LOUISVILLE — The Kentucky Derby Festival's pyrotechnic feast, Thunder Over Louisville, will use more fireworks this year than ever before.

        That's just what the hundreds of thousands of spectators who line the Ohio River shoreline or watch from boats have come to expect from the event, scheduled for tonight.

        The annual show — which this year will boast more than 51,000 blasts and is dubbed “2001: A Festival Odyssey” — has added more than 5,000 shells each year since 1998. The first show in 1990 featured only 3,500.

        The gigantic fireworks display by Zambelli Fireworks Internationale, launched from two floating barges and the Clark Memorial Bridge, keeps growing as the designs get more complicated, organizers say.

        “Our aim is to keep it the largest show in North America,” said Stacey Yates, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Derby Festival.

        But there's no science to the year-by-year increase, Ms. Yates said.

        “It's whatever fits into the choreography,” she said. “There's no particular rhyme or reason.”

        There will, however, be a science to the Coast Guard's plans to tighten regulations in the water, after the drowning death at last year's show.

        A 23-year-old Louisville woman drowned and four others were treated for hypothermia after their boat had a mechanical problem and filled with water.

        This year the regulated area of the river was expanded, and 33 patrol boats from the Coast Guard and other agencies are maintaining a “no wake” zone to reduce the boats' speed, said Lt. Steven Garcia, a spokesman for the Coast Guard. Penalties for breaking the rules will be harsh, he said.

        “What we want people to know is if you violate the no wake zone, there can be a civil penalty of up to $27,500,” Lt. Garcia said.

        About 1,142 police officers from the city, county and suburbs, National Guard members and Kentucky State Police troopers will be assigned to traffic and crowd control.

        Preceding Thunder Over Louisville is an air show from 3 p.m. until just before the first fireworks blast at 9:30 p.m.

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