Derby days and baseball bats
Louisville runs on two things you can hold in your hands: a horse race and a baseball bat. The Kentucky Derby has been staged at Churchill Downs every year since 1875, making it the oldest continuously held sporting event in the country. The Louisville Slugger began in 1884 when a teenage woodworker skipped his father's shop to watch a game, then turned a replacement bat overnight for a slumping local star — the factory downtown still makes them, marked by a 120-foot bat leaning against the building. The city sits on the Ohio River at the traditional line between North and South and has always had that in-between quality. Muhammad Ali was born here, and a bourbon industry now surrounds the city on every side.
