Thunder Over Louisville is an annual airshow and fireworks display in Louisville, Kentucky, serving as the kickoff event of the Kentucky Derby Festival. It is held on a Saturday in April preceding the Kentucky Derby, the first Saturday in May, usually by two weeks. For some time the largest annual fireworks display in North America, the event remains one of the largest.

The Kentucky Derby Festival is an annual festival held in Louisville, Kentucky, during the two weeks preceding the first Saturday in May, the day of the Kentucky Derby. The festival, Kentucky's largest single annual event, first ran from 1935 to 1937, and restarted in 1956.