LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Two of Louisville’s most iconic attractions, the Kentucky Derby Museum and Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, have new and improved exhibits opening this Spring.
On Louisville’s Main Street, it’s a whole new ball game at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, which is unveiling a large-scale renovation to its Museum Gallery, the museum’s largest in its 15-plus years. Major improvements include doubling the size of the famed Bat Vault, adding more photo opportunities with legendary players and a big-league overhaul of the Hold A Piece of History exhibit, which gives guests a chance to hold game-used bats by famous professional athletes.
Guests who enter the expanded Bat Vault will marvel at over 3,000 original bat models designed by some of the game’s most legendary players. The Bat Vault experience is now included with general admission to the museum and was previously only accessible to guests of the VIP museum experience.
Additionally, visitors will enjoy newly added cameras in the bat factory to help capture the wood chips flying at the hand-turning station and the sizzle of the bat at the burn branding station. A temporary exhibit, “West Main’s Marvel: The Big Bat,” will let guests discover the story of Hillerich & Bradsby’s move to West Main in 1995, installing the iconic 120-foot Big Bat and the museum’s impact has had on the development of downtown Louisville. The museum will hold a ribbon cutting on April 5 to celebrate the completion of the renovation, just in time for Major League Baseball’s 2023 season.
The Kentucky Derby Museum is opening a new exhibit on April 21 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Secretariat’s historic Kentucky Derby win and Triple Crown sweep. This state-of-the-art exhibit, titled Secretariat: America’s Horse, is designed to showcase Secretariat’s life, stardom, and incomparable impact on horse racing, America and the world.
The 1,000-square-foot exhibit will have a permanent location on the second floor of the Museum and will be more than seven times larger than the current display on the museum’s first floor. An immersive guest experience is planned for the exhibit with screenings of some of Secretariat’s most iconic race projections of the horse’s physiology, which helped make him the greatest on-screen artifact from Disney’s 2010 biographical sports drama Secretariat.
For a trifecta of experiences highlighting some of the world’s greatest and most well-known athletes, visitors can tour the Muhammad Ali Center, highlighting the world heavyweight champ’s journey from his time in Louisville to international stardom.
While planning a trip to Louisville, guests can download a copy of Louisville Tourism’s annual Visitor Guide to see the city’s top attractions and bourbon distilleries. Visitors also can get additional city attractions, lodging and dining assistance at gotolouisville.com.
