LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Derby 151 takes place next weekend on Saturday, May 3, and local businesses are getting ready for the thousands of people who will be in town for the most exciting two minutes in sports. 

What You Need To Know

  • Surprise Lily Boutique in the Highlands and Frances B Hats partnered up to prep for their second Derby season together

  • Stephanie Reilly was in higher education for 17 years before starting her own business and Braidi Huecker created Frances B Hats after being an OBGYN for 15 years 

  • They started preparing for the 2025 Derby season last summer

Stephanie Reilly was in higher education for 17 years before starting her own business, Surprise Lily Boutique in 2023. 

This is the boutique’s second year preparing for the Derby Season.

Reilly said everyone tries to prepare ahead of time, but nothing prepares you for the rush of Derby.

“Someone’s dress didn’t come in. How can we help? And that is really what we want to try to be here at. Surprise Lily Boutique is a resource for our beautiful women who want to shine on Derby week,” said Reilly.

Reilly said many of her customers are tourists.

“A lot of women just said, I want to buy my fascinator. I want to buy my dress from a local store, which means the world to us and being able to curate that outfit for them,” said Reilly.

Vendors like Braidi Huecker pop into Surprise Lily boutique to resupply best sellers just in time for all the Derby festivities.

Huecker created Frances B Hats after being an OBGYN for 15 years. 

She started by making her own hats and fascinators for Derby. Huecker said she prepares for the Derby early.

“So I usually always have a lot of green on hand in blue because I think people gravitate towards those colors as far as color preferences. I look ahead, I do my best to try to take some notes about that, buy extra. I talk with the boutiques that I work with, we try to get some of their pictures of their of their dresses, what’s on the next order. How can I help curate outfits? Because that’s the fun part is designing a hat for a dress is really fun,” said Huecker.

Both Reilly and Huecker said they are expecting last-minute shoppers. 

“We’re starting to feel the pickup of the pace, but honestly, we were selling Derby Fascinators and dresses on Derby Day last year, so we anticipate nothing less than those last-minute tickets and just people coming in from out of town and just wanting to have a little fun. So it’ll be up to the wire up to the minute,” said Reilly.

Both Reilly and Huecker said they can’t wait for people to take a little piece of Kentucky home after the Derby. 

According to Louisville Tourism, last year the Kentucky Derby drew in 156,000 attendees and generated over $400 million in economic impact.

Related Stories