First, You Have to Pick 150 Bushels of Mint Sprigs

With the Run for the Roses fast approaching, the scramble in the mint patches has begun in an effort to gather sprigs to flavor 80,000 mint juleps sold at the Kentucky Derby.

“Whenever you’re cutting it, you always keep your bundles sitting up or otherwise it’ll bend,” said Bill Dohn, a suburban Louisville farmer who sells 80% of his mint crop to Churchill Downs during Derby week.

“You want to keep them nice and straight so . . . when you bundle it, you stand it up (straight) in the crate,” Dohn explained.

The plant has a tendency to seek the sunlight, so turning the plant on its side can lead to a bent sprig--considered inappropriate by tradition-minded Derby fans who sip juleps in distinctive silver cups packed with crushed ice.

Dohn said this spring has been a good mint season, with the crop in fine shape and just in time for Saturday’s start of the spring meet at Churchill Downs.

The track expects to sell 100,000 mint juleps during the spring meet--which ends June 30--with 80,000 to be sold at $3.75 each in souvenir glasses on May 4, Derby Day, when the track draws up to 140,000 fans.

The Derby Day flood of mint juleps requires 8,000 quarts of another Kentucky product--bourbon--plus 60 tons of crushed ice and 150 bushels of mint.

Edgar Allen, a track spokesman, said mint juleps represent an important part of the Derby tradition for track visitors.

“I would think the mint julep is as important to Derby visitors as hearing ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ and seeing the infield and a lot of other things--the names of past Derby winners around the clubhouse.”

The mint julep, Allen said, “is an integral part of the Kentucky Derby.”