THUNDER OVER LOUISVILLE RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS AWARD
2004-02-12T08:55:10
Thunder Over Louisville, the Derby Festival’s Opening Ceremonies, was honored by the Sales Management & Marketing Association with the Premier Vendeur Award. This is the first time in the 65-year history of the SMA that an event has been awarded the Premier Vendeur Award. Derby Festival President and CEO, Mike Berry, accepted the award Friday, February 6th at the SMA’s annual Awards Dinner at the Seelbach Hilton Hotel.
The award is given “to honor persons or organizations that have excelled in selling Louisville and/or Kentucky to the United States and/or the world.” The award has only been given 12 times, with past recipients including:
1974 Colonel Harlan Sanders
1980 Governor John Y. Brown, Jr.
1981 Dale H. Fisher
1983 Roger Davis (restored the Historic Seelbach)
1987 Kentucky Derby Festival
1988 Mayor Jerry Abramson
1991 Foster Brooks
1993 Dwight Gahm (developer of Valhalla Golf Course)
1994 Churchill Downs
1996 Muhammad Ali
1997 Coach Denny Crum
Representatives from Thunder Over Louisville’s sponsors – Caesars Indiana, Ford Motor Co. and UPS – were also on hand to be honored by the SMA with Pinnacle Awards for their sponsorship of our region’s largest single event. Without their support, the event would not still be rated as one of the top 100 events in North America; thrilling crowds of more than 500,000 every spring; providing our community with over $30 million in economic impact annually; and entertaining United States Armed Forces personnel around the world through its broadcast on Armed Forces Television.
