Up, up, and away.....in a beautiful hot air balloon!!

There were two many choices of what to do this past weekend (Saturday, September 19). Besides The Great Forest Park Balloon Race there was an open house and air show (featuring the Canadian Air Force Snowbirds) at Scott Air Force Base nearby in Illinois, Lincoln County Old Threshers Reunion (20 miles north of us Featuring all varieties of antique farm machinery including steam-powered traction engines, antique Merry-Go-Round, double blade sawmill, horse and antique tractor pull competitions and much more), Pioneer Days at the Historic Daniel Boone Home and Boonesfield Village about 15 miles from us (A pre-1840s Folkways Festival and Encampment. Artisans, music, historic encampment, a black powder shoot and more. Step into the past to experience life on the early Missouri frontier and learn about the Boone legacy). The Balloon race was the best choice.

On Saturday, September 19, we watched one of the top events in the St. Louis Area, The Great Forest Park Balloon Race. The race which is held each third Saturday of September (with a Sunday rain date), celebrating its 37th anniversary this year, is unique in that it originates from the middle of a major city. This is a free event that attracts more than 100,000 spectators who come out to watch 70 world-class balloon pilots from all over the country compete in a race that is almost as exciting from the ground as it is in the air. I have heard that this event is the largest and one of the most prestigious one-day balloon races in the world. The big Albuquerque, NM balloon festival is a huge event over several days. I think The Great Forest Park Balloon is rated 2nd to the Albuquerque balloon event.

Particularly prestigious and challenging, the race is by invitation only to pilots with greater than average requirements for flight hours and experience. Launch is from the middle of a major city, as opposed to being in open fields. One pilot noted: "When we got above the trees...there were simply no open spots, just TV antennas, rooftops, trees and wires." Backyards, baseball diamonds, golf courses, lawns, street intersections, and, in one instance, the walled convent grounds of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, have been pressed into service as landing sites. This year the wind was talking the balloons northwest, so I'm sure the pilots were soon looking for landing sites before getting too close to airport less than 6 miles away with restricted airspace. The following aerial views from the race web page show a great prospective of the event

The night before the race all the balloons are tethered for a beautiful Balloon Glow with the balloon burners providing the light. We have never gone to the park for the balloon glow. But in years past several balloons would be tethered at night along US40-I64 to be viewed as a drive by. We have driven by for that event. That was impossible to do this year as I-64 is closed to all traffic for about 6 miles for a total reconstruction. Since I have no photos of a balloon glow, I have included a couple from the race web page to show the beauty of this part of the event.

I have never seen so many cars parked in Forest Park (1293 acres). We entered the park about 2:00PM and after about 30 minutes of driving around we were lucky to find a space about a half mile away. Because of the enormous crowd, the vehicle entrances to Forest Park are usually closed by 3pm for the 4:30PM lift off of the balloons.

I got some good photos of kids that were allowed to help get all the air out of the Mayflower balloon that had been tethered for close-up photos before the race take off time.



I took over 500 photos and it was very difficult to choose what to include.



One of the favorite balloons for this event is the Energizer Bunny^® Hot Hare Balloon. At 166 feet tall, (the height of a sixteen-story building and 15-feet taller than the Statue of Liberty), it is the world’s biggest hot air balloon. I am including a couple of aerial views of the Energizer Bunny^® from the race web page to show how huge this balloon is when compared to the other balloons. This year is the 20th anniversary of the Energizer Bunny^® , a birthday cake balloon was one of the entries for this years race.

Being so large, this balloon is more difficult control. With rainy weather in the forecast, this balloon did not lift off.



To keep the large crowd occupied before the race, a lot of other activities were scheduled around the perimeter of the field. We enjoyed a very good acrobatics group on a trampoline.





Several skydivers landed in the middle of the race field.