Pegasus Pins

Pegasus Pins are now sold at more than 1,000 retail outlets and financial institutions in Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana. Of all the festival's merchandise, the pins are the most prized among collectors. Pins from the initial release in 1973 can now sell for more than $1,000 among serious collectors. In recent years, the pin program has ad... ded two coupons to each envelope for free products or services from local retailers, as well as an opportunity to become an "instant winner" with a Gold Pegasus Pin and, ultimately, a grand prize winner. A brand new Cadillac was offered as a grand prize from 1982 until 2004. In 2005, the Kentuckiana Honda Dealers became a new vehicle partner for the Pegasus Sponsorship Program, offering a Honda Odyssey as a grand prize. In 2009, the Honda dealers are sponsoring a Honda Cross-Over vehicle as a grand prize. The Gold, Instant Win pin still remains a focus of the annual Pegasus Sponsorship Program today. Festival President and CEO Mike Berry helped create a total marketing program in 1998, which tied the Pegasus Pin into the overall advertising design for all 70 festival events. Each year's design is retired at the end of the festival, like an athlete's jersey after their career is over. In 2011 the Kentucky Derby Festival Pegasus Sponsorship Program went virtual! This marked another significant enhancement to the Program. Each pin envelope will contained a membership card with an alpha-numeric number at the bottom of the scratch off card. This number was then used to register online at www.pegasuspins.com. Consumers had the opportunity for the first time, to choose the coupons they wanted as opposed to the system in the past where the coupons were pre-determined. Also new and exciting was the fact that consumers got to keep their gold, instant win pins. This was a deterrent for registration to win grand prizes in the past as consumers viewed this pin to be highly valuable and collectible. In 2012 the Kentucky Derby Festival is continuing with virtual, online ...Read More