Arise, Thou Mighty Bunny

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The Great Forest Park Balloon Race is not a race in the traditional sense with victory going to the fastest. All the balloons ride the same wind. They call it a hare and hounds event, and I suppose the pun is intended. The Energizer Bunny balloon, sponsored by the eponymous battery maker, takes off first. The rest start to follow several minutes later, launching one after the other. The winner is the chase balloon that lands nearest to the bunny. The event makes the news but somehow the winner is never announced, like anybody cares.

So here's a series of shots of the great pink wabbit being inflated and soaring off above the crowd. I'd be careful of that hole in the bunny's bottom if I were in the crew.

 



 



 

The Great Forest Park Balloon Race: The Bunny

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The Great Forest Park Balloon Race took place last weekend. Friday's night's balloon glow was featured here two days ago. The race itself was Saturday afternoon. The setup is "hare and hounds." One balloon takes off several minutes before the rest and lands wherever. The hounds - all the other balloons - give chase. The winner is the balloon crew that drops a bag of birdseed (why birdseed?) closet to the hare (so why not rabbit food?).

The great pun is that the hare balloon is the Energizer Bunny. The battery company's HQ is here. They claim it is by far the biggest hot air balloon in the US, taller that the Statue of Liberty. The sky held only a breath of wind at launch time. The newspaper said that the breeze was so light that the race did not leave the boundaries of Forest Park.

That's no fun, but there are lots more good balloon pictures for the rest of the week.

It Keeps Going And Going And Going Nowhere

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Americans know the Energizer Bunny - it keeps going and going and going. This one is going nowhere in a hurry. Energizer's corporate headquarters is here and its balloon is traditionally the hare (now that's clever) that the other inflatables follow. There was a last minute announcement on Saturday that it was not airworthy and it would just stay tethered, wiggling its pink bunny batteries at the crowd.

WHAT WAS PRETTY COOL: Sunday was the St. Louis Cardinals open house at Busch Stadium for baseball season ticket holders. ShadowyOne and I waited in line over an hour to go through the Card's clubhouse and dugout but it was worth it. Pix later in the week.

TOMORROW: would you put up with another balloon or two?