Executive Board 2011 - 2012

President                                Patsy Allen

President Elect                       Becky Fangman

Vice President                        Sandy Allen

Recording Secretary                Bonnie Tayler

Corresponding Secretary          Beverly Pendleton

Treasurer                                Helen Davis

Standing Committee's

Arrangements                         Lynn Jones

Bylaws                                   Linda Miller

Computer Information              Mary Carabella

Derby Ball                              Joe Graves

Derby Festival Program           Julie Dorsey

Fillies Float                            Jude Elkins

Historical                               Chris Fulkerson

Membership                           Carol Powell

Newsletter/Yearbook               Glenda Thome

Nominations and Elections      Terri Saunders

Publicity                                Betty Moberly

Ways and Means                   Shannon Seebert

IMmediate Past President       Jenny Jacob

Parliamentarian                      Barbara Davis

KDF Foundation Liason          Jeff English

The five young women selected as Princesses will act as ambassadors for the 2011 Derby Festival, attending nearly 70 events over a three-week period. Fifteen were selected as finalists out of the more than 100 original applicants for the five Princess positions, and all attended the final judging this week. None of them knew in advance who had been selected. The court will represent the Derby Festival and the city of Louisville as official ambassadors for the springtime tradition of the Derby Festival. They will attend nearly every official Derby Festival event beginning with the Your Community Bank Poster Premiere on January 13 to their appearance in the Republic Bank Pegasus Parade on May 5. In addition, they will attend the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and make visits to schools to discuss the importance of volunteerism. One of the five women will be crowned the Derby Festival Queen by a spin-of-the-wheel at the annual Fillies’ Derby Ball on April 15 at the Galt House East Grand Ballroom. Each woman will receive a $2000 scholarship ($1000 from the Fillies and $1000 from the Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation).  The Derby Festival’s Royal Court Program is coordinated by The Fillies, Inc., a volunteer group that works closely with the Festival. Fillies President Jenny Jacob joined 2011 Derby Festival Chair Ja Hillebrand in crowning the newly appointed court. Candidates for the Princess Program must maintain a minimum 3.0 grade-point average and are selected by a panel of four out-of-state judges. Criteria for selection includes knowledge of the Derby Festival, poise, intelligence, personality and campus and community involvement. The first Derby Festival Princess was crowned in 1957, the second year of the Festival. Previous Princesses have included former Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins and Gail Gorski, the first female pilot ever hired by United Airlines.

WELCOME 
The DERBY QUEEN™ coronation and DERBY PRINCESSES™ programs were founded in 1959 by Frances Askew Davis. The 17-member Fillies club began their history of volunteer service to the Kentucky Derby® festivities. From crowning the first queen of the Derby Queen™ coronation held during the FILLIES DERBY BALL® event, the group has grown to an active membership of 250 and was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1971. 
 
Today, THE FILLIES® club publishes the Festival's Official Program, coordinates the Derby Princesses™ program, creates a float for the Pegasus Parade and still sponsors the Fillies Derby Ball® event. The Fillies, Inc. was first organized to give Kentucky a lavish ball as the backdrop for the coronation of a queen of the Kentucky Derby Festival. Then seventeen women led by Mrs. Davis planned an elaborate setting of oversized red tarlatan roses and jeweled crowns for their first ball. The only rules of membership at the time were for all ladies to work on the Fillies Derby Ball® event, further the fame of Kentucky and place a $2 bet on any filly entered in the Kentucky Derby®. Nowadays, five young women are selected by a Fillies screening committee to serve in the Derby Princesses™ program, with one chosen during the Derby Queen™ coronation the night of the Fillies Derby Ball® event. A spin-of-the-wheel, which is still practiced today, sends one girl from the Derby Princesses™ program to the throne to rule, with her court of four, over the Kentucky Derby® festivities. Now for more than two weeks, the queen and her court reign over more than 70 events and serve as ambassadors for the Festival; the Kentucky Derby®, the Greater Louisville area, and the state of Kentucky at its most exciting time. 
 
Also begun at the first Fillies Derby Ball® event was the induction of Knights and Dames to the Royal Court. Outstanding Kentuckians were chosen for their service to the community to be "knighted" by the incoming queen. This practice now includes the induction of the outgoing Fillies President and the outgoing Derby Festival Chair, with one member of the community at large selected by the Fillies membership. 
 
Kentucky Derby® is a registered trademark of Churchill Downs Incorporated. 
Derby Queen, Derby Princesses, Fillies Derby Ball, and The Fillies are trademarks of The Fillies, Inc

SPECIAL COMMITTEES

• Bridge - Marian Wilbers and Pat Damron
• Childrens Tea with KDF Princesses - Lorena Peters
• Dinner Group - Lois Mathews
• Fashion Show - Suzann Thompson
• Fillies Apparel - Shannon Adkins
• KDF Foundation Board - Becky Fangman
• Strategic Planning (Long Range) - Jenny Jacob
• Knights and Dames - Amy Hoffman
• Lunch Bunch - Iva Davis & Cindy Homayoun
• Pegasus Pin Team - Tenley Green
• Telephone Committee - Carol Donovan
• Throroughread Fillies Book Club - Jeanette Aboud
• Thunder Over Louisville -Suzann Thompson

If you want to propose a new member: NEW MEMBERS PRINT OUT APPLICATON (Provisionals)