The second annual event will celebrate the Run for the Roses atmosphere with coverage of the Kentucky Derby, live music, a race with a different spin, special drinks, an auction and more beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free.
Already the organizers of the popular SantaCon each holiday season, Greg Rogers and wife Kathryn took a gamble when asked by Mother Stewart’s Kevin Loftis to bring that spirit to spring in 2023 and Derby Day paid off.
“It was a lot of things at once with the brewery’s beer garden being the perfect setting for music, the 13-foot jumbo screen showing the races, drinks,” said Greg Rogers. “People want to come together and go to a fantastic event in Springfield, and this is one.”
Part of the fun was adding its own twist on the Derby with the Crawl for the Roses, open to babies who are at the crawling stage. Registration is free from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and prizes will be awarded to all entrants with a grand prize to the champion of a custom bourbon barrel lid.
“We were shocked last year with how many entered and we anticipate a number of babies this year,” said Rogers.
Live entertainment will begin with D.J. Chill at 2 p.m. and The Dawson Trio will perform at 4.
Race coverage on the jumbo screen will go all day, leading up to the main event at 6:57. A betting table will be set up with $5 bets for win, place and show of the Derby participants, with 80 percent of the monies raised going to the winners and 20 percent to the Friends of Buck Creek, with t-shirt proceeds also going to the group.
A new addition in 2024 is a bourbon bar featuring drinks with the beverage including traditional Kentucky Derby favorite mint juleps, Rose City Lemonade and Kentucky Mule, along with 13-14 premiere bourbons not normally available.
A bourbon auction and prizes for best couple outfit will occur after the race with Kyle Eldridge and the Kentucky Cowhands performing at 7:30 to round out the activities.
Rogers said one of the coolest and most humbling things last year was the many participants who dressed up for the occasion as they do at Churchill Downs for the big race. People came in their Sunday best derby hats, seersucker suits, spring colors and bow ties that really added to the atmosphere and they’re encouraged to do so again.
A few hats will be available at Derby Day and some at Firefly Boutique, located at 28 N. Fountain Ave. A photo will be set up to capture memories.
“You could sit and watch this at home, but people like celebrating together and this is a chance to get friends and strangers together, to get out of the grey of winter and have a good time outside again,” Rogers said.
HOW TO GO
What: Derby Day at Mother’s
Where: Mother Stewart’s Brewing Co., 102 W. Columbia St., Springfield
When: 2 p.m. Saturday, May 4
Admission: free
More info: www.motherstewartsbrewing.com/events/derby-day-at-mothers
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