Tight budget times mean the Governor’s Derby Breakfast at the Kentucky State Capitol Saturday will again be a scaled-down affair, but the annual event remains quite popular.The Derby Train in gone. So is the big tent where breakfast was served, replaced by outdoor picnic tables. Those actions will save the state nearly $150,000. Breakfast will cost a dollar per item, but even if it rains, the annual Governor’s Derby Breakfast is expected to draw a crowd. “The party’s gonna go on, just as the Derby will go on, even if it does rain. But the Capitol will be open. There is an art again this year in the Capitol rotunda. So, people can go inside and visit the Capitol. The mansion will be open for tours. And the visitors center will also be open and there will be some shelter there available,” says Jill Midkiff of the governor's office.Midkiff says there will be plenty of free entertainment, arts and crafts exhibits and tethered hot air balloon rides, weather permitting. Governor and Mrs. Beshear will mingle with the breakfast crowd before they and their Derby guests board buses headed for Louisville and the 136th Run for the Roses.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.
