Louisville’s Sidewalk Derby has graced the streets of Louisville with more than 500 vibrantly decorated fiberglass statues since 2004 to help beautify our community. The stable of statue designs has ranged from life-sized horses in varying poses to chess pieces to six-foot-tall julep cups. Each statue is unique.
Gallopalooza was created as a civic pride initiative to beautify the streets of Louisville, encourage local exploration, increase tourism, showcase local artists and generate civic pride. Since its inception in 2003, Gallopalooza has supported Brightside and its community beautification efforts along with partnering with Waterfront Development Corporation in 2015 to help fund the special LED lighting project on the Big Four pedestrian bridge that connects downtown Louisville to Jeffersonville, Indiana.
Gallopalooza partnered with Churchill Downs to celebrate Kentucky Derby 150 with 75 full-size and 75 tabletop size statues. One of the highlights of this year’s collection were the 11 statues dedicated to the original Black Jockeys. These statues traveled across Louisville and were featured in the Kentucky Derby Festival parade.
For the third round of Gallopalooza, Mike and Beth Keyes co-chaired “Bridles & Bourbon” sponsored by Brown-Forman. Two new statue designs were added to the stable … a miniature horse atop of half bourbon barrel and a six-foot-tall julep cup … along with a traditional horse statue to help celebrate Louisville’s fast-growing bourbon scene and infrastructure. In addition to supporting Brightside’ mission, this round of Gallopalooza helped to fund the special LED lighting on the Big Four Pedestrian Bridge in partnership with Waterfront Development Corporation.
Gallopalooza returned for a second time under the theme of “Possibility City” and was chaired by Matt Thornton, President and CEO of Thorntons Inc., which served as the presenting sponsor and brought 223 new statues to the streets.
Gallopalooza began when John Conti, CEO of John Conti Coffee Co., visited Chicago. He noticed attention-grabbing, eccentrically decorated cow statues and knew the concept would be a big hit in Louisville. So in 2003, he sought the support of Metro Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson. Mayor Abramson believed the idea would be an ideal way to raise dollars for the city’s Brightside program. With such support, Gallopalooza: Louisville’s Sidewalk Derby took off out of the gate. This first round was chaired by John Conti and Meijer was the presenting sponsor.
From downtown’s museum row on Main Street to business storefronts and individual homes throughout Louisville, Gallopalooza’s herd has moved over the years as each statue has gone from sponsors to public displays to their current homes. All of the locations shown were as of October 2024.
