Ornate Hats, Pastel Florals, and Mint Juleps
It’s not every day that you see a horse and jockey standing at the entrance to a fine arts center. In fact, living in Tennessee, you wouldn’t normally see a horse and jockey anywhere.
Horse racing used to be popular in Tennessee, with the first horse race held in Gallatin in 1804. However, the anti-betting law of 1906 put an end to traditional horse racing in the state. Still, breeding and riding horses remained popular. There is steeplechasing in Nashville, where horses and jockeys leap over obstacles on a turf course. While Tennessee may not host the kind of horse races that are widely televised, it doesn’t mean that the people of Tennessee have forgotten about the tradition of horses, jockeys, the racetrack, and all that attending a prestigious horse race requires: ornate hats, pastel florals, and mint juleps.
Each year, the most famous horse race in the country is held on the first weekend in May, and the residents of Huntingdon, Tennessee, gather to celebrate the Kentucky Derby. Derby Day is hosted by the historic Dixie theater in downtown Huntingdon. It’s a special event because, for one day, the whole of Huntingdon proceeds to The Dixie dressed in their finest attire.
The women wear brightly colored, wide-brimmed hats, often adorned with flowers, bows, and feathers. Their dresses are mid-length, heels chosen carefully to match. The men sport their best suits, bowties, and carefully-laced oxfords and brogues. Even the children—from the baby in his grandmother’s arms to the preteen girl playing cornhole—are dressed to impress, their outfits a miniature reflection of their parents’.
But regardless of whether a person can afford the traditional derby fashion, everyone can share in the merrymaking, since Derby Day is free and open to all.
Derby Day is the one time where you will see a horse on Main Street. Her master leads her through the rain and right up to The Dixie’s doors. They greet the excited Derby Day attendees, one-by-one, as they clamber up the steps and toward the spectacle. Javier, a local man dressed as a jockey, mounts the horse (with a little help) for photos. He holds a little boy atop the horse and, for a moment, that little boy can see the entirety of Huntingdon’s square, his parents smiling up at him, and the flash of the camera taking his picture.
Inside The Dixie, citizens are gathered around plates of cake, cookies, homemade dips, and vegetable spreads. They laugh, talk, and listen as the band plays in the fellowship area. Everywhere you look, there is color, from the icing roses on the horseshoe-shaped cake to the navy blue of a woman’s hat.
When it is at last time for the actual race to start, the attendees gather in the theater. They take their seats and bid on auction items to raise money for The Dixie’s camps and programs for children. All the while, in the background, a screen depicting Churchill Downs shows the jockeys and horses getting ready. It doesn’t seem as if the Kentucky Derby is far away in another state, not with the big screen and the dressed-up families all around the theater.
The auction ends right before the race begins. With a loud cry from the crowd, the horses leap from their gates and the screen lights up with their energy. The Derby Day attendees lean forward in their seats. One little boy is clapping his hands from his perch in his father’s lap. Even he can sense the anticipation of the race.
Through the mud of the track, the horses run their best. Their jockeys perch over their heaving bodies, clinging like burrs to their backs. In the end, the horse named Maximum Security emerges victorious. If he goes on to win two other races, the Preakness and the Belmont, then he will be a Triple Crown winner. We’ll have to keep watching in the coming weeks to find out what his legacy will be.
After awards for the best-dressed attendees and the best food spreads, as well as thank-you’s all around, the crowd begins pouring out of the theater. The race is over, and some have won awards, auction items, and maybe even lighthearted bets on the race. Others have simply soaked in the experience, when for one day, they were the Kentucky Derby elite.
Learn more about Derby Day here.
Originally from Medon, Tennessee, Olivia Chin is the Circulation Manager at the Union University Library. Her best Halloween costumes (so far) have been David Bowie and Freddie Mercury. Her favorite hobbies include drinking local coffee, reading true crime novels, and going to emo concerts with her husband.
Photography by Olivia Chin.
