Annual kickoff event of the Kentucky Derby Festival
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Thunder Over Louisville" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(February 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Thunder Over Louisville
Date(s)
April
Frequency
Annual
Location(s)
Louisville, Kentucky
Founded
1989; 35 years ago (1989)
Website
thunderoverlouisville.org
Thunder Over Louisville is an annual airshow and fireworks display in Louisville, Kentucky, serving as the kickoff event of the Kentucky Derby Festival. It is held on a Saturday in April preceding the Kentucky Derby, the first Saturday in May, usually by two weeks.[a] For some time the largest annual fireworks display in North America, the event remains one of the largest.[1][2]
Thunder began as part of an opening ceremonies event in 1989 with daytime fireworks. 1990 brought the first nighttime fireworks event. It officially began in its current location along the Ohio River in 1991 with fireworks, and an air show was added in 1992.
Thunder generally starts in the afternoon with an air show, followed by the fireworks show starting at 9:30 pm, along with a synchronized soundtrack through PA and radio. An average of 625,000 people have attended each year since 1997, lining the banks of the Ohio River in Louisville, and across the river in Jeffersonville and Clarksville, Indiana. Some also watch from the river on boats, docked in positions auctioned off for charity.[3] Eight 400-foot barges launch the fireworks, provided by Zambelli Fireworks Internationale, from both sides of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge, and more fireworks are launched from the bridge itself.
In the 21st century the estimated attendance at Thunder has usually been approximately five times that of the main attraction, the Kentucky Derby.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
^Campbell, Clay W. (2001). "Thunder Over Louisville". In Kleber, John E. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Louisville. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. p. 883. ISBN 0-8131-2100-0. OCLC 247857447. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved April 21, 2024.
^Reed, Gege (March 4, 2024). "From Thunder Over Louisville to the parade, 2024's top 16 Kentucky Derby Festival events". Courier Journal. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
^Hall, Gregory (April 23, 2005). "Boaters pay up for dockside Thunder". The Courier-Journal. p. B1.
and 22 Related for: Thunder Over Louisville information
ThunderOverLouisville is an annual airshow and fireworks display in Louisville, Kentucky, serving as the kickoff event of the Kentucky Derby Festival...
1937, and restarted in 1956. The festival's main components are: ThunderOverLouisville, the largest annual fireworks display in North America; the Great...
Louisville's most exciting celebrations, such as the Fourth of July at Waterfront Park, Forecastle Festival, WFPK Waterfront Wednesdays and Thunder Over...
Derby Festival, Kentucky's largest single annual event; includes ThunderOverLouisville, Great Steamboat Race, Great Balloon Race, Pegasus Parade and the...
revelry surrounding the event. Thompson's depiction includes the events in Louisville, his hometown, in the days before and after the Derby, and Steadman captured...
Louisville Cardinals men's and women's basketball, as well as a secondary venue for women's volleyball) Fourth Street Live! ThunderOverLouisville Louisville...
January 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2016. "Order of songs for ThunderOverLouisville". Courier Journal. Retrieved 16 April 2022. Baker, Clark. "Database...
GEICO boat was featured at all the Kentucky Derby events including ThunderoverLouisville, Pegasus Parade, the Oaks and the Derby. In the second episode...
Comedies of Mel Brooks. McFarland. 2015. p. 154. "Order of songs for ThunderOverLouisville". Courier Journal. Retrieved April 16, 2022. "Spaceballs" (Press...
numerous activities took place for the Kentucky Derby Festival. ThunderOverLouisville—an airshow and fireworks display—generally begins the festivities...
in Germany. Thunderover the Boardwalk (Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.) ThunderOverLouisville (Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.) ThunderOver Michigan (Ypslianti...
celebrating the Statue of Liberty centennial, and annually for ThunderOverLouisville. They have also produced shows in Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Mexico...
1991, the bridge has been used as "ground zero" for the annual ThunderOverLouisville event, when a waterfall of fireworks flows along the entire length...
the two-week Derby Festival in Louisville. The Derby Festival features many events, including ThunderOverLouisville, the Pegasus Parade, the Great Steamboat...
Derby Festival (hosting the command center of its kickoff event, ThunderOverLouisville), and the KFC Yum! Center. It also hosts the Kentucky State Governor's...
In recent years, Horseshoe Southern Indiana has co-sponsored ThunderOverLouisville. An earthquake on April 18, 2008, caused the complex to lose electrical...
opened on March 29, 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky's Waterfront Park for the 2018 Kentucky Derby, ThunderOverLouisville, and Waterfront Wednesday season...
Foster's song was played to accompany the post parade; the University of Louisville Marching Band has played the song for all but a few years since 1936....
construction also had to be cautious of historic properties. During ThunderOverLouisville, the Big Four Bridge sets the limit on how close private boats...
provided TARC with over $200,000 of annual revenue. TARC provides service to other local events, including ThunderOverLouisville and the Kentucky State...
Global Information
