Getting the House Ready Before Derby

Derby lands in pollen season

The Kentucky Derby is held every year on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs in Louisville; in 2027 that is May 1 (Kentucky Derby).

Family Allergy and Asthma, a Kentucky allergy practice, lays out the tree pollen season around it (Family Allergy and Asthma):

• Trees often start pollinating as early as February, or early March after a long, cold winter.
• Oak and cedar start in February or early March.
• Willow, pine, birch and mulberry pollinate in April.
• Tree pollen falls off around mid June.

So Derby sits after the April wave and before the season ends. A house, deck or patio washed in March will have collected weeks of yellow-green film by the first Saturday in May.

What to wash for a Derby party

• The deck or patio where people will stand. Composite, wood and concrete each take different pressure; see the surface guides for what each maker allows.
• The front walk and driveway, where guests park and walk in.
• The siding people see from the yard. Pollen on top of green film is covered in pollen film on siding.
• Patio furniture and railings get the same pollen layer; rinse them close to the day.

Timing it

1. Book in March or early April. The weeks before Derby are part of the spring rush.
2. Wash in the last week or two of April. Close enough that pollen has little time to build up again, far enough that weather has room to move the date.
3. Rinse light surfaces the day before, if a heavy pollen day lands on Derby week.

We work weekends, 8 to 8, which helps when the only open days before Derby are a Saturday or Sunday.