather cancelled their rehearsal on Friday.  The demo teams included the A-10, T-6, and the attention-demanding F-15's and F-18's.  The "Heritage Flight" is always a crowd favorite and showcased the past and present of the US Air Force pairing F-15 and F-16 fighters with their predecessor, a WWII P-51 Mustang.  Perennial favorites, Bill Leff and Lima Lima, also performed both daytime acts and returned for sunset performances complete with fireworks off the back of their civilian aircraft.

The theme of this year's show was "Thunder Country" and the fireworks display was choreographed to the music of Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Big & Rich, Shania Twain, Charlie Daniels Band, Keith Urban, Lynyrd Skynyrd and others.  More than 250 Thunder spectators had a birds-eye view of the action from a decommissioned World War Two Landing Craft (LST-325) docked at the waterfront.

Two individuals served as Official "Thundernators" for the 2006 Thunder Over Louisville fireworks show -- World War Two veteran Bruce Voges and Allison Barber, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Internal Communications and Public Liaison. Barber acted as "Launch Activator," turning a key to activate the Thunder launch system sequence; immediately thereafter, Voges turned a key to ignite the 30-minute pyrotechnic show.

"It was just a wonderful day for our community," said Robert "Rip" Hatfield, 2006 Derby Festival Chairman. "Once again, our sponsors enabled us to put on one of the most exciting and well-attended events in the world. What a wonderful way to kick off the next two weeks of Derby Festival."

Thunder Over Louisville - the Derby Festival's Opening Ceremonies - is one of the more than seventy events produced by the Derby Festival in the spring. 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 in a two-week period and has a local economic impact of more than $93 million. Thunder alone contributes $31 million of that estimate to both sides of the Ohio River.  This involvement has made the Festival the largest single-attended event in Kentucky and one of the leading community celebrations in the world.