Fancy hats, the bigger the better, looked like a wave of colors at Nick’s Lake House Kentucky Derby party. The 156th Derby was held at Churchill Downs, but the local place to be was the party at Nick’s.

Funds raised go to the Penn Kidder branch of the Dimmick Library. The library, in Albrightsville, is a small branch with a big sense of community.

“The funds raised help community events and services at the library,” board member Michele Banks said.

Patrons could bet on the race by purchasing tickets to pick a horse, which then go into a drawing. If you guessed the correct winning horse, you had a chance of winning a monetary prize for win, place or show.

The favored horse was Renegade with 4-1 odds. Of course the 19 horses in the race had interesting names such as “Potene,” “Emerging Market” and “So Happy.” Golden Temple won the derby with 23-1 odds.

Volunteers from the library and Keller Williams, which shares the building, manned the betting table and bake sale. All of the bake sale items were made by local residents. This year they included cake pops, gluten-free choices, banana bread, chocolate chip cookies and doughnuts.

Emcee Dina Tulli-Davis kept the crowd entertained with her singing, personality and contests. She noted that she had more swag than ever for trivia contest giveaways. The first trivia question was to name the song she played, which was apropos, “My Old Kentucky Home” which is played at the beginning of the derby each year.

Up for grabs through a raffle was a bottle of Woodward Bourbon, donated by Nick’s owners Cindi and Louis Pantages. Wine baskets were also raffled off.

Volunteer Vikki Mann was selling 50/50 tickets. She said, “Libraries are slowly fading out. We need to do everything to keep them going.”

Mann and her husband Jim looked sharp as her dress matched his jacket and hat. Mann just launched her own clothing company, Drinky Dresses, and created the derby dress and jacket.

What would a derby celebration be without mint juleps and a hat contest? Ladies lined up and walked throughout the restaurant. Patrons picked the winner by applause. There were also a men’s contest and couples contest.

A group from New Jersey celebrating a friend’s 60th birthday rented a house nearby for the event. Among the group was Maureen-Mo Denaris who cleverly wore a jockey outfit, including the helmet which she added feathers to.

Janet Doviello had a big (of course) pink hat that her daughter Raquel had worn to the actual Kentucky Derby last year.

Library board member Mary Farnschlader reminded the crowd to support their local library branch as she walked around handing out bags of swag, including horseshoe bracelets and jockey pins.

It was a great day to dress up, enjoy great food, have fun and most importantly support the Penn Kidder library.