MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The Kentucky Derby hails itself as the most exciting two minutes in sports. But for people who live in Louisville, the celebration starts weeks before the race. Fireworks shows, steamboat races, glitzy galas - those are just a few of the events that pack late April schedules. Rebecca Feldhaus Adams from Louisville Public Media joined in a spectacle led by the city's tiniest residents.
REBECCA FELDHAUS ADAMS, BYLINE: The 4- and 5-year-olds are barely holding back at this annual preschool Derby parade.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: All right. Y'all ready?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: What?
FELDHAUS ADAMS: They're champing at the bit to launch their scooters and balance bikes. They're dressed to the nines in Derby gear. Think jockey helmets, fancy hats and tissue-paper bow ties.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Here we go.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Go.
FELDHAUS ADAMS: This is parent Lucy Aldridge's first year.
LUCY ALDRIDGE: We are doing a Derby parade for the preschool and daycare.
FELDHAUS ADAMS: She pushes her infant daughter in a toy car in a line that snakes from one side of this busy downtown street to the other. A teacher totes a wireless speaker on wheels, blinking in technicolor to the Derby playlist.
ALDRIDGE: I'm not from Louisville or Kentucky, so I didn't know what was happening until they told me. But I got very excited, so I dressed up her car with this garland.
FELDHAUS ADAMS: Teachers drive giant red buggies stacked with six chubby babies in stadium seats. One has a bright blue streamer stuck to his drool-covered cheek. The preschoolers zoom past.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: Good. Well done.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #6: Woo (ph).
FELDHAUS ADAMS: Parent Erika Brown also didn't grow up celebrating Derby this hard or this long. But now she's bought in.
ERIKA BROWN: It's a spirit of the community, and every day, there are activities at your house and in neighborhoods around Louisville. And so even in the child daycares, we celebrate Derby in Kentucky.
FELDHAUS ADAMS: The throngs have hit the cross street and turned around. Drivers wave and honk, waiting for the slow-moving spectacle to pass.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #7: Happy Derby.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #8: Happy Derby.
FELDHAUS ADAMS: Then the last strollers circle back to the starting point, where barbecue and watermelon slices are waiting. The 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby is Saturday. For NPR News, I'm Rebecca Feldhaus Adams in Louisville.
(SOUNDBITE OF NIKI SONG, "EVERY SUMMERTIME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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