The Top 10 Finalists
The big excitement of the day (outside of the horses) was the Kentucky Derby Hat Contest. Because of my experience with over-the-top hats, I was asked to participate as a judge, along with Jody Dean from KVIL/103.7 Lite FM and Steve Noviello from Fox 4 News. The competition was fierce and we were tasked to hand out prizes for "Most Stylish" and "Most Creative" with the winner's taking home a $500 prize. There were at least 100 entries, so we had a LOT of amazing chapeaus to select from. We decided to just pick out our 10 favorites and then pick the 2 winners from that pool. I loved that we had a handful of male entries!
The man in the photo below (yellow hat with red roses around his neck) was our winner for "Most Creative". His hat was a Kentucky Derby-themed creation and it had a clear plastic tube running through it. When he blew into the tube, confetti shot out of the top. It was so cool and very creative. How could we not pick this guy!? The woman in the first photo on this post wearing the lavender polka-dot dress and a humungous purple hat was our pick for "Most Stylish".
On top of the Kentucky Derby celebration, it was also Cinco de Mayo and my birthday! So much to celebrate! Thanks to the marketing and PR folks at Lone Star Park who really went out of their way to make it a super-fun day for me and my family. The best part was when they gave me a big 'ole shout out on the Jumbotron - and re-ran it about 25 times throughout the day. That was so cool! It didn't hurt that Moet de Chandon champagne was one of the sponsors and I got to sip on some delicious bubbles all day. Whoo hoo!
Click here to see a complete gallery of photos from this event.
Lone Star Park is located at 1000 Lone Star Parkway Grand Prairie, Texas 75050, (972) 263-7223. For more info., visit http://www.lonestarpark.com. You can also connect with them on Facebook and Twitter.
