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State Fairs / Food Travel / Kentucky Travel / Events / → All Tags

Score Your Next Slice of Fried Kool-Aid in Kentucky

The days of summer are starting to get a little limited, but there’s still plenty of time left to overindulge on the tastes of the season. Unfortunately, we’re not talking about foodie finds like heirloom tomatoes from the local farmer’s market—we’re talking about fried everything and anything.

State fair season is now upon us, and kicking things off is the 107th Kentucky State Fair which runs through August 28. Bring some Tums in your pocket, as this year’s festival is bringing back plenty of favorites including the Krispy Kreme burger.

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Sports Travel / Kentucky Travel / How to Get Tickets To / Kentucky Derby / Horse Racing / Race Tracks / Events / → All Tags

Last-Minute Kentucky Derby Tickets are Only $40

We're less than a week away from the Kentucky Derby, or as we prefer to think of it this year, the second time in a month when we'll be permitted to wear big, stupid hats (the first being The Royal Wedding). Although it's a tad too late to score the best boxes where the mint juleps come served in proper silver cups, there's plenty of tickets left for the infield, aka general admission, for the big horserace on Saturday, May 7.

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How To Get Tickets To / Kentucky Travel / Sports Travel / Horse Racing / Race Tracks / Kentucky Derby / → All Tags

How To Get Tickets To This Year's Kentucky Derby

The Final Four is over, so it’s time to look forward one of the next big sporting events. The Kentucky Derby is just over a month away, so if you’ve haven’t made plans to get yourself to Churchill Downs now is the time to do so. We’ll let you know how to get tickets and access to the first leg of the Triple Crown, but then we're relying on you to figure out where to buy the appropriate hat.

We always kind of assumed that getting tickets to the Derby was going to be pretty challenging, but it’s actually not too tricky at all. There’s still plenty of seats available too, so no need to resort to hitting the ticket brokers and scalpers in the parking lot.

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Sports Travel / Kentucky Derby / Kentucky Travel / Animals / → All Tags

Who's the Favorite Horse to Win Saturday's Kentucky Derby?

Last year, we went out and bought a big white churchy hat and preppy purse to match for a Kentucky Derby party in midtown Manhattan. After several strong mint juleps, we finally watched he horses on TV dash around the track at Churchill Downs, and today we can't even remember the name of the winning horse. Oh wait, that's right—it was "Mine That Bird."

Well, Mine That Bird is taking this year off and the current favorite for the finish line is a lithe brown horse by the name of Lookin at Lucky, jockeyed by Garrett Gomez. The horse has some promising odds of 2-to-1, with "Devil May Care" a second favorite with 6-to-1 odds. We typically pick our favorite in the a super subjective manner: what horse name most tickles our fancy. This year it's "Awesome Act," just because it's be awesome to have a horse with "awesome" in its name go down in horseracing history.

Who's your favorite? A complete list of the racers is here, and don't forget to tune in for the brief race on Saturday at 6:24pm EST on NBC. That is, unless you're actually going, in which case we say put a couple dollars down on Awesome Act for us, okay?

Related Stories:
· Kentucky Derby favorite Lookin at Lucky will start in first position [Washington Post]
· How to Get Tickets to the Kentucky Derby [Jaunted]
· Sports Travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: KentuckyDerby.com]

Travel Tweet of the Week / Twitter / Twitter Travel / → All Tags

Tweet of the Week: Let's All Get Down to Churchill Downs

We love Tuesdays. Why, you ask? Because the day brings many travel tips and quips as "Travel Tuesday" on Twitter, and we're going to share our favorite with you. Got an avid travel twitterer we should follow? Let us know.

Spring is definitely here, and we're more than ready to break out a big, floppy hat and the mint julep cups for seasonal events like the Kentucky Derby. Even more so since we did the research to discover that tickets for the historical horse racing event, held on May 1 at Churchill Downs racecourse in Louisville, Kentucky, are absolutely within a reasonable price range.

And we're not the only one jonesing to play the ponies; flight attendant tweeter @skywaitress is right there with us:

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How To Get Tickets To / Kentucky Derby / Kentucky Travel / Sports Travel / Events / → All Tags

How To Get Tickets To The Kentucky Derby

Get out your best hat and heels because The Kentucky Derby is right around the corner and we have all the scoop on getting the best seats in the house.

All of the seating inside Churchill Downs for the derby, which takes place on May 1, is reserved seating. These tickets can only be purchased online but should be purchased in advance since they usually sell out pretty fast. Right now, there are still reserved seats available starting at $60.

Cheaper options, after the jump

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Kentucky Derby / Horse Racing / Paris Hilton / Tom Brady / Brooke Shields / → All Tags

Paris Hilton Does Kentucky

The Kentucky Derby may not be a huge draw for average joes this year, but it's still reeling in A-listers.

Well, at least the Derby-eve party on Friday night is. The notorious Barnstable Brown bash is hosted by Louisville's locally-famous socialite twin sisters Priscilla Barnstable and Tricia Barnstable Brown, in their opulent mansion in the tony Bonnycastle neighborhood. The 21-year-old fiesta has made enough of a mark on the socialite set that it even draws celebs who don't bother to stick around for the race.

In addition to Hilton, Tom Brady, Brooke Shields, and Kid Rock will be among the boldface names at the twins' house. For the first time this year, the bash will be followed by an after-party at the Sports and Social Club, a brand new downtown club, so there could be a chance to get in some late-night celeb-sightings.

Related Stories:
· Kentucky Derby 2009 Barnstable-Brown gala guest list [Courier-Journal]
· Where to Make Your Own Last-Minute Kentucky Derby Hat [Jaunted]
· Kentucky Derby Tickets Still Available, Compliments of The Recession [Jaunted]

[Photo: casaroger]

Kentucky Derby / Sports Travel / Fashion Travel / Horse Racing / → All Tags

Where to Make Your Own Last-Minute Kentucky Derby Hat

With the Kentucky Derby only three days away, we're darn sure that milliners within 100 miles of Churchill Downs are working overtime to craft last minute hats and add extra feathers for optimum flash.

Observing the parade of outrageous headgear at the Derby and downing a few Mint Juleps is as much a part of the spectacle as the horse race itself. In these economic times, noting that a spectacular hat typically ranges from $150 to $500, we fully expect more women to take to crafting their own brims or even redecorating last year's masterpiece. For this, we turn to Dee's Crafts in Louisville.

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Horse Racing / Sports / Kentucky Derby / → All Tags

Kentucky Derby Tickets Still Available, Compliments of The Recession

This may not come as much of a shock, but we can add horse racing to the list of things getting battered by the recession.

We're just three weeks away from the Sport of Kings' biggest day, but this year's Kentucky Derby appears to less of a hot commodity than in years past. WHAS Louisville reports:

Normally, you'd have a hard time finding a hotel room in Louisville for Derby. But not this year. Some of the area's most popular hotels still have vacancies….Those who normally shell out thousands of dollars to attend the Kentucky Derby are scaling back their spending. What’s the main reason? The Derby is an event often referred to in the industry as an "incentive event", like the Super Bowl or Final Four, something given as a reward to companies' top employees or customers.

Ahhh, so that's who was always able to afford things like the $1,900 infield suite two-day package. But, even if your boss isn't putting you up in fancy digs for the May 2 Derby, the race is still doable on a much smaller budget: $40 general admission tickets are still available.

Related Stories:
· Kentucky Derby [Official Site]
· Hotels, restaurant reservations and Derby tickets still available in troubled economy [WHAS]
· Kentucky Derby Hotels [HotelChatter]

[Photo: Velo Steve]

Mancations / Baseball Travel / Museums / → All Tags

Mancations Travel: Playing with Wood in Louisville

If heading out to see "Mamma Mia" on the big screen isn't your idea of a good time, then how about an adventure to Louisville, Kentucky? Your lady friend--or friends?--definitely won't want to go, so stay a few days and make it a mancation.

The point of the trip is the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. Since guys love baseball and jokes about hardwood, it's perfect.

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Music / Bands / Live Music / Festivals / → All Tags

"Come Together" at Abbey Road

After our expose on WiFi-friendly Blue Grass Airport, you're probably wondering why on Earth you'd ever fly there--despite the Interwebs access, of course. The Memorial Day weekend Abbey Road on the River in Louisville would be our tip, now that the Kentucky Derby is run and done.

Set up along the Ohio River, the Abbey Road shindig is "the Greatest Beatle Tribute Festival In The World," which means while The Beatles (obviously) won't be playing, a bunch of bands that look and sound like them will. The three biggest days are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, when groups like "Lucy in the Sky," "Eight Days a Week" and "British Export" will be rehashing the golden days of Brit pop. To find out more about the bands--and we're not kidding about this--check out the festival's MySpace page.

[Photo: hddod]

Related Stories:
· Abbey Road on the River [Official Site]

Steakhouses / Kentucky Derby / OJ Simpson / → All Tags

Louisville Steakhouse Is OJ Free

Jeff Ruby, owner of restaurants in Cincinnati, Louisville, and Belterra, Indiana, has become a bit of a cult hero in Kentucky. Not because he served a great steak, but instead because he refused to serve O.J. Simpson at his surf and turf joint on derby eve.

Ruby said he found Simpson in the Churchhill room of his "Jeff Ruby's Louisville" steakhouse and told Simpson, "I'm not serving you."

After telling Simpson to leave, he said the former NFL football star was "classy" about it, rounded up his party and left.

Then, Ruby said, he went into the Churchill Room to be sure they were gone and people at other tables started standing. "They all got up and gave me a standing ovation, started applauding."

Sounds like the Courier-Journal may want to re-think their Jeff Ruby's restaurant review:

They're not quite perfect for romantic dining tête-à-tête, but Jeff Ruby's Louisville, an outpost of an idiosyncratic mini-chain of steakhouses based in Cincinnati, doesn't pretend to offer an intimate experience.

So if you are are looking for a steakhouse in Louisville, that is sure to be O.J. free, look no further.

Related Stories:
· Jeff Ruby's [Official Site]
· Jeff Ruby Denies OJ Simpson Service [WCPO]