
This is the weekend for the annual Great Forest Park Balloon Festival. I’ve been posting photos from past year’s festivals, but yesterday, we did make it over to the park. Our highlight was the US Army Golden Knights parachute team, whose Saturday afternoon’s demonstration was the warmup act for the main event, the day’s balloon race. We were pretty well situated to see them land. Pictured is the team’s climax, two skydivers who are strapped together. The announcer, who is also part of the Army’s team, at first joked that the two parachutists had become entangled, to heighten the crowd’s suspense. This was a bit of gallows humor, since a few years back a man died when two paratroopers did collide. The weather was pleasant, warm in the sun, but under shade quite nice. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing towards the airport, which was a problem. Of the 50+ balloons entered to race, less than ten actually flew.