LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Derby Festival is one of the most unique parts of our community.
Most of us can talk about it at length at any given time. And, whether you recognize it or not, one of the reasons we know so much about is Aimee Boyd.
Boyd is the Vice President of Communications for the nonprofit organization.
“There are a lot of people that help put on the Kentucky Derby Festival, I just help tell the story,” Boyd said.
If you measure her time with KDF in years, the number is 20. If you measure it in miles, it’s nearly half a million.
“I burn up a lot of miles on Interstate 65,” she said.
Boyd lives in Elizabethtown with her husband and two children. That’s where she was born and raised, and where, thanks to one of her high school teachers, first recognized journalism as an ideal career for her.
“He was showing examples of writing and he pulled aside and said 'this is the direction you need to go. You are a writer,' and that’s how I got from college to journalism and into TV news,” she said.
“My goal was to work at WHAS when I graduated,” she said. “And, part of that was because my dad worked next-door for the Corps of Engineers. I thought it would be so cool to work right next-door and we could carpool coming in from E town.”
Not only did Boyd reach that goal, she spent several years working at WHAS, and that included working as a producer on the station’s morning newscast, “Good Morning Kentuckiana".
Much of that work including producing shows around the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Derby Festival. She ultimately took a job with the Festival and has worked with the organization now for two decades.
“Over the years being able to learn about what it takes to put on the festival and what it does for the community, and what we bring to the community makes me cherish my role even more,” she said. “It’s just amazing to me what we do now for the community, a month-long party leading up to a two-minute horse race. We have over 70 events that we do. People always ask why we do that. And really, it’s for the community, because that’s how it all started.”
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