Happy Derby!

Happy Derby, friends!

It's been a festive two weeks in my hometown, which will culminate in the Run for the Roses tomorrow.

Yesterday was the Pegasus Parade, a big Kentucky Derby Festival event that marches down Broadway in downtown Louisville. It's broadcast on our local NBC affiliate and about 400,000 people were said to be in attendance. As I mentioned earlier, my daughter is a handmaiden to the 2013 Derby Queen and her court. She had so much fun making appearances at the various events, including riding on the queen's float in Thursday's parade.

Here she is with one of the two young men who served as a page to the court. (These boys are troopers for donning a tuxedo and wearing a pageant-like sash to these events. I'm sure they were more than ready to throw on shorts and a T-shirt afterward!)

Today is another big day at the races, the Kentucky Oaks, which is the running of the fillies.

Over the last few years, Oaks Day has also become a special time to celebrate breast cancer survivors and attendees are encouraged to wear pink to observe this.

And before the running of the Kentucky Oaks, there is a "Survivors' Parade," in which women who have fought breast cancer march on the track and are honored with great fanfare.

It's a very moving sight and I look forward to cheering these women on today. Perhaps next year I'll have the chance to march alongside my "sista survivors!"

If you get a chance tomorrow, be sure to tune into the Derby, raise a mint julep and join us in singing "My Old Kentucky Home." Hope you have a winner!

Images from Churchill Downs, Southern Living and LuluLemon Louisville, Facebook page.