Louisville is a unique city. It has southern graces and a determined dedication to music and the arts, but to the world, Louisville is "Derby City" for at least two weeks of every year. Since its first running on May 17, 1875, the Kentucky Derby has generated tremendous excitement. Modeled after England's Epsom Derby, it is the oldest race in continuous existence in the United States. The first Saturday in May each year, world attention focuses on Churchill Downs as the classic "run for the roses" is played out against its backdrop of Edwardian towers and antique grandstands.

The social highlight of a very social city, Derby festivities are a glamorous mélange of carnival, fashion show, spectacle, and celebration of the horse. From the opening strains of "My Old Kentucky Home," played before the big race, until the final toast of bourbon is made, Louisville takes on a uniquely festive character. Afterward, the center of thoroughbred racing quickly returns to normalcy--a city southern in manner, midwestern in pace.

Situated at the falls of the Ohio River, Louisville is a city long nurtured by river traffic. The Spanish, French, English, Scottish, Irish, and Germans all had roles in its exploration, settlement, and development. George Rogers Clark established the first real settlement, a base for military operations against the British, on a spit of land above the falls, now entirely erased by the river. Named after Louis XVI of France, the settlement became an important portage point around the falls; later a canal bypassed them. Today, the McAlpine Locks and Dam provide modern navigation around the falls of the Ohio.

Louisville is a top producer of bourbon and a leader in synthetic rubber, paint and varnish, cigarettes, home appliances, and aluminum for home use.

This is a community that takes its culture seriously, with a public subscription Fund for the Arts subsidizing the Tony Award-winning Actors Theater. The city also boasts the Kentucky Center for the Arts, home of ballet, opera, art and music groups, and other cultural organizations.