Thunder Over Louisville 2016

Saturday, April 23 was Thunder Over Louisville 2016. I spent the day at Louisville Slugger Field. It was a beautiful day for Thunder, baseball and kicking off The Kentucky Derby.

The early afternoon was a little on the cool side which allowed us to take a stroll down the main part of the festival. Hours later it was sure to be wall to wall people!

Thunder Over Louisville is the biggest fireworks show in North America. It is a continuous shooting of fireworks for 20 minutes before a 5-10 minute grand finale. It’s quite a show.

But before the fireworks, those of us who have purchased tickets to Slugger Field, first got to enjoy a baseball game and the air show, which are both great, but distracting, one from the other.

This was one of the first sights in the sky!

The show went on for hours, regaling us with awesome sights.

Another awesome plane flying over. So big, going so slow (seemingly). It was a great view.

There is always a concert just after the game ends. It’s quite a sight to behold as the crew lays down the planks for the truck which will become the stage, drives out on the outfield. In only a manner of several minutes is the walls of the truck positioned and you are looking at the stage, completed with drums and everything one needs to put on a show. This year the band was The Personnel, an energetic band from Chicago, Illinois, playing a 90’s set of cover tunes including rap, a country song, some pop tunes and the theme song from Full House.

We ended the airshow with this amazing sky writer plane. It was a great way to finish up before the big fireworks show began. At this point in the day people are tired but the anticipation of the exhibit in the sky is humming throughout the crowd. To see this sight is promise of bigger, brighter things to come as the minute hand continues to count down the time until the first boom and brilliance of light displays across the sky.

The fireworks show was a sight to behold, as usual. The sky lite up with an abundance of terrific lights and music combined. The crowd is always in the hundreds of thousands, as people line the banks of the Ohio River, both Kentucky and Indiana alike. The traffic is a bear to endure after the show but people are mostly willing to pay that price to be able to partake of such a day as this.

The weather can vary from snow flurries to an 80 degree, full sun and clear skies day.

Thunder Over Louisville 2016 was just perfect.