LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville will be one of the most exciting cities in the world when springtime hits, with four destination events set to bring tens of thousands of tourists to the area.

It all starts the second weekend of April, when a total solar eclipse will throw a blanket of darkness over a stretch of United States that includes much of southern Indiana. The pursuit of a once-in-a-lifetime experience has already surged hotel prices in the area near $1,000 for one night in early April.

Click here to see how one southern Indiana town is preparing four tourists to far out-number residents that weekend.

Twelve days after the eclipse, Thunder Over Louisville will roar across downtown Louisville. WDRB will air the famous air show all day leading up to one of the best fireworks shows in the country that night. WDRB spent a few days in Las Vegas earlier this month with the organizers for the show.

"We've really got a great show in the plan right now," said Wayne Hettinger, the producer of Thunder Over Louisville. "I couldn't be happier with it."

Click here to see what they have planned.

Fourteen days later, the 150th Kentucky Derby will be a week-long party unlike any Louisville has ever seen. The regular pageantry of Derby week will rise to a new level as Churchill Downs will unveil tens of millions of dollars in upgrades to celebrate a milestone Kentucky Oaks and Derby, including a brand new paddock beneath the Twin Spires.

"It's just an absolute fabulous project that is transformational to the facility," Churchill Downs spokesman Darren Rogers said. "When people show up here for Kentucky Derby 150, they're going to be absolutely be blown away by this new paddock."

Click here to see what kind of tickets packages are available.

And culminating the wild spring will be the PGA Championship, which will run from May 16-19 at Valhalla Golf Club in east Louisville. The third time the course has hosted the PGA Championship, all of golf's biggest stars — Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and more — will make Louisville their home for the week as they chase another major championship.

Click here to see all the upgrades being made at the course ahead of its week in the national spotlight.

And for a full rundown of each of the big events next spring and to read more about what to expect in Louisville, see below:

150th Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby 150, sponsored by Woodford Reserve, is Saturday, May 4, 2024, at historic Churchill Downs in Louisville.

General admission tickets for the infield are $80 for Derby Day and $60 for Kentucky Oaks Day. Infield tickets for both days are $130 per person. Those tickets don't include a seat, food or drink, but you get to mingle with some of the most colorful characters at the track.

Tickets are sold as a two-day package for both Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby starting at $693 person, but that does include all-inclusive food and drink. Off-site parking is available at the Kentucky Exposition Center with a complimentary shuttle.

Ongoing renovations to Churchill Downs are scheduled to be complete for Derby 150. Construction crews continue work on a $200 million project to transform the paddock area at the track while horses trudged through the track on the opposing side of the grandstand.

Following the end of the fall meet, crews will also reconfigure the Champions Plaza outside the gates and begin a $14 million project to redesign the Jockey Suites.

Thunder Over Louisville

In just a few short months, tens of thousands of people will gather on both sides of the river for Thunder Over Louisville 2024. Preparations have been underway since the conclusion of last year's event, and the countdown is on for this year's show. 

Wayne Hettinger and other organizers were in Las Vegas earlier this month at the International Council of Airshows Convention to meet with aircraft representatives from around the world. Some aspects of the show will remain a closely guarded secret, but organizers said the meetings sets the pace for the entire show.

The Kentucky Derby Festival will announce the official lineup at a later date.

WDRB is the official Thunder Over Louisville station in 2024, and you can watch coverage all day on air and online. 

PGA Championship

The PGA Championship will return to Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville next spring, and crews are hard at work around the property finishing the final major projects before the pros arrive.

In late-2021, the club began work to re-sod the entire golf course. The course was transitioned from a cool-season Bentgrass to a warm-season Zyosia grass, allowing for easier maintenance of the course during the warm season, course superintendent John Ballard said. The course has been lengthened by about 100 yards, extending tee boxes on holes 1, 12, 14 and 18. No. 1 will play 50 yards longer, and No. 12 can go 20 yards longer. No. 14 can now be played as a 250-yard par three.

The grounds crew also totally reworked the green site on No. 13, further defining the rock and water features behind and to the right of the green on Valhalla's signature hole.

And crews are in the middle of a large-scale renovation to the clubhouse.

The 486-acre property sits off Shelbyville Road, just east of Interstate 265. Designed by Jack Nicklaus, it opened in 1986 and remains the No. 1-ranked course in Kentucky, according to Golf Digest.

Valhalla has also played host to many marquee events that drew national and international attention to Louisville:

  • 1996 PGA Championship: Won by Mark Brooks
  • 2000 PGA Championship: Won by Tiger Woods
  • 2004 Senior PGA Championship: Won by Hale Irwin
  • 2008 Ryder Cup: Won by the United States
  • 2011 Senior PGA Championship: Won by Tom Watson
  • 2014 PGA Championship: Won by Rory McIlroy

For more information on tickets and to buy yours today, click here.

Solar Eclipse

The April 8 eclipse will start in the Pacific and first reach land over Mexico around 11:07 a.m. local time, NASA predicts. Then, it’ll cross over into Texas and move across parts of the Midwest and Northeast in the afternoon.

It's been less than six years since a total solar eclipse cut across the U.S., from coast to coast, a path that included a large portion of western and south-central Kentucky. Next year, a large section of Indiana will be at or near totality, an area that includes locations in southern Indiana like Jasper, Paoli and Seymour.

Louisville, by contrast, will see 99.3%.

For much of the Louisville and southern Indiana area, the eclipse will start around 1:45 p.m. and will be at its max just after 3 p.m.

To learn more about the eclipse in Indiana, click here. 

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