LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On the last Sunday in April next year, you could be a part of the Kentucky Derby Festival's Pegasus Parade. Festival organizers announced that applications to take part in the parade open Friday, Nov. 4.

The 2023 Zoeller Pump Company Pegasus Parade is slated for Sunday, April 30, 2023, at 3 p.m. 

Those interested can apply online at KDF.org/PegasusParade. The Derby Festival is looking for participants in the following categories:

• Equestrians,
• Specialty Units,
• Marching Bands,
• Inflatables, and
• Floats

“We started a new tradition by moving the parade to Sunday and the response from the community has been overwhelming,” said Matt Gibson, Kentucky Derby Festival's president & CEO. “The parade now helps kick off all the Derby week festivities and we’re able to share the historic event with even more Festival fans and their families. We look forward to seeing them lining the sidewalks again next spring as we march down Broadway.”

The 2023 parade theme is “Celebrating Derby Traditions," which organizers said will showcase "all that is special and unique about the Derby Festival season to the community." In designing their units, participants are encouraged to consider all that makes Derby Festival and Derby time a memorable time of year – everything from Derby Festival events, fashions and fascinators to family traditions, horse racing and springtime.

A theme is chosen each year to help guide the decorations and music used by the participants, including the building of floats and costuming of the inflatable handlers and crew. The floats compete for various awards based on originality, eye appeal, theme representation, animation, attention to detail, and enthusiasm.

Marching bands use the theme to help with musical selection and it is the basis of costume and concept design for the other marching units.

The 2023 iteration marks the 68^th year for the Parade, which is the founding event of the Kentucky Derby Festival.