Last updated 5:50 p.m.
Jeff Carta flew in from southern California with two friends who had Derby weekend on their bucket list. Carta, who competes in beard and mustache contests, donned his signature look, but added some pink glitter, just for Oaks.
A lot of people wanted his photo.
When asked about his favorite horse racing memories, Carta got teary-eyed. He said he treasured going to the track with his dad when he was alive.
"He'd love to be here," Carta said of his dad.
For Derby tomorrow, he has a Santa Claus-themed look planned.
Mike and Kelly Sidoryk flew down from Canada, where Mike used to manage a race track.
Asked about how this compares, Kelly says it’s “amplified to a big degree.”
“I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like for Derby Day,” she said.
Louisvillians Leslie Huddleston and Jill Milby have been coming to Oaks for the last 20 years.
Huddleston added feathers she owned to her hat.
“It’s always a creation," she said.
Milby got hers from a milliner in Australia, where she says hat-makers are “always ahead of the game.”
Cler Watkins, from Birmingham, Alabama, said going to the Derby has been on her bucket list for years. This is her first time at the Churchill Downs races. Watkins said she’s thrilled about the sunshine and the energy at the track.
“Everybody’s happy, and drinking, and having a good time,” Watkins said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
This is also the first Derby for Amy Edler, another out-of-state spectator from Green Bay, Wisconsin. She and her husband traveled down with two of their friends to experience the Churchill Downs festivities – and escape the cold Wisconsin spring.
Edler said Oaks Day is “beyond what you can imagine it to be.
“We are in the dead of what we call the ‘third winter’ in Wisconsin,” Edler said. “So to see all the color, and the sun, and the energy of people, it’s just really great.”
Down at the infield, spectators were sprawled out on lawn chairs, cheering on their favorite horses as the races played live on large screens overhead.
Best friends ShaVonda Thompkins and Phyllis Brown flew in from Texas and Maryland, respectively. They spent Oaks Day basking in the sun at the infield, soaking in the lively atmosphere. Thompkins said the infield had a “positive vibe to it.”
“I’m having a ball – I don’t even know if I want to go home,” she said. “But you know, we’ve got to go home. This doesn’t last forever.”
This was Brown’s first time at Oaks. She said she plans to come back again next year.
The infield also drew in a younger crowd. Shanya Bibbs, a 21-year-old from Louisville, came to Oaks with her cousins and her boyfriend.
“I call this the wild area. Down here, anything can happen,” Bibbs said.
Marcus Horton was in the grandstand with some friends at his first Oaks. He also tried his first mint julep. His review: overrated.
But the Oaks, itself—Horton is a fan.
“This is probably going to be my every year thing,” he says.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
